Accommodating Soft Skills in Software Project Management

Abstract

Software project management probably is a sector that has witnessed the highest rate of project failure in the world. This is not the case with project management concerned with other disciplines due to better management of their inherent strengths and weaknesses.Hard skills, often described as a science and comprising processes, tools and techniques applied to projects are the main focus of many project management methodologies. Extensive research has been carried out in the project management domain with greater focus on hard skills. Soft skills described as an art, are very often ignored during software project management. Such skills, acquired through experience, are concerned with managing and working with people, ensuring customer satisfaction and creating a conducive environment for the project team to deliver high quality products within budget and on time and exceeding stakeholder expectations. This paper summarizes the soft skills that can possibly improve the success rate of software projects. These projects, if not managed properly can lead to escalation of budget and time schedules beyond expectations. Deterioration of quality may be inevitable while deploying efforts to deal with cost overrun and schedule extension.Research in the field of soft skills required has been carried out at the University of Arkansas. The results show that IT organizations are conscious of the need for soft skills. Furthermore, a number of organizations, like Polaris, Sun Microsystems and Mastek have found it necessary to include soft skills in their training agenda.

A Importância Dos Soft Skills Nas Descrições Das Vagas De Gerente De Projetos De Ti

“…Entretanto, cada categoria pode demandar uma série de outros soft skills. Já Sukhoo et al (2005) contribuem com Disponível em: www.univali.br/periodicos ISSN: 1983-716X um estudo que lista os soft skills do gerente de projetos de TI, como: comunicação; construção de equipes; flexibilidade; criatividade; liderança; gerenciamentos de estresse e de conflito são mais relevantes em cada fase do ciclo de vida da gestão de projetos: iniciação, planejamento, execução, controle e encerramento.…”

Developing Soft Skills to Manage User Expectations in IT Projects: Knowledge Reuse among IT Project Managers

“…Project management textbooks and knowledge repositories often focus on hard skills , which are “the technical skills required within the confines of a domain” (Sukhoo et al, 2005, p. 693). Project management processes, tools, techniques, and methodologies are necessary hard skills for a project manager (Belzer, 2001; Sukhoo et al, 2005); however, there are additional skills, soft skills, that IT project managers need throughout the project (Sukhoo et al, 2005).…”

“…Project management textbooks and knowledge repositories often focus on hard skills , which are “the technical skills required within the confines of a domain” (Sukhoo et al, 2005, p. 693). Project management processes, tools, techniques, and methodologies are necessary hard skills for a project manager (Belzer, 2001; Sukhoo et al, 2005); however, there are additional skills, soft skills, that IT project managers need throughout the project (Sukhoo et al, 2005). The soft skills needed by a project manager include skills related to communication, organizational culture, leadership, problem solving, and decision making, team building, flexibility and creativity, and trustworthiness (Belzer, 2001; Muzio, Fisher, Thomas, & Peters, 2007).…”

“…It is the acquisition and mastery of soft skills that are thought to improve the likelihood of success of an IT project (Sukhoo et al, 2005). Unfortunately, in many organizations, good programmers or analysts are promoted to IT project managers, yet the skills needed to be successful in these analytical jobs are not always helpful in developing the soft skills needed to be a strong IT project manager (Kappelman, McKeeman, & Zhang, 2006).…”

“…While the organization and professional groups can be helpful at capturing, packaging, and disseminating knowledge related to the technical skills required by an IT project manager, reusing knowledge associated with soft skills is overlooked by many organizations. Yet mastery and knowledge of soft skills is believed to be necessary for an IT project manager to be successful (Sukhoo, Barnard, Eloff, Van der Poll, & Motah, 2005). Where technical skills are useful for project estimation and planning, soft skills are useful for handling relationships and communication on a project.…”