What Technical Skills do IT Project Managers Need?

Does an IT project manager need technical skills? Yes, but it's not what you think! No one expects you to write code. Instead, you need a different kind of knowledge and skills.
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ChatGPT Prompt I used:
Please explain Azure Functions to me as if I am a 12-year-old person, but I'm proficient with computers. Please provide a metaphor that can better explain the concept and technology. If there are other IT terms you need to use to explain Azure Functions, please break them down as well.
Dmytro Nizhebetskyi is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

[@ITProjectManagers]

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[@tomaszchmielak4992]

In my opinion having technical awareness is more important than technical skills. This is valid not only in IT, but in any kind of industry. Unfortunately I don't know any ways how to get technical awareness in IT besides being a coder/developer whatsoever. This especially true given the fact that IT has a lot of industries within itsself (banking, cybersecurity, ERP etc.) and each of these particular industries requires a different type of technical awareness.

[@ITProjectManagers]

Thanks for writing, Tomasz.
I would say coding is the least valuable tech skill for a project manager. Yes, you do need to understand how engineers write code and what it takes. But beyond that, stakeholders shouldn't get into such level of details.
So, in IT industry you need to focus on available solution and their capabilities. Just like in the video. Things like, web functions, data lakes, API, etc. You need to learn building blocks, not how to write instructions for these building blocks.

[@StefanSchindewolf]

I started my career as an Unix engineer and switched to a PM role after 4-5 years.
That helped me to ask the right technical questions from a PM perspective, explain complex issues to managers and communicate effectively with technical experts in many projects.
But I also noticed that I had to let go of some "techie" attitudes and behaviours to become a good PM:
- a tendency to solve technical problems and favor technical solutions (instead of organizational ones)
- in general a very mechanistic and rigid thinking and worldview ( work with someone from Marketing or Sales and you know what I mean)
- Lack of understanding of company politics and stakeholder engagement
But as you correctly stated, Dmytro: One can train and learn - which is a lifelong experience anyways 😊
After moving into my first PM role I had Trainings, read many PM books ... and Googled every new management term I came across 😅😅😅

[@ITProjectManagers]

Thanks for sharing, Stefan! I agree with every point.
I think your message will be valuable for all project managers to ponder about.

[@user-pl4eb6zh3x]

Thank you for the content you make I eagerly hope you’ll continue publishing more videos. I like the way you explain project management you share information with practical knowledge which is so important because when you read lots of articles you see theory which doesn’t reflect the real management. You give more than just fancy definition your examples replace many words thank you wish you the best

[@ITProjectManagers]

Thanks for your kind feedback!
More to come soon.

[@atlantapreneur]

I believe there is an automatic vibe that because a person comes from a technical background, they are not a people/business oriented person and they cant be a good pm. Im not speaking for others, but for me personally, nothing is further from the truth. I can have the business conversation with leadership and the technical conversation with engineers, see the tech related roadblocks before they arise and still manage a project. Actuallly, I think my tech background makes me more valuable. I dont have to slow a project down to learn the technical terminology.

[@ITProjectManagers]

I agree. There are lots of engineers with great soft skills. I don't assume that all people with technical background a bad managers and leaders.
But we are not focusing only natural talents. We need to consider the skill development. Someone in the engineering role will still dedicate most of the time to technical tasks, knowledge and skills.

[@gkprojectmanagement]

85% Project management, 14% Tech, 1% having a sandwich while you think of an answer to a question you've just been asked...

[@ITProjectManagers]

Nice. It's funny:)

[@gkprojectmanagement]

@@ITProjectManagers Thank you. :)

[@david_pollack]

I would add that it might be beneficial to have more than technical awareness of some of the PM/visualization tools, like JQL for Jira and building connectors into Tableau. Or would you say that these are part of an advanced PM tool kit?

[@ITProjectManagers]

I would say we must break technical awareness into two buckets:
1. Tools and technology we use to build products and services.
2. Tools and technology we use for managing a project.
I don't treat JQL for Jira as a technical skill. It's an advanced skill of a Jira user (not even an Administrator or developer). If you build Tableau dashboards on UI it's also a user's skill.
So, if you use these tools, you'll benefit from the advanced skills. But don't assume you can use these skills to develop a product better than dedicated engineers. And don't waste time on developing these skill to cover up for other team members.