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If you are in charge then you are accountable. It's that simple. In this article I use a software development project, with me as the buyer, as a case study, but the same lessons apply in any other field.

To me at least, the only project manager worth his/her salt is the one who will do anything to get her/his project done. Gene Kranz (mission control for Apollo 13) put it best: "failure is not an option". If you expect to get a major piece of software (or accomplish anything else worth doing) done you better have a can-do attitude. You better know how to identify problems, you better be decisive about fixing them, you better be ready to do what it takes, and you better have the ability to inspire the project team to do the same.

If you are on the other side of this debate then you are looking for excuses. Excuses are like troubles, if you look for them, they will find you. You are getting paid the big bucks to deliver, not to make excuses. I am not paying you to make excuses. I can get those anywhere. Before we started, you agreed that you could get the project done with the staff, time and money I gave you. I delivered. I expect you to do the same.

Sound harsh? Of course it is. Get over it. Explaining to me that I have just spent a couple of million and two years waiting for something I have to have to run my business and it's not ready because one of your staff made a mistake will not be a pleasant conversation. Make sure your staff don't want this conversation with you as much as you don't want to have it with me.

If one of your staff make a mistake it may not be your fault, but you are responsible so to me, the client, it IS your fault. I see you. I don't see all the people on the team. Seeing them is your job that's why you get paid more than they do.

Maybe you shouldn't have hired them. Maybe you didn't train them. Maybe you didn't lead them. If you put a junior or inexperienced person to write a critical piece of software and it comes out bad then it is your mistake even more than the staff member's mistake. Getting the right people, understanding what they can and can't do and then making the optimal assignments is part of the science of project management.

The project team will have the same sense of purpose as you. If you look for excuses, so will they. If you have a can-do attitude that can overcome obstacles and get the job done they will too. If you can inspire the team to get the job done, no matter what, then you have moved past the science of project management and into the art of leadership.

Being the leader has its good points. Mostly, you get the credit. Sure, you share this with the team, but it's something you can feel good about. With the credit comes the responsibility if things don't work out. Blaming others is an exercise in futility. Nobody ever got anything useful done by blaming someone else.

If you let your staff take the blame you may be a manager, but you are not a leader.

Learn more about this author, Thomas Schipani.
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