Itm424: Introduction to Software Use and Tech. Support

Are technical skills or people skills more important to the team manager in a software development project? Why?

Technical skills are important, and to be a successful manager, you should have a basic understanding of what your team members are talking about. But when looking at a manager's skill set, I feel that basic people skills are equally if not more important than being technically savvy. Most people would think that to work in the technology field you should have a solid tech background, though that helps, I believe with the right management skills even a nontechnical person can make it as a successful manager.

Sure, it helps to understand the bits and-bytes of each employee's area of expertise, but no one will be well versed in everything. If nothing else, it means the manager can appreciate what the staff does right and recognize weaknesses. But you might ask how can managers accurately evaluate team performance or assign tasks when they know little or nothing about what the individual does? According to some of my co-workers, the answer is communication. While technical competency in the department's area of expertise is an obvious asset, being tech-savvy doesn't mean a manager has to be able to do the actual work step by step. Rather, an overall understanding of the technologies being used to meet business needs and how that ties into projects and department responsibilities.

A well-rounded team manager in a software development project is critical to its success. Having the best developers only gets you so far. Without proper leadership, the project will most likely fail. Developers won’t know what direction to go, deadlines won’t be met, and the end product will not be created to the specifications as set forth in the project. A software development team manager needs to possess both the proper technical skills to guide the developers when they get stuck, but more importantly have the proper people skills and business process skills to allow...