What Does an IT Project Manager Do?

What exactly is an IT Project Manager and what does the position of an IT/ICT Project Manager look like?

To answer your question right away, an IT Project Manager is responsible for the IT projects within the organization and realizes them within the set requirements, time and budget. The demand for professionals continues to increase within the IT sector, as does the demand for IT Project Managers. A great opportunity for young IT professionals to grow into a managerial position.

Does this seem like something to you too? Then you are probably curious about what you need to become an IT/ICT Project Manager. And that is exactly what we are going to tell you in this article.

What is an IT Project Manager?

An IT project manager is responsible for the successful execution of IT projects within the organization. The project manager leads a group of IT professionals and directs them in their work.

There are often several projects within one organization and each project has a different project leader. A different team is often linked to each project for the best results. Project management is aimed at managing and directing a project as effectively and efficiently as possible.

What does an IT Project Manager do?

The IT Project Manager is responsible for the project team and the project itself. He or she leads the team and steers them in the right direction with regard to the right activities. The project manager ensures clear planning, proper implementation, progress and evaluation of the project. The deadlines, requirements and costs play an important role in this.

A project manager often has an extensive range of tasks, which differs for each organization, but generally consists of:

• Preparing IT projects by putting together a schedule, budget and team.
• Managing and guiding the project team.
• Ensuring the proper implementation of IT projects.
• Monitoring project progress and report potential issues to the appropriate people.
• Leading project meetings with team members, management and/or other board members.
• Collaborating with customers, suppliers, contractors and other stakeholders.
• Reviewing and evaluating completed IT projects.

What do you need to be able to do in this position?

As an IT Project Manager, it is important that you have a lot of knowledge and experience within IT/ICT. You know what the best approach is and how to best solve problems. It is important that you can provide good service to the entire project team: from the developers to the data specialists.

In addition to good leadership skills, communication skills also play a major role in this position. It is important that you can communicate well with people, give clear explanations and take the time to answer questions as best as possible. It is also important that you:

• Can think strategically to plan, implement and complete projects as efficiently and effectively as possible.
• Are good with financial management to draw up the correct balance after each project.
• Can easily make the right decisions and explain them well to the team and/or management.

In addition, it is important to know that there are two types of IT Project Managers: you can manage purely on the planning and set goals, but also on the content. If you also want to manage the content, as a manager you also need substantive IT knowledge.

This includes knowledge of system and infrastructure such as data centers, Windows, Linux and other networks. But also knowledge of software implementations and functional and technical requirements of software.