IAM project managers are critical to the success of any IAM project. They are responsible for managing and overseeing the day-to-day operations of the project. In addition to the core project activity and resource planning, it is the responsibility of the IAM project manager to:
- Understand the goals and priorities of the project – by working closely with the product owner or program manager
- Develop the project plan and identify key milestones – by working closely with the architect and product owner
- Ensure that the implementation team sticks to the plan – meeting predefined project KPIs
- Identify, document, monitor, and escalate project risks as soon as they come up.
Over the years, I have observed the following to be traits that differentiate successful IAM project managers:
- They have a clear vision of the desired outcomes – Good IAM project managers have a clear picture of what the end solution should look like. As such, they are very good at articulating what tasks need to be done, the desired outcomes, and the next action steps required to accomplish those tasks.
- They are good communicators – IAM projects span across various units/departments in an organization. The ability to bring different teams across an organization to work towards a single goal requires good communication skills.
- They pay attention to details – This makes them effectively track and monitor project progress, spotting any potential risks in advance. They are attentive to details that the average project manager may overlook – for example, a key project resource going on a planned vacation during a critical phase of the project. Good project managers would identify this ahead of time, and come up with contingent plans to address such situations.
Lastly, I have also seen that great IAM project managers have a good understanding of the capabilities of IAM platforms, and a good grasp of general cybersecurity controls and principles.
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