What skills do you need to become a project manager?

Project management is a growing profession and changing fast. It has never been so important for project professionals to demonstrate their skills and for organisations to assess their capability. Project management skills are transferable. The tools and techniques of project management are universal and a good project manager should be able to add value in any environment.

A project manager should:

• be effective at planning, monitoring and reviewing;
• be able to manage resources;
• be able to motivate and encourage others;
• be decisive and able to work well under pressure;
• be aware of who the project will affect and manage the effect it will have on them;
• command respect and trust;
• be able to resolve conflicts;
• be good at problem solving;
• have an understanding of health and safety;
• possess excellent communication skills both verbal and written;
• be able to co-ordinate work carried out by different people and organisations;
• be able to work as part of a team and on their own initiative;
• be able to control and monitor budgets;
• possess good IT skills.
  
  

It is also important to:

• be interested in seeing a project through from start to finish
• enjoy taking responsibility
• be motivated by achieving set goals or targets.
  
  The APM Competence Framework is a resource that reflects the complexity of the modern project management profession. It describes APM's new view of the competences necessary for effective project, programme, portfolio management and PMO in today's environment and in our view of the future needs of the profession. It allows professionals to measure their skills, knowledge and professional needs against specific roles and competencies. Now you can marry the skills you have to the skills you require.

• Project administrator

  This person performs a support function within a project environment. Some awareness of basic concepts such as risk, issue and change management along with familiarity with project management terms is useful.

• Project co-ordinator

  Working with a project manager or as part of a project management office (PMO), this person brings the basic skills of project management discipline to project teams. Typically takes ownership for maintaining project risk, issue, change logs as well as project schedule and sometimes cost tracking. This person has good spreadsheet and planning software skills.

• Project planner

  A specialist role found on larger complex projects, particularly capital investment projects. This person is dedicated to updating a complex schedule using software such as MS Project. A planner has keen attention to detail and should understand concepts such as critical path analysis and earned value management.

• Project manager

  Responsible for project delivery, this person must drive the project forward to achieve the desired benefits. The job title Project manager is widely used and can mean many different things. Understanding level of ownership, particularly budget, helps clarify the seniority of this role.

• Programme manager

  This is a senior role with responsibility for achieving strategic benefits through undertaking a set of related projects. The programme manager is likely to lead a team of project managers and will report into senior management.

• PMO manager

  Projects and programmes can start and end, whereas the PMO is a department that forms part of business-as-usual. The PMO manager will not run projects themselves. Their role is typically to ensure consistency in approach to selecting, planning, running and closing projects. The PMO will be the conduit for project status reporting, performance analysis and information for senior management and is likely to have very solid project management experience themselves.

The APM Role Profiler has been developed to assist individuals in identifying their existing project management strengths and weaknesses, utilising APM role profiles and a subset of competences from the APM Competence Framework. 

Find a job