15 Essential Questions To Ask A Prospective Tech Project Manager

Innovation 15 Essential Questions To Ask A Prospective Tech Project Manager Expert Panel® Forbes Councils Member Forbes Technology Council COUNCIL POST Expertise from Forbes Councils members, operated under license. Opinions expressed are those of the author. | Membership (fee-based) Jul 18, 2022, 08:15am EDT | Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin If you want a successful outcome from a tech project, you need someone to lead it to the finish line.

That’s why it’s essential to ask the right questions of a prospective project manager candidate before you hire. These candidates must have technical skills and detailed knowledge of your project’s foundations as well as strong leadership skills to guide your team members in their day-to-day tasks. To help you in your hiring process, 15 members of Forbes Technology Council each shared one essential question companies must ask of a prospective project manager candidate.

Keep these queries in your rotation of interview questions to help you find the right fit for the job. Members of Forbes Technology Council share the questions they make sure to ask a prospective tech project manager. Photos courtesy of the individual members.

1. ‘How do you handle tight deadlines?’ It’s important to know how a candidate handles projects with tight timelines, multiple stakeholders and a budget, as well as the ways they communicate if there are challenges within the project. The biggest focus is on communication.

What’s going well, and what’s not? How is that message communicated (to whom and how often), and what the “asks” are to get things unblocked, if applicable? – Erika Voss , Capital One Software 2. ‘How do you see your job?’ One essential question is, “How do you see your job?” Do they see the role as someone who assists a leader who does not project-manage or as someone who enables the team to bring foresight and eyesight to the objective at hand? – Mohan Nair , Emerge Inc. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives.

Do I qualify? MORE FOR YOU Google Issues Warning For 2 Billion Chrome Users Forget The MacBook Pro, Apple Has Bigger Plans Google Discounts Pixel 6, Nest & Pixel Buds In Limited-Time Sale Event 3. ‘How do you prioritize your time?’ Prioritizing time is the essential job of a project manager. If a manager does not have a clear and concise method for prioritizing their time, then they are an administrator, not a project manager, and their effectiveness will always be limited.

– Leibel Sternbach , Fusion Capital Management 4. ‘How did your attention to detail benefit previous organizations?’ The candidate should relate past occasions when their attention to detail has helped the organizations that they have worked for. The reasoning for the question is that attention to detail is critical for any project manager’s success, be it in managing the schedule of a project, capturing meeting minutes/action items or documenting any risks or issues within a project before those issues derail the project.

– Peter Lee , Cloud Coach 5. ‘What attracts you to this position?’ “ What attracts you to this position?” is an essential question to ask a prospective project manager candidate. Their passion, their motivation and what would make them keep going when the going gets tough are things that you should know before hiring a person.

If one is passionate about a project, they’ll go the extra mile for it. – Vikram Joshi , pulsd 6. ‘How have you handled a project that went wrong?’ An essential question would be asking them about a time something went wrong in a project they were managing and how they handled it.

Not every project is going to go according to plan, and it is extremely important to know how to properly adapt when obstacles appear in order to create the best outcome possible. – Kison Patel , DealRoom 7. ‘What was your biggest mistake?’ The question I always ask is, “What is the biggest mistake in project management you have ever made, what was the result, and how did you resolve the situation?” Any project manager unable to answer this question honestly by admitting to a mistake is not someone to hire, as they will be unable to respond when an inevitable situation arises.

– Mark Brown , British Standards Institution (BSI) 8. ‘Describe the scope of your last job. ’ Always ask project manager candidates to describe their last jobs, including the timeframes to complete projects.

You can learn a lot about how they view their work and team members through their responses. A good follow-up question is to ask them to tell you about a time they helped a teammate and a time that a teammate helped them with a problem. – Thomas Griffin , OptinMonster 9.

‘What data and charts do you use?’ It’s important to ask a project manager candidate, “What data are you used to using to determine success, and what charts do you use?” Project management is an area that is undergoing massive change. Project managers need to be able to use dashboards within tools to provide real-time data about the work they are managing. Spreadsheets and slides with sanitized data can delay transformation and reduce a company’s ability to respond to disruption.

– Laureen Knudsen , Broadcom 10. ‘How does this position fit into your long-term career goals?’ I always ask candidates how this job fits into their long-term career goals. I have found this to be a very revealing question, as it shows me whether they see this position as their ultimate goal or just another stepping stone along the way.

For a product manager, it is crucial to be fully devoted and in it for the long run. Otherwise, it’s a waste of time for both the company and the professional. – Peter Abualzolof , Mashvisor 11.

‘How can a company improve its customer acquisition costs?’ I ask, “What is the company you have been working for doing to continually audit its own processes to improve its customer acquisition costs?” The answer will show how deeply the candidate understands how a company acquires new clients, which is essential for the project manager role. – Margarita Simonova , ILoveMyQA 12. ‘What predictive and risk metrics do you use?’ I ask, “What are the typical predictive and risk metrics you use to see issues before they become problems?” Depending on the answer, I usually follow up by asking them to give me an example of when these metrics have worked well for them.

And when they didn’t, what adjustments did they make to get back on track? – John Walsh , Red Summit 13. ‘How do you fix communication issues?’ I always ask, “In your experience, what stops project-management communications from working, and how do you fix them?” Communication is an integral part of a project in stakeholder management and customer satisfaction. This question can demonstrate how a PM addresses communications in terms of skills, management, and emotional and relational intelligence while managing projects.

– Spiros Liolis , Micro Focus 14. ‘What is the relationship between project and product?’ The technology industry is slowly shifting from a project mindset (time-bound, cost-constrained deliverables) to a product mindset (revenue-generating, long-lived assets that are capitalized in the company). The improvements to a product can be framed as a series of projects, with constraints.

A project management candidate should be able to clearly articulate the interplay between project and product. – Tishampati Dhar , Aerometrex LTD. 15.

‘What drives you to fulfill the company mission?’ Tech project managing is a dynamic field that requires a lot of willpower to deliver results. Asking about a candidate’s past experiences paints a picture of their skill set, but it doesn’t show their resilience in meeting unique future challenges. But if your candidate’s motivation aligns with your business’ mission, it offers a future-proof foundation.

– Tom Okman , Nord Security Check out my website . Expert Panel® Editorial Standards Print Reprints & Permissions.