How projects are managed depends on many factors. Every organization has a way of doing things. The following is a list of questions that should be asked before selecting a project if you want it to succeed.
• What is the organization’s culture? How does the organization view project? Does the organization place emphasis on the group or individual people? How important is control to the organization and how does it go about monitoring a project life cycle? Is the organizational culture focused on outcomes as the only criteria to project success?
• What are the organization's IT governance standards? Are there controls in place to guide the project manager down a path to completion or does the project manager need to be creative?
• What is the scope of the project? Is the project technological related? If the project is technological, a technical project manager might be required to understand the complexity of the project in detail.
• What are the time constraints on the project? Does time have to be micromanaged to meet deadlines? Micro management of activates requires a project manager with greater technical skills than other projects.
• What are the costs to the project? Is the cost structure complex and require the project manager to have a deeper understanding of them or can the costs be easily summarized for the project manager to understand?
• Who are the customers? Do the customers require technical reports or do they care less about the details and only then end product?
• Who are the stakeholders? In my opinion, knowing who the stakeholders are (which includes customers) is the number-one factor in determining what type of project manager should be selected to lead a project.
