Being a good IT project manager, is similar to maintaining a relationship whereby you have to :
1. Consider and know your partner’s preferences and wants.
2. Active listening to what your partner has to say and adapt accordingly but also able to steer your partner to the agreed path should they lose motivation or interest.
3. Provide sound and logical reasoning among your partner and your/her friends, if there are any disagreement.
My sharing is based purely on a business point of view.
Within the industry, we agreed that the main reasons most IT projects failed are due to the following reasons:
1. IT people don’t understand business requirements and/or
business people don’t seem to understand that IT or Tech, can’t solve everything
2. Is important to get a Project manager that understands both ‘world’ but these folks are as rare as a unicorn. Is like waiting for that perfect guy/girl coming into your life and sweeping you off your feet and live happily ever after again. There is such guy/girl but they’re just very rare.
[1]
As a project manager, you won’t be able to know everything but you should be strong in either IT or the actual business side of things and stay open to ideas, and willing to learn from either side when handling projects. Similar to a relationship, whereby you won’t be able to understand everything about your partner but you stay open to discover and learn new things about each other.
[2]
Managing multiple stakeholders’ ego is part of being a good project manager. While there are many views and opinions shared around any discussion, the project manager shouldn’t lose sight of the main purpose of the entire project and able to steer the project to the right path but still please all the egos in the ‘room’.
Is like, in a relationship, when your partner suggests going for a cooking class cause his/her main purpose is to prepare a good meal together. But midway through the course, they got bored and decided to get out and fly a kite. But you’ve already paid for the entire class and it would be a waste of money and potentially you might need to be tasting awful food for the entire relationship. Thus being a good partner, you somehow find ways to motivate them to stay on course, learn together and without hurting their ego and the relationship by outright calling them a “QUITTER”.
[3]
IT folks are too ideological
Business users will see that the implementation doesn’t solve their business needs
Crashes of ideas are common while working on a project, usually, IT folks are too ideological and have the impression that the user can only use their implementation the way it is/was designed. While business users will see that the implementation doesn’t solve their business needs and will either find ways around it or misuse it. A good project manager should be able to hear and understand from both sides and provide an alternative solution that suits the business requirement and technically sound and implementable without incurring extra or little development cost.
Kinda like going on a group trip and getting caught in the middle of an argument between your partner and your/their friends on deciding to visit some famous destination or trying out the best local delicacy that is prepared once every decades.
Being an objective partner and friends, you listen to both arguments and provide a suggestion that pleases almost everyone. Which is split up, and meets up at the end of the day for dinner and shares the experience.
In summary, if you follow these steps, high chance you’re going to be a Good Project Manager in a happy relationship :)
1. Consider and know their preferences and wants.
2. Active listening and adapt accordingly.
3. Provide sound and logical reasoning
