Hi! I’m Kawalin Limprakhon, an intern Software Project Officer at Trienpont International.
If you’re looking to break into project management or you’re simply interested in the field, improving your skills and knowledge should be your ultimate objective.
To get some practical advice on how to enhance my project management abilities, I’ve reached out to three professionals from the Trienpont International Project Management Team with very different levels of experience in software project management.
They’ve shared their insights on what it takes to be an effective project manager and how to overcome common challenges. Read on to learn from their experiences and take your project management skills to the next level.
3 Essential Project Management Skills
Let’s delve into in-depth insights from real experience together!
Delivering successful projects while maximising profitability
“As a software project manager, my top priority is delivering exceptional solutions that go above and beyond expectations. While meeting the business’s needs is important, maximising profits is also crucial.”
Our Head of Projects & Delivery, Justin MacCarthy, has almost 30 years of experience leading projects using both traditional and modern approaches, like ‘Waterfall’ and ‘Agile.’ He’s been in the tech industry since its early days, particularly with software products.
As project managers, our job is to oversee the project’s progress and ensure it stays within scope, budget, and timeline. Justin believes that profits are a key metric for success, and I agree.
To improve the bottom line, project managers must understand how to generate profits on each project. That means focusing on efficiency, reducing waste and inefficiencies, finding cost-saving opportunities, and maximising the return on investment.
It’s also essential for project managers to understand the industry they’re working in. This helps us communicate effectively with stakeholders, comprehend their priorities, and ensure the project aligns with the client’s overall goals.
Ultimately, we aim to deliver satisfying and successful results for everyone involved. This means prioritising profits, but also customer satisfaction, product quality, and team morale. With these priorities in mind, we can all achieve success together.
Driving project success through astute decision-making and critical thinking
“If you don’t understand the problem, you can’t solve it,” Jay said confidently.
Angkrit Khemaphiratana, also known as Jay, one of our Project Managers, is a self-taught software developer with 2 years of experience. He believes that project managers can use critical thinking skills to communicate better with clients.
To ensure project success, PMs must tailor their communication (Learn how Establish effective communication is important for delivering projects successfully) methods to fit client’s needs and adapt to each project’s circumstances.
In addition, to keep project management running smoothly, it’s important to assess team members’ strengths, weaknesses, and experiences, as well as role requirements.
Jay emphasised that project managers need to know what to say and when to say it, which requires critical thinking skills. This helps avoid conflicts and miscommunication and keeps project management running smoothly.
Prioritising customer satisfaction and building strong relationships
One thing we can’t deny is that all of the PMs, regardless of their business or industry, must have experience working on one common thing: meeting with clients.
Try, also known as Pawanwisa Mongkolyos, is a customer experience expert who has provided insights on the importance of good customer service.
She emphasises the importance of good customer service for building strong client relationships and overall project satisfaction.
As a software project manager, Try believes that having a service-oriented mindset and understanding customers’ needs is just as important as delivering projects on time and within budget for the project development skills.
To ensure effective communication, PMs should have good communication skills, including using an appropriate tone of voice and language while maintaining professionalism, building trust, and fostering positive work environments.
As intermediaries between clients and development teams, PMs can resolve conflicts and promote collaboration through empathy.
Empathy is a critical soft skill for project managers that can greatly impact the success of a project, as it enables them to understand and appreciate the perspectives, needs, and challenges of their teams and clients.
Conclusion
If you want to become a project manager, it’s not just about having good time-management skills or industry-relevant experience. You also need to have a growth mindset and be willing to learn.
Being open-minded and eager to learn will help you acquire the necessary skills to be a successful project manager. By continuously learning, you’ll have many options and strategies to manage projects in the most effective way possible.
I hope this article has given you some helpful tips and insights on how to improve your project management skills.
Just like me, you can learn a lot from the experiences and expertise of other project managers.
