The Hero Project Manager is Dead!

I was talking to an ex-colleague and he expressed a bold statement: “The hero project manager is dead”. When asking for some more context, he explained that several project managers in his current organisation come from a functional or architecture role and evolved into project management, but still need to save the day at crucial moments by diving into the code or finishing a document themselves.

It reminded me about the story of two large air crafts and their captains (as far as I can tell completely made up with no real-life resemblance whatsoever :). Both plains encountered heavy weather on their journey…

In the first plain, the pilot quickly started the communication with the team, which jointly decided that it was best to avoid the heavy weather. The plane landed safely on an airport close by the original destination. All passengers arrived safely at their destination - albeit an hour or two later than foreseen.

On the second plane, the captain was more eager to land on the original destination and ordered to continue the flight as planned. But in the middle of the heavy weather, the plane got in trouble, lost height and was severely at risk. The captain - a first class pilot - took over from the co-pilot, stabilized and safely landed the plain. Upon arrival, he was praised by all passengers for his capability and courage.

Now who is the hero? The pilot getting the praise or the pilot doing his job minimizing the risk while maximizing delivery value? I would rephrase my ex-colleague’s statement to: the project manager that uses all his skills and knowledge to bring the team to the next level is a hero. [I agree this is not half as catchy as the quote I started from :)]