Software development is one of the specialized fields & it has become highly important in today’s competitive market. As demand for custom software products is rapidly increasing, it is important to complete every software project on time. A software development project manager not only manages the custom software development solutions but also plays a crucial role in achieving the project’s success, from ideation to final delivery.
Whether it’s healthcare or ecommerce software development, the core objective of a software project manager is to timely deliver high-quality software products without any budget constraints. In this blog, we will explore the key responsibility of software project managers and how they manage a project until achieving success. Let’s get started.
Project manager roles and responsibilities in software development
Professional project managers manage a number of important tasks in a software development project. Their job roles also include ensuring every deliverable is finished on time and within budget. Some of the major project manager role and responsibilities include:
- Project initiation & planning
The success behind every project heavily depends on a custom software development company as it builds a solid foundation and planning. The responsibility of a project manager is to properly define the entire project’s objectives, requirements, and scopes with the stakeholders. Their tasks include addressing potential risks, developing comprehensive software project plans, setting appropriate goals, etc. Effective initiation, planning, and foundation always ensure that the overall project is running smoothly.
- Team management & resource allocation
Another major role of software project manager is to thoroughly assemble & manage a high-performing development team. The team management process includes addressing the skill sets, assigning tasks, and also ensuring every team member is aware of their job responsibilities. Strong communication, conflict resolution, and motivation play a major role in managing a highly productive & streamlined work environment.
- Time & task management
In any software development process, time is one of the precious commodities. The software development project manager properly develops a detailed project roadmap, allocates a timeline for every task regarding development, set milestones, etc. Regular progress monitoring and tracking against the timeframe helps to find out delays and inefficiencies during development. Apart from that, managing deadlines with the necessity for top-notch deliverables is one of the skills that a professional project manager defines.
- Risk Management
Software development projects are usually packed with potential pitfalls and uncertainties. Risk management is one of the software development manager’s responsibilities that include analyzing, identifying, and minimizing risks that directly impact overall project success. Apart from that, the risk management process also includes efficient planning for emergency scenarios and proactive strategies to solve unforeseen challenges during the development stage.
- Stakeholder management & communication
Any successful project management process highly depends on effective & open communication. One of the major responsibilities of a professional project manager is to ensure seamless and solid communication between stakeholders, clients, and team members during the fintech software development journey. Technically, daily status updates, timely addressing concerns, and progress reports improve transparency & establishes trust among the team members, clients, and stakeholders.
- Quality assurance
The core objective of any custom software development firm is to achieve desired outcomes and deliver high-quality solutions. That’s why a skilled project manager is highly responsible for configuring & enforcing the highest-quality standards throughout the process of software development. The QA process involves conducting code reviews & executing testing procedures that ensure the final product will meet all client requirements and specifications.
- Budget management
A project budget is an integral part of any software development. As a project manager for software development, you not only execute the project but also manage a number of budget management tasks such as cheating a detailed and transparent budget estimation, tracking expenses, and efficiently maintaining resources to prevent budget overruns.
An effective budget management process during software development always requires ongoing monitoring, proper planning, and the ability to make well-informed decisions aligning with all financial constraints.
- Change management
Changes are inevitable in every software development project. Whether it is changes in project scope, technology, or requirements, the professional project manager should be responsible to manage the changes to minimize disruptions. Apart from that, change management in the software development partnership also involves obtaining important approvals, evaluating the changes & ensuring that all adjustments are seamlessly integrated into the software project plan.
- Project final evaluation
Before finishing the software development project, the professional project manager’s role extends to final evaluation and closure. This final evaluation includes conducting a detailed review of software project deliverables. This ensures that every project goals are archived, and obtains stakeholder & client approval. Apart from that, the software project manager must lead after project assessments to address the key areas for improvement and lessons learned for upcoming projects.
Do’s and Don’ts for a software project manager
| Do’s | Don’ts |
| Do effective communication. Communicate with stakeholders and team members regularly and give updates on project changes, challenges, and progress. | Don’t support micromanaging as it
can highly demotivate & minimize the team’s productivity. Trust your team for the final delivery. |
| Set goals & expectations: Define your overall project goals, deliverables, scopes & expectations that align your client’s understanding. | Do not set improper deadlines. Making inappropriate deadlines may lead to quality compromises, huge workload, burnout, etc. |
| Allocate resources & plans wisely. Based on resource availability & skills, you should wisely allocate time, budget, and team members. | Do not avoid risks. Always try to identify risks and mitigate them early to prevent further issues. Avoiding risks during software development may lead to project failures. |
| Focus on open communication. Try to encourage knowledge sharing, cross-functional collaboration and open communications within the development team. | Do not ignore the team’s well-being.
Neglecting the team’s well-being may lead to poor productivity and project failures. |
| Be flexible with project changes. Embrace the impact of changes & modify project plans based on feedback and requirements. | Do not ignore stakeholder’s feedback. Avoiding their feedback may result in wasted effort and misaligned project expectations. |
| Prioritize each task. Try to focus on key tasks,
prioritize and manage them based on the strength of your team members. |
Do not neglect project documentation. This is because it improves project continuity and knowledge transfer. |
| Track & measure project progress. Use professional project management tools and systems to track overall progress of the software development project. | Do not skip quality assurance tests. Neglecting quality assurance tests may lead to technical faults, user dissatisfaction, and bugs. |
| Always recognize & celebrate successful outcomes and encourage your development team. | Do not blame anyone. Instead of blaming team members, help them identify the main flaws and fix them in a professional manner. |
| Focus on post project development reviews to find areas for improvement and lessons for future projects. | Do not repeat the same mistake. Try to learn from past mistakes and stay updated with the latest trends. |
Skills required for software project managers
When you consider the skills of developers, you may find so many myths of custom software development. While skills for software project management can be transferable for different projects, some are extremely imperative for managing any project. There are some major skill sets required for every project manager to manage several job responsibilities. Here is a list of useful skills for project managers:
- Project management skills: A software development life cycle (SDLC) is quite different from standard projects. Therefore, a complete understanding of every software project management methodology and technique is crucial. IT project management responsibilities also include skills in risk management, budgeting, planning, scheduling, etc.
- Collaborative skills: Solid collaboration is one of the integral parts of software project management. Collaborative skills allow project managers to manage work more efficiently and quickly. While coordinating with team members, managers can easily gain important insights into the project. If more collaborative skills are involved, the project will be more creative as well as developed.
- Time managing skills: Organizational & time management skills are also imperative for any software project. Time managing skills help project managers keep a balance between multiple tasks and allow them to prioritize the important tasks first. Apart from that, these skills are also required to manage project deadlines and keep complex projects on track.
- Leadership: Leadership plays an important role in any software development project lifecycle. This skill allows a software development project manager to give proper support and assistance to the team members. This also involves resolving internal conflicts, overcoming challenges, developing collaboration, etc.
- Problem-solving: A software development project may encounter many obstacles. An appropriate problem solving skill helps project managers quickly identify challenges, analyze them & deliver effective and creative solutions. To enhance problem solving skills, experts suggest using routine data-driven analysis and decision-making frameworks.
Final words
Every software development project manager is an important asset to the organization. From providing guidance to team members to overcoming challenges, professional project managers take care of every aspect of software project management.
The success of a project hinges on the software development manager’s responsibilities and abilities to make informed decisions, mitigate risks, and maintain complex tasks. As modern technologies continue to grow, the necessity for custom software project management will remain constant which will reshape the path of software innovations & success.
