8 Behaviors of Successful Project Managers

Over the last decade I have spent a fair amount of time leading projects. Having learnt from my successes and failures, I thought I’d share a few principles which are observed in extraordinary project managers. This should be handy for those tasked or looking to jump onto a new project.

Find out below what my key takeways are!

1. Own It

I usually start by creating a structure around what I’m managing. That includes setting up objectives, temporal milestones and a WIP document to follow up on progress. You can read more on project management structure here.

But in taking ownership, accountability is crucial. What is accountability? That is responsibility and personal commitment to achieve the end results outlined. E.g. if my goal is to reach profitability and the available levers are lowering costs and increasing revenue, simply executing on those isn’t enough. Accountability involves doing that while keeping the company alive and competitive.

To achieve this, I usually combine structure with continuous learning and relentless perseverance to fine tune mine and my team’s actions till we reach our objectives.

2. Ask great questions

Quality questions create a quality life. Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers. – Tony Robbins

Taking new perspectives on existing status quo, issues or solutions found. That’s something I highly advise. Whenever I come across a systemic issue or lack of resources, I usually ask the following questions:

  1. What should this situation ideally look like?
  2. What could I do to change it?
  3. Who and what do I need to get it done?

Similar applies to situations where I seek to gather info from partners or other managers. Make it habit to pick people’s brains with mindful questions!

3. Foster over-communication

In his book “The Score Takes Care of Itself”, Bill Walsh depicted his obsession over communicating in detail all his plans and wins with the San Francisco 49s. He attributed to this practice the extended grace period Eddie DeBartolo Jr. granted him despite a disastrous first season at the helm of the team.

I tend to agree. Make it a priority and habit to over communicate objectives, plans, progress, main obstacles – everything that is of value to your team. It will not only foster a culture of openness but drive your efficiency up by forcing you to spend 30-60 minutes every week reviewing your progress and readjusting priorities.

4. Create mental models

On his book “Smarter, Faster, Better“, Charles Duhigg alluded to the importance of the mental models in Quantas Airways’ flight 32 crew in avoiding a fatal crash back in September 2009.

Modelling how reality should look like (i.e. what should be a normal expected result or behavior) and what can be done when facing emergencies (e.g. sales are down 20% MoM, what levers the team can pull to salvage the month) leads to a state of readiness similar to that of a well trained football team.

Learn how to do this well enough and both you and your team will achieve a whole new level of problem solving.

5. Ask for help

Having had less than a dozen projects where I was a subject matter expert, I came to appreciate the power of picking people’s brains and learning from them. That’s the nature of project managers and why learning is such a key part of the job.

This is all the more true as you get more skilled – projects become larger in ambition and complexity, often requiring tight coordination with other divisions or external partners.

Learning how to learn from others has been crucial in helping me think, structure problems and designing suitable solutions. Points 1-4 are key to getting this right.

6. Simplify at every step

Simplicity is the ultimate art of any successful manager (note: not to be confused with a simplistic approach to problems). I’ve made it a habit to rethink my assumptions and plans often, especially after getting insights from subject matter experts.

Like a muscle, simplicity needs to be trained. Story-telling what you’re trying to accomplish and how to other people can help raise awareness to lapses in the thought process.

Finding something confusing? Break it down further (i.e. adjust your project by making it more granular) or simplify your objectives and actions.

7. Productively procrastinate

In his book “Originals: How non-conformists move the World“, Adam Grant mentions the benefits of procrastination in generating creativity. He refers to studies where people who delay finishing a thought or assignment and continue mulling over the problem or task at hands are more likely to come up with innovative / different ideas on that same topic.

As a serial procrastinator I taugh my mind to use mental representations and continuously think over different solutions to problems. This compensates for my usual deadline-tight execution. Its basically like spending 50 minutes reading a test and figuring out the best answer possible, then taking the last 10 min. to write down solutions.

But remember – you still need to finish the exam on time. As a project manager (and procrastinator) the struggle is to strike a balance between delaying and meeting the deadline.

8. Execute at the necessary scale

Many project managers, including myself at occasions, get stuck at the level of scale. “Build it so it can scale”, “make it to leave a legacy” – these are all sayings I’ve heard before. Well, they don’t always apply.

This is where simplicity, procrastination and pragmatism meet. If the task at hands is to add 25% to top-line by launching a new product, I probably don’t need to build the next Apple.

Instead, find simple ideas that can be easily implemented. Gear yourself towards action. And don’t lose sleep over the lack of automation, lower quality of service or poor image your collaterals – who still recalls this PowerMac ad? No one, but Apple still went on to sell millions of them.


What habits of project managers do you consider important?