Are project managers really required??

Well, if you ask a client, he would say, I don’t care.

If u ask  programmers, they would say ,we don’t need one.

But If u ask a business  development executive, he would say, yeah we require him without him it’s really difficult to handle clients.

Many would say that a developer is someone who could just code, many would say a talented developer is one who could code as well as convince the client that what he has coded is something what the client requires.

A developer would say ,”Why we don’t need a project manager is because he is not technical”. Now this does not mean that Project Manager does not know how to code but intsead means that the project manager who is handling the project does not actually know the in depth detail of how the project is being executed by the programmer .

Now, the point is does he really need to understand the basic workings or the very minor details of how the developer executing the development process?? Well my opinion is “No“, and if any developer thinks that a project manager needs to understand the very minor execution of its development process then he is at the wrong end of the understanding.

A person who has got high end development skills does not mean that after some experience he would go up and grab the position of Project manager. “No“, this is not how it works in the real corporate world.

Companies don’t work to promote you, companies actually work to make profits. They don’t care if their project manager knows to code or even knows to write the basic triangle program that every graduate knows. “No” company does not give a damn….

As far as the person the company appoints as a project manager knows,

  • how to manage the project
  • knows how to handle a client and
  • knows how to make its development work

is just sufficient enough to be a Project manager.

There are few qualities that a project manager should have:

Leadership quality : Project manager is responsible for leading the projects from inception to completion. He has to negotiate with many people including clients, team members and many more. Project manager is the person who maintains the healthy relationship with client and team members throughout the project.

Assemble skill : The project manager identifies the skills of developers and he is responsible for assemble the proper team for project  where each team member are assigned his/her responsibilities.

Humbleness : Humbleness to a limit. He should know when he should say no to a client and when to say no to his developers.

By just knowing the initial requirements of the project he should be knowing  whether his team of developers would be able to execute it. By execution I don’t mean that it would complete in a stipulated period of time but I mean that it should end successfully. Now during estimation it so happen that project manager give some work hours, these will be the number of hours they will be billed for by clients. It is not necessary that project manager would successfully complete the project at the stipulated time but yeah he has to make sure that the company does not get losses just because its getting late.

I would say a project manager who is able to extend the project and still make the client pay for it . Such should be a project manager that a company would look for.

This kind of project manager understands the problem of a developer and understand the unpredictability of a development process in which a developer might face many challenges and he somehow makes the client understand that the process would take time. The  client understands the project manager if he is capable enough to provide him proof stating that this delay would be the situation if the project would be handed to any other company.

This is why I think we  need a person who is able to get revenue from client for the development process and still see to it that developers remain happy.

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