IT project development requires both leadership and management. How much of the two in combination is required, depends often on the nature of the project. The more goal-oriented is the project management approach that is being used, the more important it is to have a potent combination of leadership and management in place.

Creating a well-functioning customized application that truly does implement the users needs and wants, requires a great deal of collaboration between the developers and the customers from the beginning of the project until the implementation, training, follow-up and reviews.

If a project requires considerable amounts of creative input and does not have specific deadlines and goals that need to be achieved, it may be preferable to handle project development largely in an ad hoc manner. In the business world, that usually is not the case and project development should be handled in a goal and deadline-focused manner.

It is only natural, that on many levels a more spontaneous project management style seems preferable over a well planned style, because planning and following the plans requires extra work. Goal and deadline-focused approach requires meeting of individual tasks deadlines and may require from time to time extra efforts from every team member. A spontaneous project management style, in contrast, is often more relaxed and may feel more fun than does a well-planned project implementation.

However, being able to complete a project as planned can create a wonderful feeling of accomplishment and is in many instances very well worth the efforts, especially if the alternative, that is, the failure to complete the project as planned, and the relevant consequences, are taken into consideration.

To get people to contribute to their fullest requires leadership. Making sure that all the planned steps have been accomplished as needed requires focused management efforts.

Leadership and management are two different but complementary functions that are crucially important to project development. Leadership has to do with aligning and empowering people, while management has to do with controlling and arranging people. Accordingly, leadership helps to motivate people and aim their efforts in the needed direction, and management helps to ensure through continuous interactions that the necessary results are delivered.