Evaluating Software Project Managers: A Multidimensional Perspective

Qualified, motivated project managers are key contributors to software organizations. Experts have identified a capable project manager as the most important factor in a software project's success. Project managers' value to software projects, software engineers, and their companies is unquestionable. Thus, getting the most out of those managers is critical. The literature about knowledge workers' psychological profiles show that the best motivator is feedback about how well they've done. This is consistent with our experience in software project management and consulting. Frequent, detailed feedback can also be a positive learning experience and an opportunity to improve skills. Feedback and recognition require the evaluation of professionals, who must accept responsibility for their work if they're going to consider assessments as an opportunity instead of a burden. However, the criteria needed to evaluate professionals aren't obvious. Unfortunately, the literature provides little empirical data about evaluating software project managers. At best, the literature refers to assessing managers in terms of whether a project meets or exceeds its time and cost requirements. Our combined 50 years' experience in software project management (see the “Our Experience in Software Project Management” sidebar) has revealed some best practices for evaluating software project managers.