Management Innovation for IT project managers [1]
IT projects compared to other types of projects are characterized with
uniqueness, emergency, one shot, short term and uncertainty. For this reason,
to get successful results it is very important to find and solve relevant
problems and innovation in project management plays an important role in this
regard. This role is very critical in both planning and implementing the projects.
As a result it is very essential for the IT project management to be seen as a
system. Management innovation enables
project managers to make all the factors in the project interact effectively
and efficiently with each other to create synergy.
One of the reasons for high percentage of failure in IT projects goes back to lack of clear understanding about project manager’s role and his or her required skills. These skills are not necessarily limited to technical sets but are even more related to managerial sets. To use these skills the main question is to know how IT project managers can innovate in their project management methods. Clearly speaking the more versatile a project manager the more successful he or she and as a result the more efficient the project. Here come managerial skills and great personality even before IT technical knowledge. A competent project manager has great communication skills, strong leadership, love of work, clear vision, excellent team building capabilities, structure, alignment and discipline. He or she is interested in every one in the team, the individual needs and values, opinion, feelings and ideas. He or she also invests in motivating every one, creating excitement, making it fun, showing the end point to the team and keeping the team focused on that. A strong project manager needs to keep her or his relations with all the stakeholders in the project, the managers, the client and the team members alive and active. Some of the major problems from the perspective of project management are lack of communication with the client, passive communication with the management and sole attention to the project team members’ performance. Separating clients, management and team members could be the main source of unsuccessful results in executing the projects. But what are the things can be done to enhance the efficiency of project management? It seems that giving regular visits to the client to know about the requirements and their changes in time, flexible communicating with the management and paying attention to all aspects of the team such as recruiting, informing, communicating, atmosphere creating and proper activity distributing as well as cross cultural managing can help a lot in this regard. All these factors enable the project manager to be effective for the needs of the stakeholders to be met. Using these methods properly needs the project managers to be innovative and versatile.
[1] Management
Innovation of IT Project Managers, by Shuangqin Liu, Business
School, Hohai University, Nanjing & Business School Lianyungang Technical
College, ianyungang, China.
2010 3rd International Conference on Information Management, Innovation
Management and Industrial Engineering
Posts
