Why Domain Knowledge is Crucial for Effective Project Managers

Introduction 

You have the proper qualifications and excellent certifications in project management, but what differentiates you from other project managers? Why is the chance of someone else getting an opportunity higher than yours, even when you have more experience? Even with the same experience level, why do certain project managers with the same project management expertise have higher salaries than others? Why are certain project managers perceived as more credible than others within the same industry? The answer to all these questions is domain knowledge. 

In this article, I will explain why domain knowledge is a differentiator, especially in project management. We will also discuss how project managers gain domain knowledge. 

Domain Knowledge 

So, what is domain knowledge? Let's start with an example. An excellent new project manager has just been assigned to a brand-new project in a field in which they have no prior experience. The project manager has been introduced to the business sponsor, but the remaining project team has yet to be built, and the scope of the work still needs to be defined. PM has been told that the sponsor is an expert in their field with a clear vision of the end goal, but needs help from the project manager to set a clear path to achieve these goals. Sounds familiar? Great! The project manager works with the sponsor to identify key stakeholders and sets up a meeting with them to understand and document the scope and vision of the project. As soon as the meeting starts, everyone has opinions, concerns, and doubts about the project. This is a critical project with a set deadline. The project manager has managed similar situations, but they are having difficulty in the meetings because the product sponsor and experts are using industry jargon. PM has all the project management skills but does not know the industry well. The meeting ended in chaos. The first seed of distrust has already been sown between the project manager, sponsor, and stakeholders. The sponsor has begun doubting the project manager's capabilities based on how the first project meeting went. From there, it will be an uphill battle for the project manager. 

So, what went wrong? Did the organisation hire the wrong project manager? Maybe. They were equally responsible if the organisation failed to explain the expectations upfront during the hiring process. But to be fair, they were looking just for an excellent project manager, which, as I mentioned before, the project manager is.

Another argument could be that the project manager should have invited a business analyst to the meeting. However, it was too early to have a business analyst involved in the project to document detailed requirements. Project managers are expected to have at least basic requirement-gathering skills. After all, writing a project charter includes gathering high-level requirements to document scope and performing analysis to identify key risks, issues, and assumptions. 

The real issue was that the project manager was unprepared for the meeting and the project. Before that meeting, they should have done their homework to understand the business. This knowledge of the business sector is called domain knowledge. The PM should have asked for much-needed help to bring someone who could have helped them navigate through some of these conversations. If they had the domain knowledge, they would have been able to ask the right questions to guide the discussion in the correct direction. They would have been able to take appropriate meeting notes to connect the dots better in or after the meeting. 

As a project manager, consider your project management skills in a jar that you bring to contribute to a project. In Figure 1, there is no water in the jar. These are rare circumstances when there is no pressure, project stakeholders are friendly, and there are no high-pressure deadlines for the project. In those situations, a project manager may be able to manage the project with good project management skills. But that rarely happens. 

In Figures 2 and 3, water has started filling the jar. This represents where pressure is increasing in the project. Project management skills will start losing depth. And those skills would be blown out of the water at some point in the project. Project stakeholders will lose confidence in the abilities of the project manager. 

Domain knowledge adds depth and weight to the contributions of a skilful project manager in the project, which is represented in Figure 4. The project manager can manage high-pressure projects with balanced skills while maintaining stakeholders' trust. 

When and How Should the Project Manager Start Acquiring Domain Knowledge?

Learning the domain is a constant process that takes time and effort. Like how project managers try to keep up with project management skills, they should also be cognizant of changes happening in their industry. It also brings greater gratification to them when they can connect the dots and understand the impact of their project on their organisation and industry. There are several methods project managers can use to learn the domain. 

1. Learning through progressions: Knowledge of the technology domain will be high for a project manager who started their career as a software engineer, got promoted to a team lead, and then moved on to other technical roles before moving to the role of a project manager. For such project managers, navigating complex technology projects and conversations is fun. This is a perfect example of a project manager learning a domain through career progression. 
2. On-the-job learning: Another way of gaining domain knowledge is by gaining work experience in a firm's operations or functional area. Functional managers with a knack for organisational skills and who have worked on various projects are great project manager candidates. Organisations prefer training and promoting these candidates as project leaders rather than hiring from outside due to their institutional knowledge. 
3. On-the-project learning: This differs from the above two as individuals in those methods gained domain knowledge over the years and then moved to a project manager role. In this one, the individual is the project manager, who then learns the domain to execute their project successfully. They are naturally inquisitive and fast learners. This applies to project managers with little to no domain experience or who have switched domains recently. These project managers take a bottom-up approach. They kick-start the domain learning around the project and then keep expanding the scope of their knowledge to the product, their organisation, and the industry overall. 

To identify their area of interest for learning, the project managers can also take a top-down approach to pick the sector, organisations, products within the organisation, and associated projects. Here is a list of eleven industries to choose from. 

Conclusion 

Domain knowledge is a critical differentiator for every project manager. It demonstrates your commitment to your organisation and industry while significantly enhancing your ability to engage with stakeholders. This engagement is key to building trust and effectively managing projects. Take charge of your development: select any method and proactively acquire and apply domain knowledge in your projects. 

Happy Learning!