What Are The Most Important Project Management Skills You Need To Succeed?

The answer is: it depends on the project. Every project is a unique endeavor, no matter how similar they may seem. Something about it – outcomes, duration, resources, location, budget, stakeholders, etc – may not be the same. For this reason, not all project management skills are equally important or relevant for every project.

Project management is one of a few careers with a wide spread of interactions across parties, departments, and functions – accounting, legal, procurement, finance, HR, etc. For this reason, a project person often wears multiple hats to successfully move a project from start to finish line. He or she requires multiple skills and knowledge to be effective at this. But because every project is unique, not every skill is equally important all the time.

So, how can you identify and focus on the most essential project management skills for your project? Here are three foundational things to consider:

• Project objectives and stakeholder expectations

• Project constraints and challenges

• Project approach and methodology

With an accurate assessment of the objectives, constraints, and approach, you will be able to identify the most valuable skills to bring to each project. Identifying the skills that are most relevant, critical, and suitable for your project, is your first step to success in project management. On the other hand, failure at this may bring serious consequences throughout the project’s lifecycle and possibly, your reputation as the project executive.

In this article, we will introduce you to how you can prioritize the most important project management skills for your project.  

Let’s dive in!

Consider the project objectives and stakeholder expectations

Projects exist to deliver value, which is the set of benefits that can be derived from the operation of a project in its lifetime. While meeting project deliverables is of utmost concern, the real value is in its usage. For example, a new international airport in Nigeria is unable to attract the patronage of major airlines because a critical aspect of the facility falls short of requirements for wide-body airplanes. This is why the Project Management Institute (PMI) considers “a systems view of value delivery as part of the Standard for Project Management”.

So, the first principle to consider concerns the set of skills you need so you can fully articulate and understand the project objectives and stakeholder expectations. These are the main goals and deliverables of your project, as well as the criteria for success and quality. They also include the people or groups that have an interest or influence in your project. Here, your analytical and communication skills are important. Knowing the information to look out for and asking the right questions from the right sources gives you the clarity to frame the project objectives accordingly and identify the relevant entities who may have a stake in the project.

With your analytical skills, you will also know what assumptions are being made and what uncertainties they carry – which leads us to the next consideration – the constraints and risks that influence project success.

Consider the project constraints and challenges

Constraints and challenges in a project may arise from the project environment (internal and external), the scope definition, and stakeholders, amongst others. These may impose limitations and cause risks that could affect your project. Examples include regulations, resources, schedules, suppliers, etc.  It also includes the potential threats and uncertainties that could impact your project.

With a clear understanding of your project constraints, challenges, and dynamics, you can identify the skills that help you overcome or minimize the negative impacts of unforeseen events on your project.

These may be skills around estimation and resource allocation, risk assessment and mitigation, or information dissemination. Creativity and problem-solving skills may also be important for devising solutions to the complexities, issues, and challenges that arise during your project. To cope with the uncertainties of the project, your creative skills are also important for crafting appropriate responses. Such skills help you manage and control your project’s resources, budget, time, and risks effectively and efficiently.

However, which skills to prioritize depends on the requirements and complexities of the project, talking of which we discuss how project requirements influence the project approach and methodology in the next and final consideration.

Consider the project approach and methodology

To be effective and deliver the project’s objectives, it is necessary to tailor the project approach and methodology to the project requirements. While some projects have well-defined scope requirements, some project scopes are dynamic and evolve with the project. The degree of change and uncertainty surrounding a project may be high or predictable. Skills that may help a project manager make this judgment are important to be identified at the beginning of the project. These will help to define the specific rules and procedures, the phases or stages of your project lifecycle, as well as the appropriate tools or techniques that you use to plan, execute, monitor, control, and close your project.

Skills that help you make the right calls on your project approach and methodology may include analytical and decision-making skills coupled with your knowledge of different approaches such as Waterfall (Predictive), Agile, Scrum, Kanban, and others.

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By considering these factors, you can identify the skills that help you follow or adapt to the best practices or standards for managing projects in your industry or organization. They also help you use or customize the appropriate tools or techniques for managing different aspects of your project effectively and efficiently.

Conclusion

I hope you found this useful. Using the three principles to identify required skills can benefit your project and career.  With improved project management skills and increased confidence, you can improve your project innovation and performance, reduce project risks, deliver stakeholder value, and boost your project satisfaction and reputation. However, knowing which skills to prioritize depends on the requirements and complexities of each project.