The Great Differentiator

I was asked today by one of my team members the following question - "what makes a great project manager?" Is it his ability to consistently deliver projects on time, on budget, in scope, with quality and with full user satisfaction?

I said "All those qualities make a project manager but not a great one".

A lot of project managers can claim all those in all his projects and I would argue that if the KPIs for a project manager are simply doing all these, he has but achieved the basic expectation of a project manager.  Every project manager, or those who claim to be one, must strive to AT LEAST do all these.

The great differentiator in my opinion between the good project manager and the great project manager lies in HOW he executes his projects to achieve his objectives - his leadership and people skills.

A project manager can deliver a project on time, on budget but he did so through intimidation, fear or extreme politics. A project manager manager can deliver his projects on time and on budget but he failed to nurture and sustain productive relationships within and outside of his team in the process. He could consistenly deliver his projects on time, on budget and yet at the same time - consistently breed distrust and disloyalty by claiming all the glory to the dismay of his team.

At the end of the day - what makes a great project manager? It is the one who can consistently deliver his hard deliverables through excellent leadership and people management skills.