15 key project management skills
What skills do you need to get projects across the finish line on time and under budget?
While this list of essential project management skills is by no means exhaustive, it covers the core competencies.
Project manager technical skills
Technical skills (you might also hear these referred to as hard skills) are the more tangible and measurable abilities required to be an effective project manager.
1. Planning and forecasting
It goes without saying, but proper project management requires skilled planning. This can be challenging, especially since many project managers need to make educated guesses about timelines and required resources.
That’s where forecasting comes into play. Project managers need to use any information they have to make predictions and estimates.
2. Risk management
Every project has risks. Perhaps a resource won’t be available when you need it, or delayed approval from a client will set your timeline back a few days.
Project managers are responsible for not only navigating around risks but anticipating them so that they can try their best to avoid them altogether.
3. Budgeting
Only 2.5% of companies successfully complete all of the projects they take on. The rest go over schedule, over budget, or both.
Project managers know that there are financial constraints they need to work within, and they use their budgeting and financial management skills to deliver winning projects within those limitations.
4. Tracking and monitoring
Project management isn’t just about completing a project — it’s about completing a successful project. That won’t happen if project managers fail to keep their fingers on the pulse.
They need to use their performance tracking and monitoring skills to ensure projects are running according to plan and still supporting the broader business goals. If not? They’ll course-correct when necessary.
5. Project management methodologies
From Agile to Waterfall, there are numerous project management methodologies and approaches. These outline specific principles for overseeing and completing projects.
Experienced project managers are familiar with those methodologies and can determine which ones are the best fit for their specific teams and projects.
6. Meeting facilitation
Kickoff meetings, status updates, retrospectives — the typical project process has many meetings, most of which are led by the project manager.
For that reason, a project manager needs to be skilled at facilitating meetings, including creating an agenda, documenting notes, and following up on action items.
7. Subject matter expertise
Project managers work in a variety of industries, from construction to IT and everything in between. While it’s not an absolute necessity, it’s helpful for the project manager to have a basic familiarity with the industry and the types of projects they’re managing.
This level of expertise will help them more accurately estimate costs, timelines, and resource requirements.
8. Project management software
The best project managers know better than to try to coordinate all of the elements of a project with jumbled spreadsheets and task lists.
Instead, they’re experts at using project management software like Wrike to centralize communication, streamline collaboration, and iron out project plans.