Should project managers be counsellors or hold psychology degrees? This 2011 post on PM hut muses about this. I think one reason why I like the PM role is the variety. I can see an argument for psychology training but then I can also see an argument for a finance, legal or HR degree. There are many strands to the PM role and some awareness of psychology will surely help, but I think I would stop short of thinking a degree is required because many other skills are required and PMs can’t hold degrees in all of these areas.
A related older post, this time from 2012, takes a look at psychology for technical managers. I found a lot of interesting ideas there about skills acquisition and imposter theory. I mentioned other similar articles on this topic in a previous post. I think what I like about the psychology for technical managers article was the feeling that it was a similar endeavour to this blog. Finding ideas from psychology that can be applied to people’s working life (in my case to project management).
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