Project Management Hard Skills

In project management, hard skills are the most important because they are the project
management techniques that allow project managers to do their job. They are also
known as the technical skills or project management know-how that is needed to plan,
schedule and manage projects.

1. Knowledge of Project Management Methodologies

A project manager needs to know about the different project management methodologies
that exist. That doesn’t mean that you need to be an expert in all of them, as they usually
are industry-specific and require certification. Here are some of the most common
project management methodologies.

 Waterfall
 Agile
 Scrum
 Lean
 Prince2

2. Proficient with Project Management Software

Having a working knowledge of project management software is a must-have technical
skill for project managers in today’s world. There are many project management software
alternatives available in the market, so you’ll need to determine which project
management tools and features are best for you and your team’s workflow.

3. Team Management
Project management is about teamwork. Project managers must have people skills to
keep their teams working productively. That means understanding conflict management
to keep everyone working together and morale high. It’s always helpful to start projects
with team-building activities to help create relationships that will stick through the thick
and thin of a project.

4. Time Management
Time is one of the triple constraints and one of the most important technical skills. Not
having time management skills can lead to delays and worse. Project management is
about meeting deadlines and getting your deliverables out on time. Project managers
have to be experts in managing their time, their team’s time and the overall time of the
project.

5. Project Planning
Project planning is a must-have project management skill because a project plan is the
foundation of the project management cycle. It includes the project schedule, resources
and costs. Traditional project management is all about planning ahead. Therefore, the
planning stage of any project lays the foundation for everything that follows, including
the success or failure of the project.

6. Project Scheduling
The project scheduling process is a vital part when writing your project plan. A project
schedule organizes tasks, teams and time to complete a project. When people think
about a project management skill, they’re probably thinking about project scheduling,
deadlines and deliverables. But project scheduling is more than that, as it also involves
resource management and risk management.
There are many tools that can help with this process, chief among them an online Gantt
chart, which provides a visual of the schedule with tasks, durations of those tasks,
dependencies, and milestones.

7. Project Budgeting
The project budget is the fuel that drives the project. Project management is all concept
and no action without a project budget. But having a project budget is one one side of
the project budgeting coin. There’s also budget management, which means tracking
costs throughout the life cycle of the project and making sure your actual costs don’t
exceed your planned budget.

8. Risk Management
Planning a project, big or small, is inherent with risk. Before executing the project, you
have to create a risk management plan to identify, assess, and control risk. The more
you can manage risk, the more likely your project is going to succeed.

9. Cost Management
Projects cost money. Creating a budget is part of the planning stage of project
management. Once you have a project budget you have to use budget management to
make sure that you control your costs through the execution stage.

10. Task Management

Tasks are little jobs that make up the execution phase of project management. They
need to be created, organized, assigned to team members and tracked to make sure they
meet the project constraints. This is done with task management. Project management
software helps you manage tasks and fosters collaboration among your project team.
Project Management Soft Skills
Soft skills are not taught anywhere and are developed naturally by individuals. However,
some of these can actually be improved through practice.

1. Leadership Skills
Some say that leadership is a personality trait or soft skill that can’t be taught. While
some project managers have better people skills than others, we think everyone has the
potential to learn how to apply proven leadership skills and techniques.

As a project manager you’re responsible not only for project success, but you also need
to be a leader that applies leadership skills to guide and motivate team members to
achieve their goals.

2. Communication Skills
Communication skills really go hand-in-glove with leadership. You can’t be an effective
project manager if you’re not able to articulate what it is you need your project team to
do. But you’re not only going to be communicating with your team, you’ll need to have
a clear communication plan for your customers, stakeholders and contractors.

3. Negotiation Skills
Being good at negotiation is one of many communication skills, but it deserves its own
space here. In project management, negotiation is an important skill for conflict
resolution and stakeholder management. For example, you’ll likely get demands from
stakeholders that can impact the project scope. You’ll have to give them pushback, but
diplomatically, so all project stakeholders feel they’re getting what they want.

4. Organization Skills
The term organization skills refer to the ability that an individual has to manage time
and tasks in an efficient manner. So as the name implies, organization skills allow
someone to work in an organized and efficient manner.

5. Interpersonal Skills
Teams are made of people and people have personalities. There are many different types
of team members and they all have to get along. Having interpersonal skills brings the
best out of your project team and helps with conflict resolution.

6. Problem-Solving Skills
Projects are problems. Having the skills to solve those problems means that your project
is more likely to deliver success. Think of problems as puzzles that you can have to
figure out. There are many problem-solving tools out there to help you along the way.
Personality Traits of a Project Manager
As noted above, these are not exactly skills but personality traits that are beneficial for
project managers and their teams.

1. Adaptability
Change is a constant in project management. Being flexible is what keeps a project
viable. If you’re not willing to adapt then the project will suffer. Of course, you have to
have the wisdom to know when adaptability serves the project and when you have to
bite the bullet and push through.

2. Critical Thinking
Too many people understand the basics of project management but can’t think outside
the box. Critical thinking is all about not accepting everything you hear but taking the
time to understand the issue and do the research that leads to an informed decision. A
critical thinker is more likely to clear the hurdles that every project has to go through.

3. A Sense of Humor
Having a sense of humor is an essential project management skill, even if it is a soft
skill in project management. Humor relieves stress for you and your team, and only
when tensions are lifted can smarter actions and ideas show themselves. Project team-
building activities are a great example of how humor can be used by project managers.

4. Patience
Nothing is solved by rushing through a project or getting frustrated when things don’t
go well. Projects need to be thoroughly planned in order to run smoothly. That doesn’t
mean there won’t be issues. They’re always issues. Whether it’s a change request or
stakeholders having unrealistic expectations, if you don’t have patience everything will
be exponentially worse.