Mastery Point

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I’ve seen a LOT of posts recently selling the idea that you don’t need to know the tools of project management, you need to be a “good people leader.”

I’m very sorry that I have to be the one to inform all of you, but that is not really true. Here are a few simple facts:

1. If you can’t read a Gantt chart or calculate schedule float, you are NOT a project manager.
2. If you can’t explain the proper process for risk analysis and risk response planning, you are NOT a project manager.
3. If you cannot define the 5 phases of a traditional waterfall project delivery, you are NOT a project manager. 
4. If you think that Agile and Scrum are the totality of all project management knowledge, you are NOT a project manager.
5. If you cannot properly explain the difference between a leading and a lagging indicator of project performance, you are NOT a project manager.
6. If you keep a list of Lessons Learned, but have never consulted the Lessons Learned database when planning a project, you are NOT a project manager.

You can have the title “Project Manager.” You can be an Agile “expert.” In my experience, you can even (poorly) lead the project management process at your company. Unfortunately, you don’t even have to be able to do any of these things to espouse the role of “project management expert” in your social media profile. 

I hate to break it to y’all... being a good people leader can make a good project manager into a great project manager. However, if you are a great people leader with a total lack of understanding around the project management processes and tools, you can only remain a terrible project manager. 

Being a good people manager is like being a good person. Everyone should aim for a being a good person, but that doesn’t amount to a tangible skill. If you’re the kind of person that is more interested in learning the “tricks” of the trade, than learning the trade itself, it isn’t likely that you’ll ever be a good project manager. 

I know that many of you have worked very hard to learn the technical skills of project management only to look at your LinkedIn feed to see all these uncredentialed “experts” say you don’t need to know all of that, you just need to have “people skills.” What a way for totally unqualified people to make you feel that you are less than them. What a way for totally unqualified people to think they can do your job better than you. 

A really excellent, top-level project manager IS a good people manager, but they are ALSO an excellent manager of projects. Anyone telling you that you don’t need to be BOTH, is selling you something ineffectual.

The algorithm of successful project delivery has a multitude of variables. Let a true expert in project and risk management help show you which ones can most quickly affect your bottom line.