Project managers' skills and project success in IT outsourcing (Les compétences des chefs de projet et le succès d'un projet de sous-traitance informatique)

What skills do project managers (PMs) need, and how do these skills impact project success in IT
outsourcing? In this study, we seek to identify what factors impact IT project outcomes, such as costs and
client satisfaction, given the project characteristics and PM’s hard and soft skills. We examine data
collected from a field study conducted at a major IT service provider in India. Our results suggest that
while hard skills such as technical or domain expertise may be essential in a PM, soft skills such as tacit
knowledge of organizational culture and clients are the most important contribution that PMs bring to a
project. Soft skills not only improve project outcomes directly, but are especially helpful when projects
have greater coordination complexity or when there is less familiarity with the task and client. The results
are robust to different specifications.