Do you have the IT skills managers covet? According to a study released March 8 by Forrester Research, recruiters are setting their sights on tech pros with project management, security and architecture skills in 2007, as the more routine aspects of network management and application maintenance continue to be outsourced.

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Forrester surveyed 186 IT decision makers in November 2006, asking them about their sourcing approaches for 17 different skills areas in 2007. The survey found that project management remains the biggest skills gap.

Twenty-six percent of IT leaders plan to hire project managers and 59 percent plan to train their current staff in project management in 2007. Little had changed since 2002, when 55 percent of IT leaders identified project management as the missing skill set in their organization.

The reason for the continued emphasis on project management skills is because IT's value to business remains contingent on it's ability to deliver projects which meet business requirements both on time and on budget. IT staff accustomed to more technical roles struggle to transition to project management, CIOs argue, and complain that educational institutions are not putting adequate focus on these skills through coursework.

Read the full story on eWEEK.com: Survey: Project Managers in High Demand, Short Supply