Project management purists will argue that you need industry knowledge or technical expertise within the domain or area you are project managing. For example a construction project requires ‘s a background in engineering, a software development project in coding, a FMIS project a background in financials or accounting etc.

I say “bullocks” to that.

Reflecting on some recent project successes, some of the most successful projects I have delivered involved having absolutely no technical knowledge of the end product being produced. So that got me thinking, what made these a success and is there an ideal formula? 

So what do I think are the key characteristics that made these a success: 

Trust the process:

Not having product expertise means you’re only as good as the project process or method you are applying. If you can’t trust the process you’re applying then you’re in a world of trouble. This will sort out the ‘pretenders’ from effective project managers. This will mean more emphasis on getting things done through other people, so soft skill traits are more important then being able to read ‘a line of code’ (if it’s a software project) or understand what ‘weighted average capital’ mean’s (if it’s a Financial Systems project.)

Avoid having a play:

Having product knowledge usually means a desire to jump in and ‘have a look’ or ‘play’.   PM’s in this category end up getting diverted and want to be ‘hand’s on’. The danger in this is that you bring your own product ‘baggage’ which may end up hindering progress or you run the risk of getting caught up in unnecessary technical detail  vs focuing on what’s really important. I say leave the product design to the experts, and focus on just ‘managing’.

Stick to your role:

As in above, you’ve been brought in to just manage the project – so do just that and do it well. Leave the design, testing, technical tasks to the experts. Just facilitate the process.

Leaving the ego at home:

Don’t pretend to be a the ‘product expert – this is how you should do it’. Know when to tap into expertise and yet again your role is to facilitate the right outcomes. Don’t feel a need to be the technical ’decision maker’ – instead be the ‘decision facilitator’!