Top project management skills for success

December 16, 2024

How to drastically increase your project success rate

What’s the one statistic every project manager should know?

This isn’t meant to discourage would-be managers, either. Instead, it reflects the importance of proper project management skills.

The same research also found that a proper project management (PM) process will reduce that number by 20% or more.

So, if you understand how complex projects are to complete and pair that with airtight management skills, you’ll be able to achieve a higher success rate.

In this article, I’ll teach you the top project management skills you need to achieve consistent project success.

I’ve organized the skills by soft, hard, and technical skills to ensure you have a diverse enough skill set to take on any challenge.

For example, 55% of managers cite budget overruns as a major cause for their failed projects.

If you equip yourself with staunch financial skills, you’ll have an easier time keeping all your projects under budget and will avoid a common cause of project failure.

There’s much to cover here, so stay tuned to learn more.

Why project management skills still matter in today’s age

With the advent of project management software programs like Asana and Trello (which use automation and AI), essential project management skills are no longer necessary.

However, this is different.

They don’t replace project management skills even with helpful PM tools that automate many processes. In many cases, PM skills are necessary to properly use software tools like Asana, primarily for scheduling, project planning, and assigning tasks to team members.

You’ll have difficulty meeting your project goals if you lack strong skills and a solid grasp of project management methodologies (such as Kanban, risk management, and Six Sigma).

Also, Gartner’s research predicts that the project manager will be one of the fastest-growing project management office (PMO) roles in the next two to three years.

Moreover, project managers should learn next-generation skills to ensure success in a landscape dominated by automated processes and AI.

It’s important to note that AI and machines will never be able to replace certain human elements of project management, such as managing relationships with stakeholders.

Gartner predicts that by 2026, most project management roles will have to undergo redesigns to accommodate new challenges, such as adapting to rapidly evolving technologies.

Yet, regardless of technological change, specific soft skills, such as time management and adaptability, are always essential for an effective project manager.

Otherwise, adopting a lot of fancy technology will only help your organization if your project teams can meet their goals.

The top 10 project management skills every manager needs

Let’s dive into some key project management skills so that you can form a team of the best project managers your recruiters can find.

For your convenience, I’ve separated the skills by category:

Five soft skills
Three hard skills
Two technical skills

P.S. Another great way to refine your skills is to check out the Project Management Institute (PMI) online courses. Courses include everything from PM basics to Agile HR and more.

Let’s get started!

Soft skills

First, look at some crucial soft skills that every good project manager needs to know.

As a refresher, soft skills are general workplace skills that aren’t specific to any position. They’re always valuable skills regardless of one’s job role, such as critical thinking skills and strong communication.

Here are the soft skills that are most pertinent to project management professionals.

#1: Communication skills

First, no project will succeed without clear and consistent lines of communication between all parties.

Project managers must especially be solid communicators, as they have to stay in constant contact with:

Project stakeholders
Other project managers (if there are more than one)
Team members
Executives

Effective communication involves relaying all changes and updates to relevant stakeholders, which forms a project’s neural network. People skills, such as empathizing with your team during a hard time, are also necessary.

Interpersonal skills also fall under this umbrella, as it’s crucial to know how to build valuable relationships with others (i.e., understanding social norms, being considerate, etc.).

Strong communication may help team members meet deadlines, specific tasks may go unfinished, and miscommunications can cause costly errors.

Strong communication skills should be one of your top priorities when hiring project managers. Look for key signs such as active listening, respect, patience, clarity, and confidence.

Also, it’s advantageous for project managers to display adaptability in their communication.

For example, a project stakeholder may prefer to communicate through instant messages (like Slack) instead of email. A successful project manager will adapt to coworkers’ communication preferences as long as they aren’t unreasonable.

#2: Adaptability

I already mentioned being adaptable when communicating, but that’s only one instance of the skill.

Being generally adaptable is a highly valuable skill for project managers because unexpected changes always occur in projects.

You can’t expect everything you developed during the project planning phase to go off without a hitch.

Instead, Murphy’s Law will likely rear its ugly head at least once during the project’s duration.

That means you’ll have to think fast and do things like:

Quickly respond to unanticipated problems (like a piece of equipment going down)
Adjust timelines on the fly
Help with decision-making when things go awry
Ensure deliverables go out on time even when complications arise
Engage in conflict resolution to settle disputes between team members
Alter the project’s scope if something unforeseen happens (like having one of your project leads quit)

In other words, the more adaptable you are, the easier it will be to meet your project’s goals.

#3: Teamwork

Most projects involve teams of professionals working together to achieve common goals, which is why teamwork is a necessary soft skill for project managers.

The project manager’s job is to rally the team, motivate them, and keep them on track to ensure they meet key project objectives.

There’s no room for ball hogs, so to speak.

If one team member (or the project manager) tries to handle everything themselves, they’re typically doomed to failure. Thus, delegation is necessary for success.

How can you improve your teamwork skills?

A few suggestions include:

Engage in regular brainstorming sessions with your team to get everyone thinking outside the box. This can help you solve pressing issues and understand your team’s thinking.
Learn your team’s key competencies. In other words, find out where each team member excels and play to their strengths.
Implement regular 1:1 sit-downs with each team member. During these sessions, encourage employees to provide you with feedback on how they feel things are going. This builds trust and allows employees to express concerns they may not feel comfortable sharing with the rest of the team.
Run team-building exercises (human knots, escape rooms, memory walls, etc.) to build trust and form meaningful connections with your team.
Encourage participation from everyone. Do you notice a team member who needs to contribute or participate? Do your best to get them to start collaborating. It could be that they’re just shy and aren’t sure where to chip in, so be sure to bring the issue up during your 1:1 sit-downs.

#4: Organizational skills

Staying organized is imperative for any project, so this soft skill makes the list.

Organizational awareness is also one of the ‘next-generation’ skills cited by Gartner’s research, so there’s all the more reason to hone your managerial skills.

One of the best ways to remain organized during a project lifecycle is to get a centralized view of all your projects.

Instead of switching between 10 different tools, you need a tool to manage all your projects in one spot – or at least one that provides a ‘big picture’ view of crucial metrics like project progress and task completion.

Project management tools like Asana and Monday.com are a huge help in this regard, but they don’t entirely replace traditional organizational skills like:

Reducing clutter
Making to-do lists (organized by priority level)
Practicing proper time management (i.e., not waiting until the last minute to assign a team member a pressing task)
Keep track of your email and phone calls (i.e., don’t let hundreds of messages pile up before addressing them)

Even if you keep track of your projects in a simple Excel spreadsheet, success should be within reach as long as you stay organized.

#5: Problem-solving skills

The last soft skill we’ll cover is problem-solving, which is undoubtedly helpful when managing projects.

As mentioned earlier, you can only expect your project plans to execute smoothly, as it’s almost inevitable that problems will arise. Whenever they do, project managers must step in and find suitable solutions as soon as possible.

Here are some tips for improving your problem-solving skills when managing projects.

Before you can solve a problem, you must identify and clearly define it. From there, sit down with your team to brainstorm possible solutions. Once you have a few options available, select the solution you feel is best (i.e., the one that will inch you the closest toward your goal).

Hard skills

Next, let’s look at three essential hard skills for project management.

Unlike soft skills, which can apply to any job position, hard skills are specific to certain job roles.

For example, knowing how to use Adobe Illustrator is complicated for graphic designers. Although learning the software is optional for positions without graphics, it’s a hard skill.

#6: Task management

One of the most significant aspects of controlling a project is managing the individual tasks that need to be done.

This includes:

Designing and creating tasks
Assigning tasks to team members
Maintaining seamless workflows
Developing deadlines and due dates
Holding team members responsible for task completion
Providing the necessary instructions and resources for team members to complete tasks

If you aren’t adept at managing tasks, you’ll have difficulty reaching key milestones in your project schedule, which can cause you to go over budget (or for the project to fail).

PM software is handy again here, as tools like Asana make creating and assigning tasks in one spot easy. You can also add images and documents to provide helpful resources to team members so they know how to complete a task correctly.

#7: Pricing

Since many managers claim that going over budget is why most projects fail, financial awareness is a major hard skill for project managers.

At all times during the duration of a project, you need to know:

How much of your budget you’ve used
How much you have left

Not only that, but it’s imperative to come up with a reasonable budget during the project planning phase. If you can create a realistic budget, completing all your project goals will be far more manageable.

A great way to improve your budgeting is to do the math first.

In other words, quickly calculate the cost before you begin a major project phase. If you notice yourself going over budget, do your best to compensate, or go back to the drawing board and see if you need to rethink things to make your funds stretch further.

#8: Resource management

This skill is independent of budgeting because it involves more than managing money. Instead, resource management refers to managing all your organization’s resources, including:

Financial resources
Human capital
Physical equipment
Software tools

As you can see, there’s much more to keep track of than your budget.

To improve your resource management skills, you should do things like:

Forecast your future resource availability
Monitor the use of your current resources
Manage your resources in a central location (like with a software tool, but Excel also works)

Technical skills

Lastly, let’s look at two critical technical skills project managers should have.

These are highly specialized skills that involve specific tools and programs.

#9: Project management software skills

Project management software is hard to avoid now, and there’s no reason not to.

These tools significantly speed up the project management process, making it more efficient and effective.

Yet, you need to know how to use these tools properly to benefit from them.

Project managers should train themselves on essential tools like Asana, Monday.com, and Trello.

#10: Portfolio management

The final skill we’ll examine is portfolio management, which involves creating, selecting, and managing multiple projects simultaneously.

In particular, portfolio management entails developing projects aligning with your organization’s goals.

That means working with executives and other stakeholders to determine which projects must be completed and which can wait.

Best practices for portfolio management include:

Adapting to unexpected changes
Creating a universal system for decision-making
Establishing a value-based company culture
Tracking project progress to improve continuously

Final thoughts: Project management skills

To summarize, project management skills are still critical in the modern era. In fact, Gartner predicts that project managers will be one of the most in-demand positions in the coming years.

By merging traditional soft skills with emerging technical skills (like overseeing AI and automation tools), project managers will be able to succeed well into the future.

Additional resources:
Digital age workplace: Why soft skills matter more than ever
Talent shortage: Addressing the growing gap in the workplace
Employee skill gaps: What they are and how to address them