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Project Manager Area of Expertise Requirements

Loren Karl Schwappach

Colorado Technical University

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Abstract

This paper is a short review of why it is imperative for a project manager to be or be able to

become a subject area expert for the project in which he/she manages. A project manager with

knowledge in the subject area allows for the most effective, well-informed utilization of

resources imaginable, allows the manager to adapt/change with problems/constraints, allows the

manger to better communicate with experts involved in the project, and finally it increases the

confidence and ability for the project manager to communicate current/future problems,

solutions, and milestones with credibility to project stakeholders.

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Project Manager Area of Expertise Requirements

As the newest member to this PMI chapter I am glad to offer my opinions and

experiences towards project management. As a veteran and NCOIC in the United States Air

Force I have had a lot of experience in project management and have been witness to actions and

decisions that have led to the success and failure of several projects. In this meeting the chapter

has asked me to relay my thoughts on the importance of having expert judgment in the subject

matter of a project and further whether or not an IT project manager should be an expert in the

technology being implemented.

I know this may not be the most popular of answers especially to those seeking project

management positions in areas that they may have little knowledge but after several days of

research, I have found that it is extremely important for project managers to be or at the least be

able to become subject matter experts in the areas of their project, even more so for project

managers working on highly technological project areas like IT.

This allows for the most effective, well-informed utilization of resources imaginable, it

allows the project manager to able to adapt/change with problems/constraints and communicate

with other experts in the project, and finally it increases the ability for the project manager to

communicate current/future problems, solutions, and milestones with confidence and credibility.

By pure definition good managers are tacticians able to utilize all of their available

resources in the most cost effective/time saving way possible to complete an objective/s. On the

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other hand good leaders are strategists that are able to communicate a vision and develop the

energy of their followers towards achieving that vision. (Clawson, 2012)

Therefore, in order for a project manager to maximize project efficiency (especially in

highly technological areas like IT) and successfully manage a project he/she will require a wide

grasp of subject are knowledge. This will certainly aid the project manager in making sound

decisions and allow them to utilize better judgment. This knowledge expertise can eliminate

things like putting the wrong resources towards the wrong tasks (for example using a software

engineer to plan the corporate IT infrastructure improvements) and using the wrong methodology

(such as the waterfall approach vs. agile approach) for the wrong project. Having a good

knowledge of how and when to utilize resources can be the breaking force toward whether or not

a project lives or dies. This example is illustrated more often than not whenever a project

manager with an incompatible subject expertise gets involved with a project outside of his

subject area.

Project management as stated by the PMBOK involves “project initiation, project

planning, project execution, project monitoring and control, and finally project closure”

(Kerzner, 2003). The project furthermore needs to be completed within the “time, cost, desired

performance/ technology level, and acceptance/approval level” (Kerzner, 2003) required to make

the project a success.

Good project managers should be able to communicate their plans/reasoning for resource

utilization, defining task/phase timelines and sequence of activities, and be readily available to

change and adapt based upon project needs and concerns with those involved in the project.

While this could be achieved by an extremely active and involved project manager it becomes

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harder and harder the further the project manager area of knowledge is from the subject area of

the project and becomes even more challenging in highly technical and complex project

management.

If the project manager doesn’t have a strong grasp of subject area knowledge he/she will

be unable to understand or adapt to changes necessary to ensure project completion this is further

useful in the area of project risk management.

With the ethical regulations facing project manager’s today ignorance and poor decision

making cannot and should not be tolerated. The project manager is the keystone that determines

the life and death of a project and a low confidence and knowledge about the project that is being

managed can lead to numerous problems and can envelope areas such as poor ethical practices

and safety violations, these problems could be easily be created by assigning the wrong

personnel to the wrong tasks or assigning too little money to dangerous activities.

The final reason it is imperative that project managers (especially those in IT fields) have

expert judgment in the subject area of their project is that it enhances the project managers ability

to communicate past, present, and future problems, solutions, and milestones to project

stakeholders with confidence and credibility. If a project is to succeed it needs to have constant

buy in from the project stakeholders, but if the project stakeholders (whom normally are not

subject area experts) make demands upon the project that cannot be realized due to resource

availability or demands that are not legal or unsafe in nature the project manager should have the

knowledge and expert judgment to be able to communicate this to the stakeholders.

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As an example where a lack of subject area knowledge had a drastic effect on the

successful completion of a project is illustrated by the fictional but believable ethics case study

of the Killer Robot a case study required by all electrical and computer engineers that intend to

graduate CTU. In the case study a project manager with conflicting subject area knowledge is

assigned as project manager over a group of software engineers and in so doing selects a poor

model, and inadequately assigns resources for designing and testing a robot, inadvertently ending

in a gruesome death. (Online Ethics Center for Engineering, 2006)

In summary it is highly important for a project manager to have expert judgment of the

subject matter involved in his/her project this allows for the most effective, well-informed

utilization of resources imaginable, it further allows the project manager to able to adapt/change

with problems/constraints and communicate with other experts in the project, and finally it

increases the ability for the project manager to communicate current/future problems, solutions,

and milestones with confidence and credibility.

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References

Kerzner, H. (2003) Project management: A systems approach to planning, scheduling, and

controlling (8th ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Clawson, J. (2012). Level three leadership getting below the surface, 5th edition, Prentice Hall,

Boston, Mass.

Online Ethics Center for Engineering (2006) "Developers of "Killer Robot" Worked Under

Enormous Stress" National Academy of Engineering Accessed: Sunday, July 10,

2011<www.onlineethics.org/Resources/Cases/killerrobot/article-2.aspx>