Technical Project Manager Interview Questions for 2025

According to PMBOK “A program is a group of related projects managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits and control not available from managing them individually. Programs may contain elements of work outside of the scope of the discrete projects in the program.”

A program refers to multiple projects managed and delivered as a single package. Therefore, a program manager oversees all the program projects to achieve their outcomes. 

A project is a set of tasks/activities undertaken to create a product, service, or result and have defined start and end date and while programs refers to multiple projects managed and delivered as a single package. 

Projects differ from Programs in the following ways: 

Organization is the most important quality that must be factored in any undertaking.  I am an organized, hardworking individual. This has been the foundation of every project I have undertaken. Organization is what defines a working plan. I am a highly motivated and confident employee. As project manager I am able to listen to my inner voice and trust my instincts while making an important decisions. I understand when to act decisively and speak out my mind when situations require of me as I can endure the pressure and consequences of it. I have a big appetite for growth and learning. I possess great eagerness for new challenges. I have always wanted to improve through exposure to various situations. As they say experience is the best teacher, it develops a skill for problem solving. My ambition drives me every day to achieve new things noteworthy of propelling not only individuals but the entire firm to greater heights and to reach their potential. I accept nothing other than quality from myself and my peers. I pay attention to the minute details in every project. I am also a flexible individual when approaching technical projects as the current world requires flexibility and endurance together with my exceptional interpersonal skills. My result-oriented mind is what propels my workability.

A project manager spends a large part of their time communicating through formal, informal, written, or oral channels. Effective communication is the key to project success as it keeps every stakeholder engaged. Communication in project management refers to the sharing of ideas and constructive opinions among the project staff and over the time I have worked in this role, I have discovered that communication is among the key elements required for this role. In the case of complex projects where it requires each participant to contribute a positive slice, a clear communication is essential. Also for everyone to be able to effectively work and perform optimally, a well-structured communication is necessary to ensure that we are all on the same page as well as bring transparency into the project. Effective communication also creates a conducive working environment between the staff. Another necessity is the communication with the client and other stakeholders. This communication is primarily on the progress of the project to ensure that everything is well on track. In most of the projects I have worked on, I usually schedule meetings, send emails, use phone calls, carry out surveys and send memos to my project staff whenever I need to communicate an important issue. Basically, communication is the key component for a smooth and efficient flow of a project.  

Project manager handles the schedule, planning, and monitoring to the end. The project Manager takes the project and implements all the processes as below: 

1. Planning: Project managers will create a blueprint to drive the entire project from ideation to fruition, explaining its scope, required resources, foreseen timeframe, communication plan, and more. 
2. Leading: Project managers guide the project team through procedures and processes and have excellent communication and people skills. 
3. Execution: A project manager will likely engage in the tangible activities required to move the project forward. 
4. Time management: Project managers control schedules and, when problems arise, are accountable for fixing them and conveying them effectively to team members and other stakeholders. 
5. Budget: A key responsibility for project managers includes coming up with — and sticking to — funding for the project. If unexpected financial issues arise, it’s up to the project manager to manage them and reallocate resources where necessary. 
6. Documentation: Project managers record each project’s progress with tools such as data collection and status reports. 
7. Maintenance: It’s crucial to develop a plan for the ongoing success of the deliverable; this includes troubleshooting and maintenance. 

I would provide a brief description of my projects and how the two projects gave me valuable lessons and skills that I carry with me to this date. I handled the projects implementing as per the procedures as mentioned above. As a project manager I was privileged to handle a project that entailed collecting and analyzing data from customers. I encountered a lot of challenges like handling changes from the client, main resource resigning, working within new technology on which team had no expertise on this project that needed to be handled innovatively. I designed an approach that worked really well. I formulated group problem-solving sessions among my project staff. This approach worked well as it highlighted and clarified the strengths, weaknesses, and roles of each member of the group. We were able to come up with achievable plans and schedules that were contributed by the entire project team. Presently, I have noticed that many projects are being faced with constricted budgets and limited resources. However, the above approach works to maximize the available limited resources while ensuring that the staff is focused and motivated during the entire project. 

Managing a team is one of the underrated and overlooked qualities of project managers. For a project to be successful, there must be unity among the project staff. Conflicts arise due to various issues and the only way to solve conflicts is getting to the bottom of it and understanding the root cause. It is my mandate as a technical project manager to handle conflicts in a professional and effective way. 

To provide an example, In a recent incident my team faced, the project technical analyst and the performance manager could not agree on a solution to a problem. I initiated a discussion to try and understand the perspective of the two parties before arriving at resolving the issue. We decided on the parameters to be used for evaluating and selecting a solution first after critically analyzing the two, we agreed to settle on the performance manager's solution since it was better suited for our delivery timelines and budgets, both. Such incidents helped me learn that it is not only enough to communicate but also to listen keenly and without preconceived ideas, before solving a conflict. 

Project managers carry the responsibility of understanding and handling projects budget and other costs such as those of materials, project team, and most importantly time. The above factors are important to be handled carefully to have any project to be successfully delivered. It is my mandate to manage budgets and the costs for a project, learn the procedures required to request as well as change and manage the resources allocated for a project without the need for overspending throughout the whole project. All those encounters provide invaluable experience in this field that could grow and achieve in achieving its goals. Clear communication with stakeholders regarding the budget is very important. Looping and updating stakeholders is of utmost importance.

A technical project manager is required to assign tasks as per the project requirements to every team member. Some companies rely on the project manager's criteria while others have a specific way of assigning tasks. Assigning tasks may be a way of gauging a manager's leadership skills as it entails managing team members. Personally, I would delegate tasks to my team members based on their skills, interest, career goals, available capacity and distinctive qualities. I also understand that work must be shared among the team members. I would personally devise a way of rewarding and recognizing those hard working members of my team as a way of motivating the rest of the team to work hard and perform better. I will also delegate those complex tasks to members who can comfortably handle them. Once I have delegated tasks to my members, I will carry follow-ups on each task to ensure the members work towards fulfilling the timeline and are well prepared and equipped to handle the task. It is also my understanding that every team member has his/her weakness and strengths. My approach is to maximize on their strengths. I would also encourage my team members to approach me whenever there is an issue that requires clarification.  

Working with international clients comes with its own set of challenges. For a website development project, the client required the website to be functional in different languages, so  an international team with members from different nationalities were assembled to complete this task. The biggest challenges were working around the language barrier, and the team members working from different time zones. An eager junior member in the team was assigned in the project. He altered his schedule to accommodate the needs of the project. The project required every step to be clearly documented for all the team members to understand. This project gave us a valuable experience as it was a great test for the entire team. Working internationally gave us a boost in confidence and skills as well as the experience of handling different clients.

One of the most successful project we completed recently on Pharma. The client asked us to revamp major modules and lots of enhancement were integrated on this portal. The project’s deadline was tight and we had to properly plan out the approach to complete it within deadlines.  

Below are the skills required for an project Manager to make any project to be successful

1. The project manager should be proficient enough to use the project management tools such as Trello, Asana Jira etc. 
2. The Project Manager should have the ability to apply frameworks such as Agile and Scrum throughout the project development lifecycle 
3. Harmonize with managers, clients, and team members to materialize expectations, deliverables, and objectives. 
4. Create and oversee a team of people with diverse skill sets towards an agreeable goal by directing each member to complete their unique deliverables on time. 
5. Implement a process on how team members can meet project goals efficiently in the proper sequence with unique skills within project constraints (time, budget, quality, etc.) 
6. Capability to accurately map out talent resources, tasks, and dependencies, create timeline estimates, develop schedules, and keep everyone up to speed. 
7. Acquire cost efficiencies by optimizing work hours and motivating for critical procurements and other expenses. 
8.  Track overall project and stakeholder progress throughout the project lifecycle. 
9.  The project manager should be able to address interpersonal conflicts among team members and optimize gains. 
10.  Fix project disparities, overlaps, and other issues due to internal unforeseen external setbacks.  
11.  Grasp the rules and procedures of regulatory regime controlling the sector, including health, safety, business best practices, and environment.

The following are ways to keep control of your project scope. 

• Document the Project Requirements

Documenting your project requirements is the most basic form to avoid scope creep. A precise and clear definition of the project requirements allows for specifying the scope of your project. 

• Set up Change Control Processes

The requirements document is a starting point, and when the stakeholder wants to change something, it can be analyzed and approved before the team starts working on the changes.

It is unrealistic that everything is going to stay the same. It is essential to prevent scope creep by controlling the changes in the project. 

• Create a Clear Project Schedule

Stakeholders' requirements are used to determine the project scope. A work breakdown structure (WBS) is created, which would help the team to build the MVP. The project schedule would help outline what will be delivered in tasks, activities, and milestones. 

• Verify the Project Scope with the Stakeholders

It's essential to review that the requirements are correctly understood. The project schedule can be checked with the stakeholders and confirmed that all the features they wished to see are represented in the task list. 

• Engage the Project Team Members

Project stakeholders should be appropriately communicated with and know about the change control process and how it will affect them. They must be guardians of the project scope, not agents of change. 

It is part of every project manager’s job to keep up with the emerging trends and the ever changing needs of management. Most clients look at experience as well as how updated one is with the industry.  

As a technical project manager, am a passionate seeker of new skills and more knowledge through books, internet and from associates. I usually spend most of my free time reading books and magazines about successful managers. In the past year, I read four books on project management which have really helped further my technical knowledge. Recently, I took a short online course on man management and handling of staff. It helped broaden my scope on how to handle a team in project management. In my previous project, I undertook a larger project with a wider scope compared to what I have managed before. Fortunately, I was able to complete the project though it took longer time. It was all successful and I learned a lot from it. In terms of personnel management, timing, budgeting and planning, I gained a lot. 

It is part of project management to handle both underperforming and over performing team members. Usually underperforming team members require more attention than the latter. 

While working as a project manager in my second job, one of my project developer’s was having difficulties acquiring data from one of the client’s websites. I gave her more time and the project started missing timelines. After giving her enough time, I arranged a meeting to try and find out what was the problem. I had to invite a more experienced senior developer to the meeting. After the discussion my developer was able to learn from the senior developer and she was able to complete the task in one day. From there, we worked comfortably and without any issues. I also found out that motivating team members by giving rewards and incentives improves their performance and overall success of a project. Giving team members short breaks for projects completed before deadline and prior to starting another project highly motivates them. I once handled a team of over performing members. It was a worthwhile experience as it required more man management to ensure the project is in compliance with the client’s needs. 

Human error and mistakes are part of everyday learning. My biggest mistake was a year ago when I entrusted my team member’s so much to handle a project. I did not follow up on their progress and on the final day of project submission, one of the team members had not completed his task. The final output was vital for the project and due to my failure of not keeping track of the project; the whole team was left doing one member task on the last day of project presentation. It was a huge setback but it gave me a valuable lesson. Since then, I always make sure to check on the project’s progress and every member’s task progress. Another stuff that I have handled exceptionally well is planning and prioritization. Before undertaking any project, I always differentiate between the urgent and the most important tasks and this has been my key in developing a perfect work plan. I also use an outlook calendar as a remainder as well as notepads. This has helped me develop a lot and even some of my team members have actually applied this technique and it has worked so well.  

A portfolio is a cluster of different programs and projects within the same organization, which may be associated or unrelated to one another.

A portfolio is a group of projects and programs at an organizational or functional level to optimize strategic advantages or functional efficiency. They are managed at an organizational or operational level. 

Projects and programs focus on deploying outputs, results, and benefits; portfolios exist as coordinating structures to support or help a deployment by ensuring the optimal prioritization of resources to align with strategic intent and achieve the best value.

Work breakdown structure is a categorized breakdown of project work into small and easy manageable work packages for successful completion of a project. Work breakdown structure helps a team to have a clear understanding of the project. A good work breakdown structure results in a viable and an effective project plan which will allow efficient execution of tasks and good tracking of work progress. 

As a technical project manager, I will seek to incorporate both the organization work breakdown structure together with my work structure. My work breakdown structure has been of great help in my previous projects. I will strive to incorporate both the bottom-up and top-down work principle. From my previous projects, work breakdown structure has really helped in estimating project duration, associated costs, resources and expertise required for the tasks. It has also been of great help in projecting the possible risks and thus proper planning prior to the risk and clear avoidance measures. Work breakdown structure has been among the cornerstones of my success and the success of the projects I have undertaken. 

Risks are the uncertainties which may occur during a project that may bring setbacks or positive impact on the project. Those risks that bring positive impacts to a project scope are referred to as opportunities while the risks that negatively impact/setback the project are known as threats. Those future opportunities and threats to a project need to be proactively managed in a critical manner to ensure that opportunities are maximized while the threats are minimized.

In my past projects, I have handled risks several times and they have given me an edge on this. My techniques as a technical project manager include first identifying the risk then analyzing the probability and impact of the risks. After that, I prioritize the risks in terms of urgency and importance. Finally, create a response strategy to manage both the major  and the critical threats. All this procedures are enlisted in my risk register which serves as an important reference for my overall project performance.

For successful execution of a project, resources are needed whether within the organization or an outsource. Manpower resources are available within the organization. If the available manpower resources are not sufficient to fulfill the project needs, I always outsource from an external source. In the previous projects, I have initiated clear processes of acquiring resources from outside majorly on contractual basis. It is my sole responsibility to negotiate the right cost with the different resource owners in the organization or from outside the organization to select the best possible resources to handle the project. Also it is my mandate to exercise transparent selection and hiring procedure. It is upon me to ensure competent and well skilled team members are carefully selected. With my experience from the several projects I have handled, I can roll out mechanisms and conditions for selecting the machineries and materials needed for the project. This may involve sourcing from within the organization or procuring from outside. Procurement may involve working with the procurement department of an organization.  

Below is the plan for the execution of resources to be implemented 

1. Determine the resources and people that would be required in the project 
2. Forecast the resources that would be needed every day/week/month of the project, and schedule them accordingly 
3. Create a precise project timescale and resource scheduling 
4. Abide on budget constraints—all of the team's rates should be calculated when they are allocated within the project 
5. Preserve the view team members that are available and when they would be on holiday 

Gold plating is delivering more than scope baseline and this can increase project risk. It is whereby a project team delivers beyond what was asked for in a project.  

Scope creep is also understood as requirements creep. It happens due to the following reasons: 

1. Interference from the client. 
2. Insufficient and incomplete scope statement. 
3. Poor change control system. 
4. Miscommunication among the team members. 
5. Causes external to organizations: e.g., market conditions, regulatory requirements, or technological advancements. 
6. Inadequate monitoring of project activities.

Follow these procedures to control scope creep: 

1. Manage anticipations or expectations. Create a detailed scope statement, get consent for all deliverables and timelines, and designate clear expectations and familiarity or understanding. 
2. Inspect all modifications properly. Uphold the project team from making changes without review. 
3. Control client communication channels. Communicate promptly with the client and not let the client speak directly to the team unless necessary. 
4. Encourage open communication within the project team. 
5. Check-in regularly. Confirm the project progresses as scheduled to prevent scope, budget, or timeline deviations. 

After completing my second project which was a project on web development, the client was not satisfied with the final results and did not accept the project. The scope was to deliver a website with a homepage, product page, category page, and login/sign up page as well as staff page. We delivered as per what was agreed before the project. The client was not satisfied with the final product because they had seen a similar competitor’s page and they needed theirs to have a referral program page that will give them an edge over their competitor. After understanding the client’s requirements, I had to set meetings with him to discuss the arising needs. We revisited the initial project scope to highlight to the client that what he required was not in the agreed scope. We had to revise the costs of the project as well as the time needed to complete the task. The client agreed to our new proposals. A month later we delivered the project as per what the client needed and they were very pleased with our final product.  

Encountering an unsatisfied customer is unfortunate but often unavoidable. When a poor customer experience occurs, there is always time to mitigate and never too late to take on learnings.

Here are ten tips on how to manage angry customers. 

1. To be an active listener that means concentrating on everything the customer is saying. 
2. Be apologetic for the problem the customer is facing.  
3. Handle enraged customers by showing empathy. 
4. When dealing with an unsatisfied customer avoid matching their tone of voice. This should be avoided at all costs, as it will only aggravate the situation. 
5. Using the customer’s name helps to instill a strong level of personalization in the interaction. 
6. Build and maintain trust of the customer. 
7. Never take difficult customers personally. 
8. Handle unsatisfied customers utilizing positive language. 
9. Try to resolve the issues of the unsatisfied customers. 

It is also referred to as the 80/20 rule. 80% of the results are achieved through the effort of 20% of this population. This rule has applied to programming in software, criminology, businesses and economics activities. This rule aims at prioritization of events based on their immediate significance instead of its urgency. In technical project management, project managers make use of charts and other planning methods in order to efficiently fasten through the dependencies and tasks in order to reach a viable output. Critical path method identifies the critical paths (20%) which can cause major impact (80%) to the Milestones. Similarly out of all risks identified, the critical risks (20%) are likely cause major (80%) impact. In Coding it is highly likely that 80% of the problems arise from just a few issues such as syntax and context errors. Also in terms of productivity, it is evident that one tends to be highly productive during certain hours of the day while those hours which one is not productive are spent on activities which do not push the project forward. In such situations it is advisable for one to identify their peak hours and use it maximally.