I was at a family dinner one night and my nephew asks me, “What is a project manager?”
I froze. The best answer I could come up with was:
“…uh, I manage projects.”
Not exactly inspiring.
This is a typical problem I encounter working with groups that don’t respect project management, or organizations that don’t have a strong PMO. Everyone has a fuzzy definition of what a project manager does, and most of the time, they’re wrong.
Too many companies hire PMs for the wrong reasons:
- The clipboard-carrying process police who live and die by Gantt charts.
- Or the chaos wranglers who just chase tasks around until the deadline hits.
Both face challenges with scope, timelines budgets, and the usefulness or effectiveness of the projects that they deliver. The first group delivers something nobody actually wanted. The second group delivers something people asked for, but it doesn’t always align to business goals and becomes a maintenance nightmare and is never on time or on budget.
The truth? Good project management isn’t about being hyper-organized or just “keeping the trains running.” It’s about:
- Understanding the business goals.
- Knowing when to apply process (and when to bend it).
- Keeping the team aligned without smothering them in bureaucracy.
- Solving problems before they derail everything.
That’s what separates a successful project manager from just a “good” one.
This blog is about calling out the bad habits, breaking down what actually works, and maybe ruffling a few feathers along the way.
Because honestly? I don’t hate project managers. I just hate bad ones.