Information Technology Project Manager
Information Technology Project Manager (alternatively can be titled as IT Project Manager, IT Program Manager, IT Project Team Coach, IT Project Team Lead, Senior Lead Project Manager, Senior Project Leader, Technical Project Lead, and Transition Program Manager; hereinafter, the Manager) is an occupation, which primary goal is to manage information technology projects. The Occupational Information Network's code for the Manager's occupation is 15-1199.09
Contents
Functions
The Manager is responsible for the following functions:
- Plan, initiate, and manage information technology (IT) projects.
- Lead and guide the work of technical staff.
- Serve as liaison between business and technical aspects of projects.
- Plan project stages and assess business implications for each stage.
- Monitor progress to assure deadlines, standards, and cost targets are met.
Tasks
The Manager is accountable for:
- Manage project execution to ensure adherence to budget, schedule, and scope.
- Develop or update project plans for information technology projects including information such as project objectives, technologies, systems, information specifications, schedules, funding, and staffing.
- Monitor or track project milestones and deliverables.
- Confer with project personnel to identify and resolve problems.
- Develop and manage work breakdown structure (WBS) of information technology projects.
- Submit project deliverables, ensuring adherence to quality standards.
- Prepare project status reports by collecting, analyzing, and summarizing information and trends.
- Direct or coordinate activities of project personnel.
- Establish and execute a project communication plan.
- Assign duties, responsibilities, and spans of authority to project personnel.
- Schedule and facilitate meetings related to information technology projects.
- Initiate, review, or approve modifications to project plans.
- Perform risk assessments to develop response strategies.
- Monitor the performance of project team members, providing and documenting performance feedback.
- Negotiate with project stakeholders or suppliers to obtain resources or materials.
- Identify need for initial or supplemental project resources.
- Coordinate recruitment or selection of project personnel.
- Identify, review, or select vendors or consultants to meet project needs.
- Develop and manage annual budgets for information technology projects.
- Develop implementation plans that include analyses such as cost-benefit or return on investment (ROI).
- Assess current or future customer needs and priorities through communicating directly with customers, conducting surveys, or other methods.
Knowledge
The employable knowledge consists of Workspace-wide knowledge, Profession-wide knowledge, and Industry-specific knowledge.
Workspace-wide knowledge
Workspace‑wide knowledge Description Customer and Personal Service Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction. English Language Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar. Computers and Electronics Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming. Mathematics Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications. Communications and Media Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media. Workspace end-user software
Profession-wide knowledge
Industry-specific knowledge
Industry‑specific knowledge Description Access software Citrix Analytical or scientific software Minitab ; SAS ; SPSS ; StataCorp Stata Application server software Code hosting software; Oracle WebLogic Server ; Red Hat WildFly Backup or archival software Veritas NetBackup Communications server software IBM Domino Computer aided design CAD software Autodesk AutoCAD ; Autodesk Revit ; Dassault Systemes CATIA Configuration management software IBM Software Configuration and Library Manager SCLM; Perforce Helix software ; Puppet Database management system software Amazon DynamoDB; Amazon Kinesis; Apache Hadoop ; Apache Hive ; Apache Cassandra; Apache Pig; Apache Solr; MongoDB; MySQL; NoSQL; Oracle PL/SQL; Relational database management software; Sybase; Teradata Database Database reporting software Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services ; SAP Crystal Reports Database user interface and query software Data entry software ; FileMaker Pro ; Microsoft Access ; Microsoft SQL Server (see all 20 examples) Data mining software Google Analytics Desktop publishing software Adobe Systems Adobe InDesign ; Microsoft Publisher Development environment software Apache Maven ; C ; Integrated development environment IDE software ; Microsoft .NET Framework (see all 30 examples) Enterprise application integration software Extensible markup language XML ; IBM InfoSphere DataStage ; IBM WebSphere ; IBM WebSphere MQ Enterprise system management software IBM Power Systems software ; Kforge; Splunk Enterprise File versioning software Apache Subversion (SVN) ; Continuous integration software; Git ; Version control software Financial analysis software Delphi Technology ; Oracle E-Business Suite Financials Graphics or photo imaging software Adobe Systems Adobe Creative Cloud ; Adobe Systems Adobe Flash ; Adobe Systems Adobe Photoshop ; Microsoft Visio (see all 5 examples) Information retrieval or search software LexisNexis Map creation software ESRI ArcGIS software Medical software Epic Systems ; Healthcare common procedure coding system HCPCS Metadata management software CA Erwin Data Modeler Mobile location based services software Resource management software Network monitoring software Nagios ; Wireshark Network security or virtual private network VPN management software Virtual private networking VPN software Object or component oriented development software C++ ; Microsoft ActiveX ; Python ; Swift (see all 11 examples) Object oriented database management software Hibernate ORM ; PostgreSQL Operating system software Cisco IOS; Linux ; Ubuntu ; UNIX (see all 9 examples) Pattern design software MatchWare MindView; Mind mapping software; MPI Micro Planner X-Pert; NovaMind Merlin Project Manager (see all 5 examples) Portal server software Apache HTTP Server Program testing software Hewlett Packard LoadRunner Requirements analysis and system architecture software Unified modeling language UML Transaction security and virus protection software McAfee ; Symantec Transaction server software Customer information control system CICS Video creation and editing software Apple Final Cut Pro Web page creation and editing softwar.e Adobe Systems Adobe Dreamweaver Web platform development software Google AngularJS ; LAMP Stack ; Node.js ; Spring Framework (see all 18 examples)
Skills
| Skill | Description |
|---|---|
| Critical Thinking | Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems. |
| Coordination | Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions. |
| Monitoring | Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action. |
| Reading Comprehension | Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents. |
| Speaking | Talking to others to convey information effectively. |
| Time Management | Managing one's own time and the time of others. |
| Active Listening | Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times. |
| Writing | Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience. |
| Management of Personnel Resources | Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job. |
| Systems Analysis | Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes. |
| Complex Problem Solving | Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions. |
| Judgment and Decision Making | Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one. |
| Management of Financial Resources | Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures. |
| Negotiation | Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences. |
| Persuasion | Persuading others to change their minds or behavior. |
| Social Perceptiveness | Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do. |
| Systems Evaluation | Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system. |
| Active Learning | Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making. |
| Management of Material Resources | Obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work. |
| Service Orientation | Actively looking for ways to help people. |
Abilities
| Ability | Description |
|---|---|
| Oral Comprehension | The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences. |
| Oral Expression | The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand. |
| Written Comprehension | The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing. |
| Written Expression | The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand. |
| Problem Sensitivity | The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem. |
| Speech Recognition | The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person. |
| Deductive Reasoning | The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense. |
| Speech Clarity | The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you. |
| Inductive Reasoning | The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events). |
| Information Ordering | The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations). |
| Near Vision | The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer). |
| Category Flexibility | The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways. |
| Fluency of Ideas | The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity). |
| Originality | The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem. |
| Flexibility of Closure | The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material. |
| Number Facility | The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly. |
| Selective Attention | The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted. |
Work Activities
| Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work | Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work. |
|---|---|
| Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates | Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person. |
| Scheduling Work and Activities | Scheduling events, programs, and activities, as well as the work of others. |
| Coordinating the Work and Activities of Others | Getting members of a group to work together to accomplish tasks. |
| Making Decisions and Solving Problems | Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems. |
| Interacting With Computers | Using computers and computer systems (including hardware and software) to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information. |
| Getting Information | Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources. |
| Documenting/Recording Information | Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form. |
| Developing and Building Teams | Encouraging and building mutual trust, respect, and cooperation among team members. |
| Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events | Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events. |
| Monitoring and Controlling Resources | Monitoring and controlling resources and overseeing the spending of money. |
| Processing Information | Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or verifying information or data. |
| Analyzing Data or Information | Identifying the underlying principles, reasons, or facts of information by breaking down information or data into separate parts. |
| Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships | Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time. |
| Estimating the Quantifiable Characteristics of Products, Events, or Information | Estimating sizes, distances, and quantities; or determining time, costs, resources, or materials needed to perform a work activity. |
| Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge | Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job. |
| Resolving Conflicts and Negotiating with Others | Handling complaints, settling disputes, and resolving grievances and conflicts, or otherwise negotiating with others. |
| Guiding, Directing, and Motivating Subordinates | Providing guidance and direction to subordinates, including setting performance standards and monitoring performance. |
| Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards | Using relevant information and individual judgment to determine whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards. |
| Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others | Translating or explaining what information means and how it can be used. |
| Monitor Processes, Materials, or Surroundings | Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems. |
| Developing Objectives and Strategies | Establishing long-range objectives and specifying the strategies and actions to achieve them. |
| Thinking Creatively | Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions. |
| Communicating with Persons Outside Organization | Communicating with people outside the organization, representing the organization to customers, the public, government, and other external sources. This information can be exchanged in person, in writing, or by telephone or e-mail. |
| Judging the Qualities of Things, Services, or People | Assessing the value, importance, or quality of things or people. |
| Coaching and Developing Others | Identifying the developmental needs of others and coaching, mentoring, or otherwise helping others to improve their knowledge or skills. |
| Performing Administrative Activities | Performing day-to-day administrative tasks such as maintaining information files and processing paperwork. |
| Provide Consultation and Advice to Others | Providing guidance and expert advice to management or other groups on technical, systems-, or process-related topics. |
| Selling or Influencing Others | Convincing others to buy merchandise/goods or to otherwise change their minds or actions. |
| Training and Teaching Others | Identifying the educational needs of others, developing formal educational or training programs or classes, and teaching or instructing others. |
Detailed Work Activities
- Manage information technology projects or system activities.
- Develop detailed project plans.
- Collaborate with others to resolve information technology issues.
- Supervise information technology personnel.
- Analyze data to identify trends or relationships among variables.
- Prepare analytical reports.
- Develop information communication procedures.
- Assign duties or work schedules to employees.
- Analyze security of systems, network, or data.
- Coordinate resource procurement activities.
- Participate in staffing decisions.
- Identify information technology project resource requirements.
- Manage budgets for appropriate resource allocation.
- Develop guidelines for system implementation.
- Collect data about customer needs.
Work Context
| Electronic Mail | 97% responded "Every day." |
|---|---|
| Telephone | 81% responded "Every day." |
| Work With Work Group or Team | 65% responded "Extremely important." |
| Contact With Others | 65% responded "Constant contact with others." |
| Duration of Typical Work Week | 74% responded "More than 40 hours." |
| Face-to-Face Discussions | 68% responded "Every day." |
| Indoors, Environmentally Controlled | 77% responded "Every day." |
| Coordinate or Lead Others | 52% responded "Extremely important." |
| Spend Time Sitting | 61% responded "More than half the time." |
| Freedom to Make Decisions | 45% responded "Some freedom." |
| Time Pressure | 42% responded "Every day." |
| Structured versus Unstructured Work | 58% responded "Some freedom." |
| Importance of Being Exact or Accurate | 42% responded "Very important." |
| Responsibility for Outcomes and Results | 39% responded "Very high responsibility." |
| Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results | 61% responded "Important results." |
| Letters and Memos | 42% responded "Once a week or more but not every day." |
| Level of Competition | 45% responded "Highly competitive." |
| Frequency of Conflict Situations | 52% responded "Once a week or more but not every day." |
| Frequency of Decision Making | 32% responded "Once a week or more but not every day." |
| Importance of Repeating Same Tasks | 29% responded "Extremely important." |
Job Zone
Title Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed Education Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not. Related Experience A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified. Job Training Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training. Job Zone Examples Many of these occupations involve coordinating, supervising, managing, or training others. Examples include accountants, sales managers, database administrators, graphic designers, chemists, art directors, and cost estimators.
Interests
Interest code: EC
| Enterprising | Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business. |
|---|---|
| Conventional | Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow. |
Work Styles
| Leadership | Job requires a willingness to lead, take charge, and offer opinions and direction. |
|---|---|
| Initiative | Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges. |
| Persistence | Job requires persistence in the face of obstacles. |
| Attention to Detail | Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks. |
| Dependability | Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations. |
| Integrity | Job requires being honest and ethical. |
| Achievement/Effort | Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks. |
| Adaptability/Flexibility | Job requires being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace. |
| Analytical Thinking | Job requires analyzing information and using logic to address work-related issues and problems. |
| Stress Tolerance | Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high stress situations. |
| Self Control | Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations. |
| Cooperation | Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude. |
| Independence | Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done. |
| Social Orientation | Job requires preferring to work with others rather than alone, and being personally connected with others on the job. |
| Concern for Others | Job requires being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job. |
| Innovation | Job requires creativity and alternative thinking to develop new ideas for and answers to work-related problems. |
Work Values
| Achievement | Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment. Corresponding needs are Ability Utilization and Achievement. |
|---|---|
| Independence | Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to work on their own and make decisions. Corresponding needs are Creativity, Responsibility and Autonomy. |
| Working Conditions | Occupations that satisfy this work value offer job security and good working conditions. Corresponding needs are Activity, Compensation, Independence, Security, Variety and Working Conditions. |
Top industries (2014)
Government Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics 2016 wage data external site and 2014-2024 employment projections external site. "Projected growth" represents the estimated change in total employment over the projections period (2014-2024). "Projected job openings" represent openings due to growth and replacement.
