If you are gonna play... better know the game.

So in keeping with the Project Management meets competitive sport fighting motif, I have decided to tackle the concept of does a project manager need to have technical expertise/industry experience to manage projects effectively.

For me the answer is surprisingly… No. But wait there's a caveat to that answer…. Can a project manager manage a project without intimate technical/industry experience? Yes, but will they be as good as a project manager with the technical/industry experience… No.

But why?

There's the rub. In the fight game there is a saying "Ring Time is Golden".

What the hell does that mean?

It means that fighters that have logged "Ring Time" hours or have fought actual fights possess as strategic advantage to a fighter without.

Well what about all that sparring and training? Wouldn’t that help a fighter without the "Ring Time"?

Yes, they would.

But when it comes down to business and a fighter's business is winning a fight in the ring, in front of a crowd. No amount of sparring or training prepares you for the cheers of the crowd, the pressures of your family, the tunnel vision, and the myriad of psychological challenges that a fighter takes on, on top of the physical combatant. This isn't to say that some fighters sheer physical prowess and skill can compensate for a lack of "Ring Time" but ask any serious fighter out there, the smart money is on the guy with the best "Ring Time".

Being there. Knowing the rules of the ring. Controlling the anxiety, mitigating the affect of personal factors, possessing the clarity and singularity of purpose to fully leverage your training and experience is what makes a great fighter and similarly a great project manager.

I chose the opening for "The Contender: Asia" which centered around Muay Thai in which several rising stars in the professional Muay Thai circles were contestants in competing with very well known names in the Muay Thai champion fighters. And as I expected the more experienced fighters rose to the occasion and the other fighters with less experience, less ring time fell to the affects of the pressures of the ring. Some couldn’t reign in their personalities, some their lives outside the ring, their health, and in the end the last 5 fighters were all veterans of the Muay Thai ring. No accident. Ring Time is golden

Technical and Industry experience equate to having the tools talent and sense of situational awareness that can take a good project manager and makes him one that can in "Jedi" like fashion see the future improving response/reaction times making things seem effortless or even scripted. It is rare sight to see but a beautiful to behold.

So to boil it all down. A Project Manager can manage any project but when the stakes are high and they often are, its always best to go with your "game face on" and in order to have a game face you have to know the game. Knowing the Game means you have been there before and you didn’t choke. You rose to the occasion, faced the challenges with poise and composure and sent them all home packing. It takes a project manager with that situational awareness… that "ting Time" to make it happen. So if you are in the game for blood best have some quality ring time under the belt.

- Optimal Optimus