What we can all observe is that the world of technology has been expanding for some time. Ferociously, one might say. Rapidly - that is for sure. We are blessed (or cursed, depending on our own perception) to be witnessing the appearance of innovative technological solutions that affect almost every single aspect of our lives, not to mention every single branch of business, from different industries.

That has created a niche for tech-oriented, well-qualified people, able to address new types of goals that companies have set for themselves, reacting to the urgent need to adjust to the brand new world.

IT project management - definition

Although it might at first sound slightly enigmatic, the meaning of the term is not that hard to define. IT project management (ITPM) embraces all the stages and phases that every IT project is comprised of. These include project planning, organizing, implementing, monitoring and reporting. In other words, ITPM focuses on all the factors that lead directly to the final accomplishment of technology objectives of a given company.

IT project managers

Obviously, such a complex process requires supervision, as there is still probably no management without actual managers - without doubt, a human component continues to be indispensable.

Project managers are people with remarkable project management skills and people management skills, able to effectively oversee multi-faceted projects and, whenever a problem or hindrance occurs, react accordingly. Thus, a project management professional has to be capable of not only applying their extensive knowledge, practical skills and proper tools and strategies in order to complete a task; they also have to be ready to easily adapt to new technology upgrades, manage change, deal with risk and interdependent integrations, and so on... The list is by no means exhaustive. The project manager career path is therefore strewn with obstacles and demands a wide range of skills.

IT project life cycle

With the aim of conducting the whole process of an IT project successfully, project managers need to develop a full understanding of the project life cycle along with the 5 phases of project management.

The project life cycle consists of all the actions that must be taken to carry out a project from the beginning to the very end. It is reported to comprise 5 phases (also called the 5 process groups).

Initiating

During this phase, the project management team needs to answer several fundamental questions, such as: Why do we need this project? The primary concern of this phase is to determine the project scope, project schedule, objectives, risks, resources needed and predicted project costs, and make sure that our plan is feasible. At this point it is also vital to ensure proper stakeholder management, i.e. addressing all the needs, concerns and fears of people who are interested in the project.

Planning

Now it is essential you build the project infrastructure that will help you reach your goals within your predetermined time and budget. For instance, you need to understand how task dependencies may influence the entire project execution and the project timeline and be able to assess the damage if some of the project milestones have not been met. At the end of this stage, you need to have a detailed "roadmap" thanks to which every member of your team will know exactly what to do to contribute to the ultimate success of the endeavor.

Executing

The time has come to set the ball rolling, or, to be more precise, put the plan into action. The executing phase, very often the longest and the most tedious one, usually involves intensive work on the assigned tasks, monitoring team development and carrying out quality control activities.

Monitoring/Controlling

This phase involves making sure that the whole project work develops in the right direction. Since monitoring is an ongoing process, the major task of the project manager is to monitor progress and stay alert - if any corrective action is necessary to be taken, the manager must be observant enough to notice it.

Closing

The closing phase is a final phase. It basically means that the project goal reached, the project - your final deliverable - has now been completed and it needs to be officially closed, providing it has won the approval of the customer, stakeholders or project sponsors.

Project management software

In order to manage projects effectively, IT project managers use IT project management software. It is used to better organize and monitor the complex processes of their projects and, consequently, ensure the highest possible efficiency. It can be achieved thanks to useful tools that can e.g. help teams track time and follow task development, store multiple files, create reports and schedules or implement hybrid project management methodologies.

What do you have to do as an IT project manager

IT project managers are accountable for the conduct of the whole project plan. They need to take care of the multitude of pivotal issues that are all interrelated and, if neglected, may lead the project team directly to a spectacular failure. Among other things, they are responsible for:

• selecting an appropriate project management methodology and choosing the right project management tool,

• asigning tasks to particular members of the team

• managing the project knowledge areas

• resource management

• risk management

• leading regular meetings in order to monitor the progress, increase efficiency, make sure the project moves to the next stage of development and ensure meeting of the business goals

IT project manager is expected to have thorough knowledge of information technology and computer science (most of such specialists have at least a bachelor's degree in one of these areas), as they must be able to deal with data collection and data management. Moreover, they need to possess a wide range of soft skills that are necessary to effectively communicate with people and clearly explain complicated technical issues connected with the IT industry.

So, if you intend to follow this career path and be in charge of large projects, you need to be aware of all the requirements and difficulties of the job. It is advisable to think about getting a project management certification and to constantly work on gaining project management experience - the combination of knowledge and skills should help you find more job opportunities.

Final word

It goes without saying that technology did change the world, including the world of business. The rule is simple: if you want to mean anything, you need to be competitive and flexible, and accept the fact that embracing technological advancement is absolutely inevitable. Fortunately, there are people who are ready to help you adapt - professionals who know everything about IT project management and who know how to use their knowledge to make your business thrive.

If you want to find out more about project management services, check Silicon Cities.