The Project Manager Nobody Expected
You don’t need 10 hours a day to be a great project manager.
A 5-minute read for experienced project managers ready to elevate their impact
Welcome to the Agile Admiral weekly newsletter. Your Essential Resource for Project Management Excellence.
Each week, I tackle reader questions about PMP preparation, implementing PMP in real-life projects, and a career as a Senior Project Manager.
If you’re new here, check these:
PMP Espresso - Hybrid Projects - Video | When Projects Turn Red: Navigating the Wave When It Hits | Junior vs Senior Project Manager | You cannot prevent all conflicts | How to fill PMP application? | Change Management in Medical IT
What’s Inside This Edition:
The Project Manager Nobody Expected
You don’t need 10 hours a day to be a great project manager.
You don’t need 10 hours a day to be a great project manager.
You need one focused hour.
Here’s the 1-hour-a-day PM mastery schedule that keeps you sharp →
→ 5 minutes reviewing your priorities. Start your day with clarity, not chaos.
→ 15 minutes planning your next moves. Decide what truly matters today.
→ 5 minutes checking project metrics or dashboards. Know where things stand before surprises hit.
→ 25 minutes engaging with your team or stakeholders. Listen. Unblock. Encourage. This is where trust is built.
→ 5 minutes resolving blockers. Small fixes now prevent big fires later.
→ 5 minutes reflecting and adjusting your plan. End the day sharper than you started. That’s it.
One hour a day to stay aligned, consistent, and in control.
Project management isn’t about doing more, it’s about leading smarter.
The Project Manager Nobody Expected
The Hidden PM in Every Team
Before I ever had “Project Manager” in my email signature, I was already doing the work.
Tracking timelines, calming chaos, asking uncomfortable questions like “Who’s actually owning this?” and “What’s our definition of done?”
I didn’t have the title yet but I had the instinct.
My grace? My Call Centre Quality Assurance line manager said, “Tanya, next week we are doing something different, and you are going to have to pitch in”. Needless to say, when it was my turn to present the findings, she pulled me aside and said, “I think you are a Project Manager” 🚀
My 20 something year old mind couldn’t even think past the weekend activities that my family and friends are going to crack up about when they read this, thinking back on what I was like in my 20’s. If you’ve ever created a project plan just to survive a family meeting, you’re already halfway to being a PM. And, here I am 17 years later, still doing projects and still enjoying the idea that anyone can be one, and still have a personal life! 😁
That’s the thing about project management. Often, it finds you before you find it. Long before you officially get the role, you’re already practicing it in the background. Translating complexity, smoothing conflict, keeping everyone just aligned enough to cross the finish line.
That last part, I struggled with it a little. I never wanted to be manipulative, but I learned that being strategic in gathering the best people is not manipulative. It’s what separates the noisy unmet deliverable from the most optimal outcome aligned to the goal. Being strategic deals with truth and manipulation deals with a lie. Two very different manners, often confused in the practical day to day of business. Key to alignment.
Whether you’re a team lead, a coordinator, or the one who just can’t stand watching chaos unfold, if you’re practically organizing, humbly guiding, and strategically holding people accountable… Congratulations, you’re already doing it. In my manager’s voice, “I think you are a Project Manager”.
The Label Doesn’t Make the Manager
Titles don’t stop pointless engagements, they just give you the authority to say, ‘Let’s circle back’ and sound professional 🙂
Yeah, the titles are nice. They look good on resume’s, open doors, and make HR happy to let their clients know they have found just the right candidate 🥳
But they don’t magically give you leadership, structure, or foresight and the best PMO Leads can smell this a mile away. When I say peacekeeper, I am talking about using the leadership voice to disrupt, with strategic structure and calm foresight. They bring calm to the storm that was brewing long before they arrived. In no way, is a PM peacekeeper complacent.
Real project management is a mindset and not a title.
You don’t need authority to bring order with collaboration 📢
You don’t need a title to build trust with teamwork 📢
You don’t need permission to lead with CLEAR, CALM COORDINATION 📢
In fact, many of the best PMs I have worked with started by doing the job no one asked them to do.
They see gaps, they fill them. They notice confusion, they bring clarity. They don’t wait for recognition. They create impact first, and the recognition follows. This is where humility comes in.
That’s the real secret: you lead before you’re told to.
The Superhero PM (Title or Not)
Half of project management is asking, ‘Who owns this?’ until someone makes eye contact long enough to become responsible. JK 🙂
If you want to act like a Project Manager, start here:
🎖️Curiosity. Ask questions that make people pause “Why are we doing it this way?” or “What’s the real goal here?” Curiosity sharpens focus.
🎖️Communication. Turn technical jargon into clear next steps. Translate chaos into calm.
🎖️Coordination. Know who’s doing what, by when, and why. Delegation and humility.
🎖️Commitment. Keep promises visible and trackable. Strategic truth.
🎖️Calmness. When things go sideways (and they will), be the steady hand that brings everyone back to centre. Peacemaker.
These aren’t just PM skills. They’re career superpowers.
You can apply them in any job, any industry, any title!
Becoming the PM
You know you’re the unofficial PM when your boss says, ‘Can you just take this and make it… happen?’ and somehow you do 🎖️
Every workplace has that one person people turn to when they’re stuck. Not because they’re in charge, but because they get things done.
So you don’t know how to become the PM. Start here:
✔️Offer to lead a meeting recap or create an action tracker.
✔️Turn vague ideas into structured plans.
✔️Volunteer for small initiatives no one wants to touch.
✔️Be the one who follows up when others forget.
✔️Don’t gossip and sit in a vent cycle about someone who threatens your abilities, rather step into the role that person threatens and talk to your Guardian Angel, Dog or Therapist instead! I mean it. 🤐
That’s how you earn unofficial authority. You become known as the anchor and the one who makes things clearer, calmer, and more coordinated.
Soon enough, leadership will notice. They may ask for your input. You will be trusted with bigger pieces of the puzzle, and when a project management role opens, you’ll already be the obvious choice, because you didn’t wait for the title. You were willing to grow into it.
This is just it, while you are doing these “new unpaid” tasks, you are growing into the PM role and your entry title may say something like, “Business Analyst, Events Coordinator, Six Sigma Consultant, or even Process Engineer” but this is all part of the journey and all very key to becoming the ultimate Project Manager. Many think that they are a PM because they run certain pieces of work, but PM skill does require practice and that practice must be consistent for you to grow into it. If you grow into it, then you can become it.
Your Title Is An Honour, Not Just A Certification
Definitely, become a CAPM or PMP and definitely contact Gabor and his team for coaching 😂
In all seriousness, this is NOT an ad. Not for PMI or any coach out there but it is crucial to be a professional PM.
Far too many PM’s step into the role without professional certification, which is ok, kudos to them, but then NEVER upskill into true Project Management. What PMI offers in the curriculum is everything a business degree talks about but cannot bring into perspective of Clear, Calm, Coordinated. True Project Management, the skill every business needs.
Yes, there are many more certifications like the many belts and hats and alliances and these too are great but they supplement and in some ways complement what you will learn with PMI and a proper Project Management coach and mentor.
Getting a professional certification from PMI is like building a relationship with someone so important you could never outline their value until you have to prove it, which in this case is where it matters. It’s in your role, that you already occupy, with the title and all of the things! Your salary, your future, your goals, all this can be more than what you expected if you follow through with professional certification 🤌
Talking about relationships, if you’re already a Project Manager, remember this:
Someone else is probably out there doing your job unofficially, just like you once did.
Mentor them. Include them in meetings. Give them the PM love language and frameworks that helped you. Nominate them for employee of the month or whatever your company offers, hello award winning future-PM’s!
Real PM leadership is mentoring the next generation while secretly hoping they don’t book meetings on your only free hour 🙃
TRUTH : Project Management isn’t a gate-kept profession, it’s a shared skillset that lifts teams, companies, industries, countries, higher. You can’t do it alone.
Don’t just wear the title. Honour it by helping others grow into it and grow your next team of Project Managers that you will probably one day lead in reality. Many companies promote PM’s this way, so why not build your dream team from Day 1!
The Project Manager
We don’t panic. We just open a new tab, build a mitigation plan, and label it ‘Version 2.0 : Lessons Learned. One for the seasoned 😅
But baby PM’s, we want you to win too 💜
You don’t become a Project Manager the day HR updates your title.
You become one the day you take ownership of outcomes that matter. To you, your company and most importantly, the ones who are skilled, frustrated and ready to quit. Be the light ✨
When you stop waiting to be told what to do. You get it done.
When you start anticipating problems instead of reacting to them. Suddenly, you are proactive.
When you realize that project leading is less about authority and more about accountability. You are willing to humbly guide other humans to promised lands only you can translate from strategy to execution 👏
That’s when the transformation happens.
That’s when you stop being “just” an employee and start being THE PROJECT MANAGER THAT NOBODY EXPECTED.
So, whether you’re a team assistant, an analyst, or an aspiring leader, remember:
You don’t need the title to make a difference.
You just need the courage to act like it TO become it.
Project management isn’t a job. It’s a way of critically thinking, strategically organizing, and truly caring about outcomes that align actions with goals that make a lasting impact. Adaptability, alignment and quiet confidence.
If that’s you, then you’re already one of us.
Title or not.
Wisdom Worth Sharing:
The older I get, the more I long for a simple life. Wake up early. Do hard things. Eat real foods. Obsess over something. Spend time with real ones. Read books. Avoid drama. Never gossip. Be grateful. That’s my definition of a good life.
*I stole this from Sahil Bloom’s newsletter. Sorry Sahil :-)
See you next week.
Follow me on LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram
If we are not connected via LinkedIn, click here → LinkedIn
PMP prep is not a walk in the park. An average student spends 4 to 6 months preparing for exams. There is a different way of doing this, and I’m happy to show you “how”. When you’re ready, follow the links below:
👉🏼Do it together - join the PMP Operation System
👉🏼Do it 1-on-1 - join 8-week coaching program