5 Differentiators of a Good Project Manager
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Understands enough technology
A project manager does not have to be a technology genius nor does he even have to be an expert at the particular technologies used in his/her project. However it does help to have general technology awareness, a technical or applied engineering background, and at least a basic understanding of the technologies being used. It’s one thing to be able to rely on inputs from the technical team to make decisions, it’s another to understand those inputs well enough to be able to ask analytical questions or push back on whatever information is routinely given.
Constantly manages risk
This is perhaps one of the most important things that a project manager should continuously be doing. It’s one thing to solve problems when they occur, but it’s even better to be able to continuously scan for new problems that might lie ahead and take steps to mitigate them on time.
Is a hawk on the critical path
Every project has one critical path, and a good project manager knows from day one what it is and manages it tightly. A large project could have a huge number of tasks and charts depicting their dependencies, but from start to finish there’ll be that one path that determines the length of the project. All other paths will have slack, which means that delays up to a certain point won’t impact the final finishing date. The critical path is the one set of linked tasks that, if delayed at any point, will lead to a proportionate delay in the overall project completion. That’s the path that needs the closest management.
Is a strong leader
No project ever has all the right resources or the best quality resources. A good manager is one who, given his resources efficiently and facilities, works out how to use them for maximum efficiency. A leader, however, is one who inspires his team towards success. A team that has a shared vision and is motivated by a leader who is also a strong manager usually looks far beyond the achievement of mere efficiencies.
Communicates well
Communication is everything. There are project managers who have great ideas but fail to get their teams or stakeholders to buy into them because they didn’t know how best to communicate them. Project manager have to keep talking – to customers, their teams, to vendors, to support teams. Some communications are decisions or instructions that are not subject to debate. But the rest are about negotiations, or the selling of an idea, or the management of a conflict, requests for help, conveyance of status, and so on. The efficient managers are the ones who know how to frame the right message and use the right medium at the right time to send it, thereby achieving the right result with the least amount of discussion.![](https://www.mytechlogy.com/view/images/edit_blog.png)