In Choosing Appropriate Project Managers

A career in project management was, firstly, the discipline itself—being about the challenge of achieving controlled results in innovative and changing environments. And secondly, the mixed range of skills required executing this role—from hard mathematics to soft communication skills. Main characteristic found in great project managers is Persistence. Focus and leadership are also essential; have to influence and manage considerable resistance in the client environment, maintaining a sense of direction and never stepping back is always crucial.

I have set out to challenge two commonly held - and related - views found in the project management community: That a project manager is simply a facilitator for the project management process and that implementing the right systems and procedures are more important than any individual project manager i.e. that once an individual has acquired the skills of project management, that individual can manage any type of project, regardless of technology, industry or experience-level. The two beliefs represent different sides of the same coin - both of which downplay the value of the personal characteristics and domain expertise of the project managers themselves that differentiate individual project managers from one another and neither of which is supported by research. Previous research conducted by Project Management Institute (PMI) concluded that one of the reasons organizations categorize projects is due to the need to develop and choose different project management methodologies appropriate to different types of projects. As an extension of this research, I’ve set out to determine what, if any, influence leadership styles have on a project manager's competence and to determine if different leadership styles were needed for different types of projects