An IT project manager oversees and manages IT-centric projects with a similar set of managerial and leadership skills required of a traditional project manager. An IT project manager must plan, forecast, organize, and execute a specific IT deliverable to a client or business. From a macro view, the IT project manager has nearly the same duties and responsibilities as a project manager:
- Stay within scope
- Stay within budget
- Deliver the final product within the defined deadline
Still, IT project managers have additional skills gained from directly managing IT staff and working up to a management position in the IT discipline.
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Project Manager vs IT Project Manager: How Are These Roles Different?
An IT project manager will generally manage IT projects involving developing software, implementing a network, or upgrading a business’s entire IT system. In some cases, a project manager will report directly to an IT project manager for IT projects.
IT managers must know hardware, software, networking, infrastructure, data, and network security. Therefore, the most significant difference between the two types of project managers is the IT project manager’s depth and breadth of IT knowledge.
The overall responsibilities of each type of project manager are the same, such as finishing on time and within budget. Each project manager may address cost overruns or missed deliverable due dates differently depending on the type of project, but the end goal is always the same.
These Roles During the IT Project
Another significant difference between these two types of project managers is that a project manager can manage many different types of projects without necessarily needing specific technical expertise. Indeed, traditional project managers can rely on IT subject matter experts to address any IT-related portions of a project. In contrast, IT project managers are assigned explicitly to IT-related projects that will make use of their specialization.
A project manager can fulfill the role of an IT project manager if the project manager has an IT-knowledgeable staff to help make informed decisions. However, this is often more expensive than having one IT project manager with the requisite skills and knowledge.
However, what these two types of project managers have in common are managerial and leadership skills. Additionally, both project managers still need to recruit or assign the right skill sets to their respective teams to ensure the project will succeed.
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Average Workday for an IT Project Manager
Each day is different for an IT project manager, depending on the project’s deliverables and timeline. An IT project manager may have a to-do list at the beginning of the day, but the list can easily change if an unforeseen problem arises, such as a critical team member taking emergency leave, or a resource not meeting the salient requirements. If not addressed in a planned daily meeting, each situation will need some type of impromptu project management meeting upon notification.
As is the case with all PMs, project status meetings and meetings with stakeholders are must-attend for IT project managers. Additional daily responsibilities include:
- Staying up-to-date on emails
- Coordinating with and facilitating communication between different project team members
- Attending stand-up meetings for project updates
- Updating team tasks as needed
On the whole, the IT project manager’s daily activities revolve around ensuring the project is currently within budget, the projected milestone is on schedule, and the project remains within scope. They are consistently taking actions to direct and coordinate the activities of project team members to meet the overall project delivery date.
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Why Choose an IT Project Manager?
Cost savings are realized when an IT project manager oversees an IT-centric project, as opposed to having IT team members with various skill sets within a project management team.
For example, suppose a company has a project that includes implementing IT resources, and they want their in-house project manager to oversee the entire project. In that case, the company can contract out for an IT project manager, re-assign in-house IT staff to the project, or hire separate IT skill sets as part of the team.
Each scenario has pros and cons. For example, in-house IT staff takes away from any daily IT monitoring and maintenance actions required. And a team of contracted IT personnel with different skill sets will likely be more expensive than hiring one IT project manager. While these are but a few drawbacks, knowing the cost-savings potential is an important deciding factor when organizing an IT-centric project. Therefore, be sure to consider your personnel options carefully before beginning any project.
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Featured Partners: Project Management Software
If you’re interested in learning more about top-rated project management software, project-management.com actively recommends the following:
1 monday.com
monday.com Work OS is an award-winning no-code work management platform that helps teams manage projects and workflows more efficiently.
Used by 152,000+ customers worldwide, this fully customizable software lets you plan, manage, and track every project in one place. monday.com offers time-saving and easy-to-use features such as automations, time tracking, document sharing, and real-time collaboration. Multiple board views such as Gantt and Kanban help you structure and navigate tasks and projects the way you prefer, and dashboards give a high-level overview of your progress.
In addition, integrations with apps such as Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Gmail, and Excel, allow you to easily continue working with your favorite tools from within the platform. monday.com also offers dedicated solutions, such as monday dev and monday sales CRM, designed to answer the needs of specific industries.
2 Wrike
Wrike is the most powerful work management platform on the market, enabling teams to plan projects and collaborate in real time. Our award-winning software is trusted by 20,000+ companies across the globe, including Sony, Estée Lauder, and Siemens.
Wrike’s customizable features include Gantt charts, request forms, dashboards, cross-tagging, time tracking, and proofing. Integrate with 400+ apps from the likes of Microsoft, Google, and Salesforce. Automate repetitive tasks and achieve 50% faster planning. Work from anywhere with 100% access to your files via our mobile and desktop apps.
Whether you’re a small startup or an established brand, Wrike has the solution for you. Paid plans start at $9.80/user/month. Join our community of 2.3 million — start your free two-week trial today.
3 Smartsheet
Smartsheet is a leading work execution platform that has real-time work management features, collaboration and automation tools. Users are presented with a familiar and easy-to-use spreadsheet-like interface. However, it has enterprise-grade capabilities that even Fortune 500 companies like Cisco, Bayer, HP, and PayPal are confident to adopt in their business. Strong project management features enable teams to utilize different views of real-time data, and switch easily from Gantt, card, grid and calendar views. Smartsheet has automatic update requests, and can be used for waterfall and agile projects, product launch, sprint planning, and more. The resource management feature provides users the visibility who is busy, and who is not, in real-time. They can also attach files, share sheets, get notified, view the activity log, export, email, and print.
