IT Project Manager
What is an IT Project Manager?
The role of the IT project manager is to coordinate and manage the entire IT project (functional, human, financial, technical and administrative). He/she manages one or more teams reporting directly to him/her.
What does an IT Project Manager do?
The IT project manager must analyze the program portfolio: assess and analyze all the projects in the portfolio to understand their status, objectives and constraints.
The IT project manager must interact with the project owner and/or business line managers: collaborate with stakeholders to define the basis for precise specifications, in line with business needs and the company's IS strategy.
- He/she participates in discussions and negotiations with clients to establish clear, achievable objectives for projects.
- It ensures a coherent definition of business needs and their alignment with global objectives.
- The IT Project Manager must carry out a financial estimate of the project portfolio: assess the costs and resources required for each project in the portfolio, ensuring that IT resources remain in line with the company's needs.
- He/she is responsible for technology watch, and for proposing innovative solutions: keeping abreast of technological advances and proposing solutions to improve project efficiency and guide the company's strategic choices.
- It plans projects over a multi-year period and must integrate them into the budgetary exercise, defining the necessary human and technical resources.
- He draws up budgets, negotiates service contracts, leads steering meetings, monitors schedules and creates dashboards to measure project progress and department activity.
The project manager must recruit, assign and evaluate teams of project managers, define the distribution between internal and external resources, supervise relations with subcontractors and ensure customer satisfaction.
It can propose project management methodologies: reflect on best practices and new project management methodologies to optimize processes and improve team performance.
The IT Project Manager may also participate in the choice of technical infrastructures, manage the design of a development or application maintenance offer, contribute to strategic orientations and the drafting of master plans, and define technological and methodological orientations.
The nature of the activities may vary according to the context in which the job is carried out, whether within a digital services company (ESN), a software publisher or an end-user.
What skills does an IT Project Director have?
A Project Director must have an excellent grasp of the architecture and functionalities of the company's information system (IS), IT infrastructures and software or ERP (enterprise resource planning) integration.
He must be familiar with the main suppliers in the IT market, such as software publishers and service companies.
He is an expert in the business application field concerned by the projects, thus reinforcing his legitimacy with the project owner.
The project manager masters project management and PMO tools.
He or she must be able to understand the company's environment and activities, as well as the needs and constraints of users.
As an IT project manager, it's essential to have a thorough understanding of the processes involved in drawing up a master plan, in order to guide strategic project planning effectively.
He or she must also be able to synthesize complex information from different sources, to make informed decisions and clearly communicate program objectives.
Its ability to simplify complex technical subjects is crucial to facilitating stakeholder understanding and promoting buy-in.
Relational skills, active listening and effective communication enable the Project Manager to establish and maintain positive relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
A diplomat, the IT Project Director must be able to put forward innovative ideas and convince stakeholders of the relevance and feasibility of the proposed solutions.
Good organizational skills enable the IT Project Manager to effectively supervise and coordinate program execution, on time, on budget and on target. Monitoring project progress, detecting potential problems and implementing corrective measures are also key responsibilities to ensure the overall success of the program.
Why call on the services of a Transition Management IT Project Director?
The experience of an IT interim manager is a fast and effective response to your IT Project Director needs. His knowledge and experience are undeniable assets when it comes to meeting a one-off requirement, as he is quickly up and running.
Thanks to his IT expertise and management experience, an interim CIO can quickly understand the challenges facing an information systems department and help it achieve its objectives.
Infortive Transition, a specialist in IT transition management, thanks to its experience and its network of interim managers, will be able to meet your IT Project Director needs.