Too often, we hear: “Project management is easy. We have been managing people for hundreds of years. Just take any manager, give him a project, and tell him to get it done.”
Experienced project managers will accurately predict the end of this story—there is a disproportionate chance this project will fail. Rather than “manager” being the key noun, a leader is required to deliver project value on time and within budget. To distinguish the project manager further—functional managers need only manage subordinates, while successful project managers lead extended project teams. This fundamental difference drastically increases the project manager's scope of the responsibility, since the project team includes an entire flock of stakeholders.
