The difference between Technical Project Manager, IT Project Manager and Project Manager

The nomenclature of modern organizations can make your head spin. Technical Project Manager, IT Project Manager, Project Manager – already on the linguistic level one can conclude about the scope of responsibilities of each of these positions, as well as about convergences and differences between them. However, when it comes to specific actions, the division of competencies often turns out to be blurred, generating chaos – the last thing an entrepreneur wants. So what do these specialists do? What was the reason for distinguishing their positions in relation to each other? Take a look at our report covering the issue.

Project Managers – table of contents:

1. Project Manager – who is it?
2. IT Project Manager – what does he/she do?
3. Who is Technical Project Manager?
4. FAQ. Questions and answers

Project Manager – who is it?

A project manager is a person who takes care of its proper management at subsequent stages of development – from planning, through implementation by way of appropriate motivation, to control activities. More detailed characteristics of his duties include:

• project analysis and planning the implementation process,
• analysis of available resources,
• indicating courses of action,
• scheduling,
• monitoring the environment – competitors, employees, regulations, consumer needs,
• building and leading a team,
• motivating the team,
• task sharing,
• mediating between business partners, company management, employees and subcontractors and the team,
• prioritizing individual goals,
• designing changes within the project, including those generated by crises,
• quality control,
• interim and final reporting,
• maintaining project records.

IT Project Manager – what does he/she do?

The term “IT Project Manager” refers to an information technology manager. This function concerns managing cyber security, operating systems and operational efficiency, internet monitoring, reporting programs, and software updates.

IT Project Manager plans, implements and controls IT systems of an organization. At the same time, his or her duties include raising staff awareness of the organization’s IT data security, planning the budget for activities within his competence, recruiting IT team, taking care of the proper state of hardware and standardizing the organization’s IT activities.

While the Project Manager takes care of the overall, proper implementation of the project, the duties of the IT Manager are more specific in terms of the area of his activity, which is IT, not limiting himself to individual projects in this area, but covering the entire IT domain of company’s activity.

Who is Technical Project Manager?

The term Technical Project Manager should be understood as a position that combines managerial elements with those of IT. This raises the question – what are the desired proportions between the skills in these areas? The answer is as varied as the needs of the organizations themselves. The border is therefore fluid, and a well-defined model of Technical Project Manager position does not exist. However, we can point to the responsibilities that are often mentioned in its context. Among them are:

• familiarization with technical documentation,
• familiarizing yourself with the source codes,
• cooperation with technical experts,
• IT systems design,
• IT systems evaluation,
• planning, implementation and control of projects related to the IT sphere,
• IT-related business direction planning.

A Technical Project Manager may or may not be an experienced IT professional with knowledge of how business works. As mentioned, it all depends on the individual needs of the organization.

However, the basic competence required for this position, from the perspective of a person with managerial qualifications, is the ability to communicate with specialists, understanding of business objectives pursued by individual tools and curiosity in asking technical questions. This understanding and attitude to cooperation in the scope, in which own competencies are not enough, is, in this case, the key to success.

Read also: What is the difference between a leader and a manager?

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