Should IT Manager have the technical skills?

Ofcourse, IT manager must have good technical knowledge, without technical knowledge he/she can't work efficiently,  we will not able to choose the best among the many alternatives. IT manager not like a HR.  he has to deals with project and gives the guidance to the team leaders and members. the person who has the min 5 years experience in IT field can be able to become IT manager.

without having technical skill how can he or she become IT manager?

Hi Guys

Based on my exp of handling small projects, large projects and also joint venture projects. In today's business world from client stand point, a expert project manager needs to wear all the hats. Expectation is, he should be expert in Initiation, Planning, Execution, Monitoring & Controlling and closing phase of the project. Apart from these qualities what i have seen is the project manager in the meeting with the stakeholder is expected to know there business, process, operations, technology, product and customer's customer.

So slowing the expectation is raising the bar, let it be America, EMEA or India. 

As having above qulaity it is easy for a PM to satisfy all the stakeholder's which includes even the project team. Because we all know when a fire figthing occasion arises, it is common to roll your selvees and get your hand dirty.

This has benefited me always, as I personally belive (PRoject Mangement(- also PEople Mgt, Soft Skills), Domain & Product) neeeds to go hand in hand. Because of this I am able play all the roles in my short career at faster rate. Again this depends on each one's personal view.

Thanks 

Mihir Jhaveri, PMP, CSCM

Senior Manager

ya the manager should have a technical skills.. he should be knowing what there employee are doing otherwise he wont aware of that !!!

IT is as vague as 'Medicine'. IT projects may or may not be very technical in nature. Project Manager is a  people's person, problem solver, fire fighter, effective communicator, negotiator, resource stealer (if necessary to get the job done), willing to roll sleeves and pitch in if situations demands, and most important a very organized person.

Though having technical skills and basics know hows will make him a better IT manager, no doubt.

Mr. Praveen i would like you to elaborate on your point as what exactly is the difference between the responsibilities of a project manager if working in india and working overseas. And as far as  question is concerned it all depends on the company for which you are working. If there are people who have the technical know- how of things then IT manager need not have the technical skills but on the other hand if the IT manager is working in a domain where tech skills are needed then he should be expert in that. So at the end of the day the need for IT manager to have technical skills depends on the domain in which he is working.

One aspect of project management is monitoring and control. Also in theory it is being said that self-restimation of the project is the best defence a project manager can have. Continuous estimation and restimation helps a project manager to assess the situation and to take required steps through Decision analysis and resolution.

Both of these actions helps if the Project Manager is a little technical. Otherwise he will not be able to judge estimation done by anybody else and has to follow blind. That can some time be fatal for him.

Praveen i agree with you that a project manager needs to be jack of all trades, if he doesn't have the requisite technical knowledge then he will not be able to handle the employees effectively as he is not familiar with the technical know-how of that particular thing...so for better coordination with the employees a project manager should have the technical skills required for the job.