Project management skills for medical devices

Wonder how to efficiently deliver a complex medical device? How to deal with large project scope, MDR / CE regulations and various communication channels which involve multidisciplinary teams? To deal with this task plurality you need a certain set of project management skills. In this article I’ll discuss which core competencies are necessary, do you need any technical skills and which soft skills you should master. I also share some tips which come quite handy to improve a successful leadership.

Core competencies of a medical device project manager

Medical device project management joins planning, resolving operational issues and implementing updates that enhance project pace and improve partner relations. Taking a closer look at the job descriptions of PM, you’d probably find:

• end-to-end project planning
• scheduling
• considering project bottlenecks
• propelling project life cycle
• budget management
• stakeholders focal point
• anticipating problems on ambiguous premises
• end product delivery

This requires a set of skills and competencies so let’s discuss them.

Technical skills

1. Predicting and plan development
2. You’re facing a big challenge of making educated guesses about timelines and required resources. We talk here about medical devices which – I’m sure you’ll agree with me on this – are more complicated to build than software for example. To build an app or a web app you can play agile, yet when you need to forecast how and when you can ship device components from subcontractors it changes the rules.
3. Reducing risk
4. Risk is an inevitable part of every endeavor. With shipment shortages, resources unavailable on time, missed emails on the client side you can miss your deadlines. You need to navigate around risks.
5. Taking care of budget
6. Successfully completing a project on a budget is a Holy Grail for companies. Keeping the budget tight is a skill which can’t not be overestimated. I’m sure you’ve at least once met a project out of schedule and in the result – more expensive.
7. Staying on track
8. Project management isn’t just about completing a project — it’s about completing a successful project. Right? Use your performance tracking and monitoring tools to ensure a project stays on track.
9. Types of management
10. In Medtech Agile is hard to be applicable. Waterfall is more likely to fit. Yet I think there is more to choose frome.
11. Host
12. I’m sure none of us like pointless meetings. A project manager needs to be a good meeting organizer and skilled post-meeting summarizer.
13. Educational background
14. In Medtech – engineering background in combination with an industry basic familiarity helps more accurate time and resource planning.
15. Toolbox

Sometimes a spreadsheet isn’t enough. Project management software can bring communication improvements. Yet you won’t get bogged down with a spreadsheet either. It’s just a matter of how big the scope is.

Soft skills

Just for the record: never underestimate the power of soft skills. Keep in mind that most people join a project team or a company because of the promise they get during a recruitment process. According to the GoodHire survey conducted in 2021 in the US, 82% of workers would consider quitting their jobs because of a bad manager.

So, what is keeping people engaged?

1. Leadership
2. Sometimes project managers are glued to the role of a team leader too. Ensuring everyone is onboarded and motivated is a piece of work on a daily basis. You’re a focal point not only for your team but also stakeholders.
3. Communication
4. You’re responsible not only for what you say and to whom, but also how it was understood.
5. Collaboration
6. Being nice to people is the starting point from my perspective, even when someone is underperforming. Putting pieces together could help to maintain a project balanced and effective.
7. Time management & organization
8. A Medtech project is time sensitive. Getting as fast as possible to the market demands  placing tasks on time and communicating with various groups. So the better you manage your own time, the better your team works.
9. Problem solving
10. An attitude can be your worst enemy. So instead of feeling discouraged when something falls apart, focus on project goals.
11. Flexibility

Being flexible means you leave your comfort zone quite frequently. So improving your stress management skills could save your and your teammates mental health.

Tips for successful leading medical project management

Project management for medical devices must incorporate specific regulatory requirements such as quality system requirements and design controls.

Another important factor is the process itself as a combination of technical, design and legal set of practices which every Medtech founder should be familiar with. I encourage you to read an article about “The 5 Phases of the Medical Device Development Process” published on Consonance blog.

Steps like initial concept, product design, prototyping, device testing, design verification and validation are part of the design puzzle, therefore each project manager should develop their competences in several directions. This will allow for a better understanding and minimize the risk of project management errors.

Why is effective project management for medical devices important?

The Project Manager in Medtech, like in similar sectors, is expected to provide high quality, on-time input to client projects and may serve as project leader for teams or work streams.

Can you imagine a Mettech project without a leader / manager? Me neither and it doesn’t matter if the projects are multinational and local. They involve various stakeholders, data collection and analysis, as well as communication across internal and external teams.

Effective project management is so important in fact, that demand for skilled project managers, according to the Project Management Institute report, will grow 33% by 2027, creating nearly 22 million new jobs globally. In case you’d like to dig deeper – these figures apply to seven project-oriented sectors so this number includes engineering as well.

Paweł Zieliński

Marketing Manager

www.consonance.tech