Ever seen the PM struggling to understand why the organization is so stiff and nothing moves on? That’s especially noticeable for the new hires.
The Real Problem With Project Managers Who Aren’t Actually Managing Anything
There’s something that nobody talks about in project management certifications but everyone experiences in the real world.
Typical play: an organization hires PM, gives them the title, gives them the salary, and then gives them absolutely nothing else. No clear objectives. No defined scope. No budget authority. No actual mandate from leadership. So this person, who was hired to manage, ends up spending their days scheduling meetings, updating status reports, and chasing deliverables—coordinator work dressed up in a manager’s job description.
Project Coordinators are focused on routine process
And whose fault is that? Partly management’s, sure. Leadership often treats project managers like administrative staff who happen to facilitate meetings. They withhold information, make decisions in hallways, change priorities without communication, and then act surprised when projects drift. But here’s the uncomfortable part: a real project manager doesn’t wait for inputs to be handed to them on a silver platter. They go hunting.
Project Manager hunts for information
The difference between someone doing project management and someone merely holding the title is initiative. A genuine project manager walks into ambiguity and starts asking uncomfortable questions. What’s the actual business objective here? Who has final authority on scope changes? What’s the real budget, not the aspirational one? What are we not being told? They pull information out of executives who don’t want to commit to anything concrete. They force clarity where organizations prefer comfortable vagueness.
Project Manager feels the agenda
This is difficult. It requires political skill, persistence, and a willingness to be momentarily unpopular. Most people avoid it. It’s much easier to stay in coordinator mode, keep your head down, update the Gantt chart, and blame management when things fall apart. The tragedy is that many project managers don’t even realize they’ve slipped into this passive mode. They confuse activity with authority. They think that because they’re busy, they must be managing. But busyness without decision-making power is just well-compensated administration.
Removing uncertainity
So yes, management often fails to provide clarity. But the project manager’s job is to extract that clarity anyway, even when it’s inconvenient for everyone involved. That’s what they’re being paid for. If you need leadership to spoon-feed you every input, you’re not managing the project—you’re just along for the ride.