How to Become an E-Commerce Project Manager
An e-commerce project manager does more than start a project. E-commerce projects are constantly evolving even after they are implemented, so a good project manager knows how to work with a "completed" project on a continual basis while still taking on new challenges.
- Difficulty:
- Moderate
Instructions
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1
Get a solid technology education. While a bachelor's degree and experience can help you get a project manager position later in life, those who are ambitious should also obtain a master's in information technology. Having real-world experience in programming, managing a team and software development also helps.
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2
Keep up to date on new technologies. Shop around to see what standards are emerging in your specific topic area. Knowing what other companies are doing is important to creating a competitive product.
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3
Learn how to keep information private. Knowing programs like PCI and SOX, as well as the basics of privacy policies, will help you protect your customers and yourself in case of hackers or system glitches. Learn more about Internet privacy and what your users might be using at the Electronic Privacy Information Center website (see Resources below).
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4
Work with laypeople outside of your team. At some point, you will have to test your software. Your end users may not be technologically savvy, so find some people in your office or in your life with poor to average computer skills to make sure your e-commerce product is intuitive to them.
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5
Become a translator between team members by understanding everyone's language. Developers, engineers and the marketing team may all have different ways of explaining the product using their department's own lingo, and that can lead to misconceptions when it comes to product performance. Translate information for them into simple terms, and try to teach others to do the same.
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Tips & Warnings
Sometimes you need to believe your project is good enough. Adding a constant stream of new features during the project's first launch will be daunting, and those "solutions" might not be ones the customer cares about. Keep it simple and usable, and listen to recommendations for improvements for future versions.
Don't become overwhelmed when you learn there isn't an end to your e-commerce project. Think of it as a way to keep the project open-ended and improve it more as customers and developers make suggestions.
