Jeffrey L. Brewer
ABSTRACT
As the documented importance of project management grows for all organizations world wide, skilled successful project managers have become a valuable asset to have in an organization. In Information Technology these project managers need a good understanding of technology, an exceptional grasp of basic project management principles, and business leadership skills to be successful. This paper will discuss the organization's need for project managers, the skills a project manager must have to be proficient and whether these skills are innate or can be imbibed overtime. This paper will also discuss, for those skills that can be learned, how best to obtain these skills in a college or university IT curriculum using results from our own experiences. With this information, colleges or universities can begin preparing students for a career as an effective project manager.
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Index Terms
- Project managers: can we make them or just make them better?
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Reviews
Alexis Leon
The size, scope, and sophistication of software projects are increasing at an exponential rate. The task of managing a software project successfully, and delivering a high-quality and defect-free product on time, and without cost overruns, is nearly impossible. To survive in this competitive world, organizations need highly skilled project managers (PMs). One of the most serious problems the software industry faces, however, is the shortage of such professionals. In this paper, Brewer discusses the need for project managers, the skill set and personality traits that a project manager should ideally possess, and whether these skills and traits are innate, or can be imbibed with experience or taught through education. The paper also examines how the information technology (IT) curriculum should be modified to educate students in skills that will enable them to become successful project managers. Many studies have reiterated the urgent need for better project management practices, and better trained project managers, for the efficient management and successful completion of projects. The author explores the ideal skills required by a project manager, and affirms that IT project managers should possess, in addition to the core project management competencies, soft skills like people management, communication skills, relationship management, and so on. The author gives a detailed list of project management responsibilities, and the skills needed to perform them. The paper also ranks the critical skills for and personal characteristics of effective leaders, based on a chief information officer (CIO) survey on effective leadership. The paper then examines the importance of personality traits of effective leaders and project managers. The author uses three personality assessment tools, the Myers-Briggs type indicator (MBTI), the Keirsey temperament sorter, and the fundamental interpersonal relations orientation-behavior (FIRO-B) instrument, to explain the personality traits of successful and effective project managers. According to the author, it is more difficult to make a behavioral change in a person than to teach new skills. Therefore, he advocates selecting people with the PM personality and training them in PM skills, rather than taking people who lack the PM personality and trying to change their behavior. The author concludes the paper by listing the skills that need to be taught to prepare students to become successful IT project managers. This excellent, timely, relevant, and well-written paper is a must-read for top management, human resources (HR) professionals, hiring and training managers, educators, project managers (from novices to veterans), and students who are planning careers in IT project management. Online Computing Reviews Service
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