IT project managers - Existential crisis

IT project managers - Existential crisis and the way forward in emerging agile technologies

IT Project managers who chose the ‘management’ path, leaving behind the technical stream very early in their career are facing an existential crisis in the currently popular Agile Methodologies, unless they master back their technical skills and develop a business sense to not only meet the specs of the customers but also advise them on how tweaking of product would make more business sense. Clients would appreciate that an IT services team working for them stops working as a vendor and finds ways to add more value, more innovation.

The position that comes closest to the IT project manager is the scrum master in agile methodologies, but the scrum master is typically the best coder in the team. In some cases, the same person can transition to the new role from the old framework. For example, in a data center, a project manager’s job is to manage a team responsible for keeping the data center up nearly 100% of the time. If something goes wrong, a manager (scrum master) would typically join his team in troubleshooting and finding the root cause of the problem.

An increasing number of clients prefer senior code writers over project managers, making tech CEOs aim the axe at this layer first every time a sizeable lay off is planned. Despite the years of experience and expertise that this middle management layer brings to the Indian IT services industry, it has been facing an existential crisis for a while now. A sizeable number of project managers have made the change to agile methodologies that steer clear of the traditional, and sequential, more rigid ‘waterfall’ approach while working with clients. There is actually no role for a project manager in the currently popular agile methodology.

Today, technology can help point to a potential problem area more rapidly than in the past. So, the manager must be tech-savvy to be able to use technology in troubleshooting. Across the board the role has evolved. Middle management responsibilities in traditional software development revolved around shepherding the development process through the stage gates. As we now move towards agile; the traditional role of the middle management is under threat. It probably has not been done away with, but it is certainly under threat. We have not seen mass job losses in this segment. Have project managers reskilled themselves in technology? Apart from reskilling, there’s a big change needed in terms of a cultural and social shift — some of it has been happening. Historically in our industry, the success of a manager has been measured by how many people work for that project manager. In a social setting, the success of your work was measured by, “I have 100 people work for me, or 1,000 work for me.” Now, success is not merely managing a large team but the ability to handle a complex project with relatively fewer people. At a guess, two--thirds of project managers will make the change on both the technology and cultural fronts; and a third will not. The latter may not become all redundant — they will possibly work in traditional roles with customers where their skills are still valuable.

If you exclude the BPO (business process outsourcing) headcount, the IT services industry would have project managers accounting for about 5% of the workforce. About 70% of those would have made a successful transition into new-age skills. Not just the methodology, but also technology, becoming clued into cloud--native development. The new roles could act as proxy product owners. The product owner is a customer--side role in agile methodology — on behalf of customers and can help drive progress for the team. The expectation is that the vendor is a partner in that journey, to help clients determine the roadmap – something that a technical software architect helped with earlier. For sure, substantial tech skills are needed here as opposed to project or people management skills. What is expected of these profiles is also that it would extend into understanding the business context of the product... help the customer think through what the product must do. Middle managers need to evolve very quickly by reskilling.

Agile software development turns the focus on key issues: how will the team meet business objectives; how will they create value--stream delivery; and how will they make innovation happen? The benchmark is no more around time and cost alone. Demonstration of agility is key. Project Management Institute tells project managers who may be working across different methodologies, be it SAFe, Scrum or Kanban: find a way to mix and match the best of different approaches to create a customized way of working that is best for that customer; don’t be constrained by any one methodology or by the conditions. Clients would appreciate that an IT services team working for them has found a way to add more value, more innovation. It becomes important for middle managers to lead that process.

Another developing trend is the move from ‘project’ to ‘product’. It’s been happening for a while, but it is now accelerating thanks to COVID-19. If a client’s focus is time-to-market, this is the theme the project manager has to support. When this mindset shift happens, all team members have to learn how to deliver a product versus a project. In the new model, you budget for business results or value delivery, not on length of time.

Key performance indicators are on profit mentality, rather than cost mentality. Project Management Institute is also helping project managers remain relevant - Starting January 2021, the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification will have an entirely new curriculum revolving around waterfall, hybrid and agile. It would cover a spectrum of skills. We are going beyond PMP and saying that the need of the hour is to make project managers become more ‘agile’. A whole portfolio of Disciplined Agile certifications for project managers has been created to help meet their professional development needs across stages — entry level, senior scrum master, value stream consultant, or even a consultant who deals with digital transformation.

More support is needed by project managers in their switch to managing deep science projects: artificial intelligence, machine learning, automation — Nasscom just finished a study to look at what the transition model for a traditional project manager to manage deep science projects should be; how do they bring in the right level of business acumen; skills such as design thinking, collaboration and problem solving, as well as a “fit for purpose” project manager framework. So what are the top three key result areas in the new world a project manager should be appraised on -  The answer would depend on the area: is it a data center, cost center, testing program? Accordingly, the focus changes. Within software development, the top three things to be called out are: be prepared to code, and code cloud-native. That is an attitude change but also a lot of technology relearning.

Second, collaboration and communication challenges get even more amplified in a 100% remote working situation. It’s far more difficult to bring teams together to manage a complex project when everyone is working from home. Even with smaller teams in office, soft skills are crucial. Third, stop assuming clients would tell you what to do. You have to force yourself from a culture and knowledge perspective to challenge the customer across knowledge, domain and business objectives. When building a product for an airline, for example, the expectation is that you will be partly a product owner; so, you need to know the business. Culturally, most managers in India are used to saying “yes, sir”. That has to change.

For managers who do adapt, how do prospects improve? The boundaries of what constitutes IT services have expanded dramatically. If you think of the kinds of players we have, they include Ernst & Young, KPMG, PwC, Deloitte. They are now almost mainstream IT players, as are consulting firms Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey. The biggest strategy they talk about is digital and mobility; they all have the businesses to not only put out the vision but also execute the vision. So, in a sense, if you are a rock-star, the kinds of companies you could go to next have changed. You can work in an IT services firm today but join a McKinsey tomorrow. That wasn’t possible earlier.

Opportunities for individuals are far more now versus earlier. One of the trends in tech firms across the globe is that these rock-star managers are becoming the key conduit as consultants; they show subject matter and business expertise as also social skills. We see a huge trend where these managers eventually end up forming the core of an agile project management office within these organizations.

What traditional roles can managers who are yet to make the cut fill in tech firms? There are always some roles for people who don’t make the cut into learning new technology. Take the example of PeopleSoft; it is a legacy technology. A vast majority of PeopleSoft engineers get retrained in other technologies such as Workday or Oracle Fusion or some other cloud technology. Some do not. But we still do plenty of work around PeopleSoft every year. So, the demand for legacy technologies will not go to zero overnight.

There are other areas – the entire talent management lifecycle and supply chain does not require the highest of new technology skills but does require a lot of old-school management skills. Are people reaching out to Project Management Institute for certifications more now than earlier? What kind of demand do you see, and specifically for what kinds of certifications, now versus earlier? SS: The PMP count in India, more than 50% of which is from the IT industry, grew about 9.3% to 43,814 last month, compared with about 40,075 at the end of November 2019. This is a bit faster than the global growth of 7.5% to 1,077,327. In India, 25 organizations have signed up to be Disciplined Agile Training Partners over the past three months.

The Disciplined Agile product portfolio was launched in 2020. A couple of things are changing. The reach-out to organizations is not just from individuals, who have historically been our high-engagement audience. Now, it is also from companies themselves. Both organizations and individuals ask for business agility or enterprise agility. The whole objective of most IT services organizations is to become a business partner to clients, as opposed to being a vendor. The client may not always tell you what to do, because they themselves may not know. You, as a business partner, should be able.

To summarize - If IT Project Managers become consultants for clients as well as learn coding, they will be valuable.