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Nandini Sharma
Nandini Sharma

Posted on • Edited on

4 Project Management Skills Every Developer Should Have

Developer

Nowadays, developers need to have project management skills along with their developing skills.

The reason contributing to this can be the vast knowledge gap between the project managers and developers, which results in making it hard for a person not having technical skills to efficiently manage the entire team. In this case, project managers also regularly need the help of the development team, thus delaying the projects already.

Developers who have effective project management skills are also in great demand because companies now look for developers who possess effective skills to manage their projects. This is why it is becoming necessary day by day for developers to have project managing skills.

If you are a developer and recognize the need to have these skills, then you should read this post to know which skills are a must for you to develop. So, let’s begin:

1. Communication Skills are Critical for Project Handling

Communication Skills

Being a developer, if you want to possess strong managerial skills, then it is essential that you keep all the lines of communication open. This does not mean informal chit-chat or communication, but the important things that might impact the entire project.

So you need to have efficient interpersonal skills that help you to handle clear communications between team members and to have brief conversations regarding the delivery of the projects and any kind of other suggestions.

These days there are lots of online tools available such as ProofHub, Asana, Basecamp, Wrike, etc., to effectively collaborate and communicate with all the team members.

You can use these tools to evaluate the time of team members and also can track the progress of the projects of the entire team in one software. Using these tools, you will be able to have a 360-degree view of all the projects, leaving no chance for miscommunication as well as mismanagement.

2. Developers Need to Manage Any Risk Associated with Projects Effectively

Manage Any Risk

Developers work on writing codes that solve problems. So, they need to have a mindset of creating solutions for the problems recognized. You cannot develop this type of skill overnight as this requires to be worked on regularly.

When it comes to risk management, this can simply be understanding what mistakes might be there, how they can affect, how you can handle these, and eventually solve them. To become an all-rounded developer, you should have the ability to consider the risk effects of specific choices as well as executions.

There can be a possibility that the implementation that seems great while testing with few users can result in big disappointment when you officially introduce it to large numbers of users. So, you should be ready as this is an apparent risk and check for any risk before you do the production work.

Having risk management skills, you will be able to think like a risk manager and will be prepared for any potential scenarios that might happen with any project.

3. Developers Should Develop Their Researching Skills

Researching Skills

If you want to be a well-rounded project manager, then you need excellent research skills that would help you to run a successful project.

Although we are in the era of technology where any information is just a few clicks away, there is no quick method to find solutions for any problem that might come along the way. The internet is filled with tons of posts that have a lot of unreliable information.

There are also many bots that usually produce tons of content for Web 2.0 websites having no researched-based information. Publishers, hackers, and spammers produce wrong information that does not have any use for users or visitors. As the internet works as an open-source of communication where anyone is free to post, this makes it very likely that for sure there will be unreliable information.

But there are also a lot of reliable and helpful articles available on the internet which are reviewed as well as well-written.So, developers should be able to identify these websites and only rely on websites that are trustworthy and well-reputed.

In order to do your own research, it might take you countless hours. So, invest your time in researching, and you will be on your way to being an all-rounded project manager.

4. Developers Should Develop Strong Negotiation Skills

Negotiation Skills

Negotiation skills are also as important as all other skills mentioned above to become a well-rounded project manager. Negotiation skills do not only mean that you would negotiate regarding money, but it means that being a project manager, you have to negotiate regarding the demands raised by stakeholders that have the capacity to influence the project’s overall outcome.

So, having effective negotiation skills matters a lot when it comes to keeping all the parties together and at the same time honoring the requests made by stakeholders. By negotiating, you can solve issues not only within your team but also with external parties.

So, I think by now it is clear to you that by having negotiation skills, you would not have any chance to jeopardize the success of your projects.

Conclusion

You may be a very skilled developer, but nowadays, as it is explained in this post above, project management skills are very important. Communication skills, risk management, researching skills, and not to mention negotiation skills; all of these project management skills and competencies mentioned above can help you become a well-rounded developer.

As you can understand that there are no downsides while implementing these skills, you would only increase the productivity of all the employees and would have a collaborative team as well. So, investing your time to develop these management skills will pave the way for you to become a well-rounded project manager.

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