Popular Technology Degrees

Technical Project Management Careers Pave the Way to the Top

June 19, 2006
by Mary Hobson
mary.hobson@technology-schools.com
Technology Schools Columnist

Look at any recruitment agency, particularly in the technology sector, and you will see numerous project management jobs advertised. So what about technology is making project management so important?

Evolution of Management Structures

Management styles and structures have changed in the last twenty years. In the movement to reduce management hierarchies and because the financial cycles of most industries are shortening, it is more fruitful for companies to manage most issues as projects. This is an important shift from managing functions in an on-going state. This approach allows companies to change directions more quickly than traditional management structures allow. It also means that companies employ people for short and medium term periods, which means project management fits in perfectly with the current trend of outsourcing specialist functions.

Necessary Project Management Training

So how does this impact your career in technology management? Most importantly, it is necessary to gain project management training. There are specific techniques that are used in technology project management with which you must be familiar. These are usually bungled as software and user techniques, and it is important that you learn to use the tools that are usually included in these packages--often consisting of some form of Pert networks for critical path analysis, Gantt charts and documentation to make sure that each stage is understood and communicated.

Climbing the Corporate Ladder Through Project Management

By becoming a successful project manager, you will find that you have been in an excellent school for acquiring the skills you need for senior management. You can look from a top-down or a bottom-up perspective, and you understand the different areas of management and how they work together. Plus, you can plan and implement at a strategic level. Technology project management is a hard school--technology projects are notoriously hard to manage--but if you learn the lessons well, you could be rewarded with the senior management career that you've always wanted.

Sources
Project Management Software
"Project Management Software: Recommended," Team Technology
"Information Technology Project Management," American Management Association

About the Author
Mary Hobson is the Head of IT School at a Polytechnic in New Zealand. She has worked as a consultant for technology start-ups in Russia, as an executive officer in a defence facility, and as a university lecturer in computer science and management information.