The Sophisticated Project Manager amplifies the skills in a project team. They do more than set and monitor the cost / time / scope parameters of a project. They may not be the most technically qualified, they probably aren’t. They may not have delivered this type of project before. They are instead the wise voice that challenges technical proposals with perspectives that the engineer hasn’t yet considered. They close one eye and look ahead to consider the environment that will exist when the project is completed, and guide the team to capitalise on that future. Sophisticated Project Managers don’t know all the answers, but are confident to ask questions of the team. The Sophisticated Project Manager adds depth to your project team and ensures the project remains relevant to the broader industry.
The Sophisticated Project Manager brings an intellectual rigour to reviewing project development. They are not an alternate peer review, or design approving authority. Technical peer review brings subject matter expertise - this is not the project managers job. Instead, the Sophisticated Project Manager is the link between technical excellence and the real world. They ask developers “how” the project product will work and “what if” it doesn’t, and follow up those questions with an examination of why and the potential risk environment. They look beyond the surface and challenge assumptions, conventions and decisions to provide a more robust solution.
The Sophisticated Project Manager seeks to remain informed on the broader industry and competitor developments. They do this because they are curious and genuinely interested in what is being achieved and why. They are connected, and engage in informed conversation about what could happen, and how best to capitalise from it. They use this informed curiosity to imagine how their project’s product will land on completion, and make changes during project development to increase the products’ chances of success on completion.
The Sophisticated Project Manager is not afraid to ask questions of the team that they don’t know the answer to. This does not mean that they are harassing the development team with micro management or many questions on a daily basis, they don’t engage in the type of questioning that reduces the space that a team has to work. The Sophisticated Project Manager’s questions are designed to create a safe environment for the team to step outside their comfort zone, to join the Project Manager in the consideration of technical challenge and future considerations described above. HBR research argues that asking questions that empower, encourages people to generate novel ideas and think of new ways of doing things. Novel approaches, innovation and solution finding are the differentiators between good project teams and great project teams. The Sophisticated Project Manager creates this environment.
If the Sophisticated Project Manager was in the military, we would call them a “force multiplier”. They are someone, by their intellectual curiosity, experience and leadership style that amplifies a team’s performance beyond the sum of its parts.