Managing technical projects in 2023 isn’t the same as it has been over the past years, owing to tremendous advancements in technology and innovation currently. Project management has become not only more complex, but it has also started sharing focus equally on both technical and soft skills. Technical project management today relies on versatility and adopts a more nuanced approach to completion. However, once we start a career managing technical projects, we often are faced with unanticipated project management challenges and scenarios. Here we discuss things that no one tells us about managing technical projects in 2023:
1. Nothing is constant:
When you decide to work on a technical project, you must accept the fact that each project is going to be unique and the way you accomplished things in your previous projects will have very little bearing on the new one. There is no set formula or framework within which you can fit all technical projects and thus, adapting to changing project requirements and deliverables is the only way you’ll be able to manage a technical project successfully.
2. Technology keeps evolving:
Perhaps both the best and the worst thing about technology is that it keeps evolving at a break-neck pace, keeping project managers on their toes all the time. What no one tells us about agile project management is that the technical skills and know-hows that the project team starts off with at the beginning of the project may not be enough by the time they reach the end. Since the technology and technical skills required for project management keep changing so frequently, project management teams must constantly keep themselves updated tech-wise and be adept at integrating new innovations into their project framework.
3. Specialization is not a necessity:
Leadership in technical project management often makes the mistake of assuming that managing technical projects is heavily dependent on technical specializations. While you do need certain technical and soft skills for the job, you do not need intensely compartmentalized, industry-specific specializations to succeed at project management. To be confident at a project manager role, you need professional know-how like how to communicate effectively with technical project stakeholders or how to stay on track with a technical project. Project management is as much about experience as it is about expertise.
Managing technical projects may sound like a job role but actually, it is an acquired life-skill. It helps you be more organized, structures your approach to life, inculcates critical thinking, and makes you a team-player.
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