This issue has become one of those existencial questions within the business of new technologies and, more specifically, in the world of software development. As we can imagine, there are different point of views about it.
“A Project Manager with no technical backround is almost always at detriment of an IT project” (…) “If there is a Tech Leader on a project, the PM does not need a powerful programming programming… and some of the worst too” … these are some of the opinions of professionals in their own profesional blogs.
“Normally, a good Project Manager must be able to manage projects in different industries. Therefore, you need to have a person or a group of people with expertise in this area, which will be responsible for technical decisions, not blaming the Project Manager. However, a previous experience in the industry can be a significant advantage especially in technology areas.” As we can see, there are multiple opinions. According our point of view, the perfect balance occurs when there is a good responsibility distribution. It is true that in a small organization, responsibilities between different areas sometimes diluted and one professional has to manage several tasks, bit if we talk about professionalism and work optimization, this is one of the first objectives we must wonder: the real distribution of tasks and responsibilities.
In short, what are the responsibilities of a good Project Manager?
- To manage and allocate human and other resources to achieve goals
- To define priorities of tasks related to the project
- To set project plannings and Dead-Lines
- To coordinate relations between customers and final users
- To motivate and organize the team to achieve the goals
- To mantain the project plan and measure productivity. Control of cost, periods and range
It should be pointed out that the best performance of the development team, there must be mutual trust. The Project Manager must rely on technological solutions chosen by the Project Leader Tech and, the team, should see that the commitments between Project Manager and the client are realistics.
This can only be achieved if both sides (parlen el mateix idioma). a Project Manager does not have to be a programmer but he should have enough technical background for doing realistic plannings an be able to assess the technical solutions proposed by his team.
In conclusion, we could say that “the role of the Project Manager is not to enter the code but to create a good environment in which developers can concentrate fully of him”.
Author: Amancio Agraz
