From programmer to project manager (4): Can a layman lead a layman?
one. Start with a few recruitment requirements
In the last article, I cited a recruitment requirement that caused some friends to argue. Since you are recruiting project managers, why do you need so many professional skills?
Searching for "software project manager recruitment" in the recruitment channel on Baidu, you can find more than 8,500 similar recruitment information. Let's take a look at the recruitment conditions of the domestic software industry leader Neusoft Group:
Job Responsibilities:
Lead the team to complete the demand analysis, develop and track the development plan, solve the key technical problems of the project team, and be responsible for the project QCD.
job requirements:
1. More than 3 years of software development project experience, more than 2 years of project management experience;
2. Proficient in JAVA, WEB development, proficient in MIS system development based on Oracle/Mysql database;
3. Have strong communication and organizational skills, and good writing and expression skills;
5. Experience in medical business development is preferred.
Obviously, Neusoft also requires strong professional skills. Of course, maybe Neusoft is too big and unrepresentative, so let's look at a relatively small company, you have never heard of it (nor have I), Guangdong Guangfenglong Electronic Technology Co., Ltd.:
job requirements:
1. Can well grasp the development quality and project progress, and avoid risks.
2. Possess strong language and writing skills, communication and coordination skills, and good teamwork spirit.
3. At least 3 years of project management experience or large-scale system development and implementation experience is preferred.
4. Master JAVA technology, be proficient in J2EE, Spring, Struts, Hibernate and other development and testing.
5. Familiar with java-based B/S architecture application technology.
6. Familiar with the development of application servers based on Tomcat, WebSphere, and weblogic;
7. Familiar with large data Orecle/SQL Server, etc., proficient in stored procedure writing, database table design.
8. Familiar with unix/Linux operating system.
9. Experienced in software team management, familiar with software development process, and able to independently complete project implementation is preferred.
10. Have a certain system framework design, be familiar with the development process, and have good requirements analysis, project design and planning capabilities.
13. Preference will be given to those with the following experience:
a. Familiar with BIEE, or have experience in BI project development and implementation
b. Have a relatively in-depth understanding of the concept and architecture of BI/DW, and be familiar with the dimensional model architecture
c. Familiar with Oracle database development, or have ETL tool ODI experience, proficient in SQL
d. Experience in project management based on java technology is preferred, education industry background is preferred
Wow, this is even more amazing. Whether this is hiring a programmer or a project manager, I'm getting confused too. It appears that SMEs value professional skills more than larger companies.
Of course, if I cite more than a thousand, it will not represent all companies. But if you have time to read them one by one, you will find that most companies have higher requirements for professional skills for the position of "software project manager". So, is the legendary "layman leading the expert" really true? Can a layman really lead a layman and lead a project to success?
two. Layman vs Expert
1. Analysis of advantages and disadvantages
Who is more suitable to be a project manager, a layman or an expert? Those recruiting requirements seem to have given us the answer, at least in the software industry, project managers have an advantage. However, lay project managers often have their own unique advantages. For example, they tend to have a bigger picture, can look beyond the technology itself, and have stronger leadership. In fact, it is not uncommon for a layman to lead an expert in large-scale national construction projects or scientific research projects. It is said that my country's atomic bomb project was led by Marshal Nie Rongzhen, who did not understand nuclear physics.
It is not an easy task to take a layman and an expert project manager to PK, because each item is not absolute, it is like comparing a man and a woman who is more suitable to be a chef. When we take the PK of the two, it actually contains some implicit information, that is, the lay project manager knows better management and has higher emotional intelligence than the expert project manager. Otherwise, the expert project manager will win without any suspense. There is no need for comparison.
Based on this implicit information, let's try to compare the strengths and weaknesses of the two project managers:
| Project manager type |
Advantage |
disadvantage |
| layman |
Generally have stronger leadership, better at stimulating the morale and combat effectiveness of employees; Generally, it has stronger negotiation ability and resource coordination ability, and the satisfaction of customers and superior leaders will be higher; Generally have stronger communication and reporting skills; It is easier to jump out of the technology itself and see the essence of the problem; Generally better at weighing priorities and better at making trade-offs. |
The detailed plan of the project depends on the technical backbone, and it is impossible to make one's own judgment on the accuracy of its evaluation; Inability to tutor technical staff; Inability to analyze and judge technical problems and help solve difficult problems; Inability to accurately analyze the reasons for the delay of the technical staff's progress, and not be able to control the project well; It is easy to cause blind command; It's easy and techies look down on each other. |
| expert |
The disadvantage of the layman is often the advantage of the layman |
The advantage of the layman is often the disadvantage of the layman |
2. The Misunderstanding of Technological Determinism
The so-called expert and layman are purely from a technical point of view. Simply discussing whether a layman is a good or a layman actually implies a premise that technology determines the success or failure of a project. In fact, the factors affecting the success of a project are far more than technology, and the quality requirements for a project manager are far more than technology. The same is a layman or an expert to bring a project, due to differences in personal training and experience, the project results may be very different. Therefore, it is meaningless to simply say that the layman is good, or the layman is good.
3. Comprehensive quality determinism
The crux of the problem is not whether the project manager is an expert or a layman, but his comprehensive quality. Whether it is a layman or an expert, as long as the overall quality is higher, whoever is a better project manager.
In the last article, we talked about the six ability models of project managers, that is to say, an excellent project manager should have six qualities, namely: knowledge, skills, logical thinking, execution, mental maturity and leadership.
At the knowledge level, it includes professional knowledge, industry knowledge and management knowledge. The lay project manager has lost in terms of expertise and industry knowledge, but by default in management knowledge, the layman has won.
In the skills guide, including professional skills and management skills. Lay project managers also lost in professional skills, and also slightly better in management skills.
Now it's a draw. For the rest, we must fight for logical thinking, execution, mind, and leadership. This has nothing to do with professionals and laypeople. Whoever will die depends on personal cultivation.
Therefore, the competition of project managers is not only about management knowledge or professional knowledge, but also about comprehensive quality.
three. layman, why do you
1. Tang Seng's team
Being a layman, that is, not knowing professional knowledge and technology, is obviously not only not an advantage, but a great defect of a project manager. So why would a leader ignore such a big flaw and appoint an outsider as a project manager? To put it another way, that is, under what circumstances can a layman manage a software project successfully?
When something happens, there are always internal and external reasons. Specific to this issue, there are also its internal and external causes.
(1) In terms of internal factors, lay project managers must have higher overall quality.
Now the popular analysis team in Journey to the West is actually a typical team of laypeople leading experts. Going to the west to learn scriptures, relying on the ability to subdue demons and subdue demons, obviously Tang Seng is a layman. However, Tang Seng is not useless, on the contrary, his overall quality is very high. He is soft on the outside and firm on the inside, firm in will, clear in his goals, and has a strong personal charisma.
(2) In terms of external factors, there must be a reasonable talent structure as support.
Although Tang Seng can't fight monsters, Sun Wukong can, making up for Tang Seng's shortcomings in this regard. Just imagine, if none of his apprentices can subdue demons, no matter how strong Tang Seng's leadership is, obviously it won't help. The same layman project manager must have reliable technical backbones in his team. Like Sun Wukong, he can solve problems at critical times. These backbones are generally the team leader, system architect or system analyst in the project. When necessary Possibly setting up the post of Deputy Project Manager. If there are no technical backbones in the team, and they are all programmers who are inexperienced but not aggressive, unless the project is super simple, even if the project manager has the talent of Zhuge Liang, it will not help.
2. Size is everything
In the case that the above two conditions are met, it can only show that a layman can serve as a project manager. From the perspective of the project itself, in addition to these two factors, it is often closely related to the following aspects.
(1) Project scale: The larger the scale, the higher the probability of employing a lay project manager.
(2) The industry where the project is located: In traditional industries such as construction, construction, and water conservancy, the probability of using a lay project manager is higher.
(3) The technical difficulty of the project: when the scale of the project is not large, if the technical difficulty is greater, the risk of using an expert project manager is smaller.
(4) Project schedule requirements: The tighter the time requirements, the more inclined to use expert project managers.
(5) The level of project management: Some projects are subcontracted at different levels. For companies at the upper level, the project does not need to be implemented by itself, but only needs to be supervised. The project manager naturally does not need strong professional skills. But for the underlying implementation unit, it is necessary for the project manager to understand technology. Similarly, some large-scale projects are divided into several projects, and each project includes several sub-projects, and the situation is similar.
Among these factors, the project size is the decisive factor. When the scale of the project is large enough, there will be enough funds to be equipped with sufficient talents. In fact, it's just performance.
Four. Looking at the software industry through a bottle
Why are there relatively few field project managers in the software industry? This has a certain relationship with the particularity of the software project itself, but it also reflects the current situation of the software industry to a certain extent:
(1) The scale of the software project is not large enough
In the software industry, hundreds of thousands of projects are very common, and a few million or tens of millions is a large project. The profit margin of the project is very low, and many small and medium-sized enterprises are on the edge of profit. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in the first half of 2011, the profits of my country's software industry only accounted for 1.28% of the software business revenue. Such a low profit margin, it is estimated that it is not as good as the shoe factory in Dongguan. And projects with millions and tens of millions are simply not worth mentioning for industries such as construction and national defense. A few days ago, Taiji Group won the bid of 199 million for the IT project of the Ministry of Railways, and everyone was not convinced. Also, everyone is drinking soup, why do you have the privilege to eat meat?
(2) There is a relative shortage of mature project managers
There are too many small projects in the software industry, and the demand for project managers is very large. At the same time, there are relatively few mature project managers. The so-called "thousands of troops are easy to obtain, but one general is hard to find". Of course, even if Niu B has a project manager, his income requirements will not be low. This is unbearable for small projects, so we can only settle for a second place and find a more cost-effective project manager. Bring a good programmer.
http://developer.51cto.com/art/201211/364725.htm