Why do we still have project managers? Hasn’t their time been and gone? That’s not to say that project management isn’t important, but do we really need a specific role for it anymore?

Projects are Business As Usual

For many organisations, continual projects are the new normal. Often the same team will carry on from one project to another. While the end product and the client may change, the team works together for months or years at a time.

And that means the team’s manager is very far away from the common idea of a matrix-managing, temporary project management expert brought in to deliver the project that many think of as a project manager.

Project management becomes just one part of a manager’s role

In these situations, there’s little difference between a project team’s “project manager” and the manager of any other team in a business. While how they manage the workflow may be different, does it really make the role so different that we need a specific name for it?

Instead, isn’t it the case that the project management parts of their job are just one of the many hats they need to wear as a manager?

Project management is just a set of techniques, not a role

So do we really need so many “project managers”? Is there really enough difference between project management and general management to require a separate professional career path?

I’ve got my own thoughts about this, but what do you think? Are you a project manager, or are you a manager who happens to do projects?

(Image courtesy of IMLS DCC. Some rights reserved.)