Critical Path Newsletter

Are great project managers born or raised?

"Are there "natural" project managers and if so, what skills do they have which differentiate them from the average project manager? What makes for a gifted project manager?" This is a question we were asked by a journalist recently.  It was a timely question, as we were in the midst of reorganizing the structure of our project management team, realigning the roles and responsibilities of our project managers, and bringing new people into the Project Management team (more on that in a future Critical Path).

Given the right encouragement, time, and training, anyone can excel at project management. However, I believe there are some qualities in particular that a project manager either possesses innately or hones through practice which can put them a cut above. These can be summarized with one memorable acronym - a successful project manager is a D.R.I.V.E.R.  Catchy right?

Driven - The most common trait I see in very successful project managers is their drive, their enthusiasm, and their motivation to succeed. The project manager role exists to solve problems, jump over hurdles, mitigate risks, manage conflict, and negotiate demands. Where the very nature of the job is to deal with a constant barrage, it is no wonder that project management is one of the professions that has shown a high association to workplace burnout.  I'm sure you have seen very unmotivated project managers - the ones that just go with the flow, never seem to really take a stand or make a decision - fundamentally, there is a lack of drive. Successful project managers, however, appear hyper-motivated to see the project through. They plow through roadblocks. If a stakeholder is late reviewing the spec, they pick up the phone immediately to find out where it's at. If a team member is underperforming, they don't waffle and put off the tough conversations. Only those with a high degree of self-motivation and enthusiasm will really succeed, and when they do, the rewards are great.

Real - PMs who are in touch with their strengths and weaknesses know how to play to their strengths. Someone with a talent for public speaking can use her talent for motivating staff. Conversely, a quieter person who is an expert at what he does can motivate by setting the right example and leading through close team participation. What kind of PM are you? Whatever your style, keep it real and play to your strengths - this is where your true confidence will come from, where your team will start to buy in to you as a person.

Inspirational - It's one thing to be driven and motivated yourself, but successful PMs need to communicate and push people to their limits in a way that gets a team instrinsically motivated. Joel Spolsky, a leading figure in software blogging, hit the nail on the head when he wrote about the identity management method - if your team can identify with and relate to you and your goals, you will have a much stronger chance of motivating them towards a common goal.

Visionary - As a leader, a PM needs to rally the team around a vision or goal. I have managed projects where we had an almost impossible deadline, but morale stayed high as the team and I kept our eyes on the prize. In contrast, I have managed "easy" projects that didn't have a set deadline - morale dropped off quickly and nothing would have gotten done, had I not found the right vision and goal to rally the team around.

Empathetic - To have the greatest project success, a PM needs to empathize with team members. What are their strengths and weaknesses? What are their goals and desires? A PM who possesses all of the above qualities, but lacks empathy and "EQ", will not be able to tap in to the team. A manager that recognizes a programmer's technical ability but lack of communication skills knows where to put the focus of his coaching, and also where he may need to help compensate. A manager who recognizes a team member's motivation for a particular technology will harness that motivation when he plan task assignments.

Really Well Organized - Although leadership is arguably the most challenging and most important aspect of project management, there is still the practical aspect which itself is a tremendous challenge - keeping all the information from a large team and an even larger number of stakeholders organized. People tend to downplay this - there are countless tools, systems and methods out there - seems like anyone who uses them can get organized, right? But this is so far from the truth! In fact, some of the most organized PMs I know only use a simple text editor like windows notepad to organize most of their data. There is an inherent quality of organization that people can possess - a combination of memory, structured thinking, and careful planning.

With enough time, you can train someone to become a good project manager, but if you look for these inherent traits, you'll have the makings of a star PM.