If you’ve ever managed a project, you already know:
You’re not just a Project Manager.
You’re also:
- A therapist for stressed-out team members,
- A translator for tech vs business speak,
- A cat herder when no one wants to follow process,
- And occasionally… a human shield between chaos and stakeholders.
They don’t cover this in PMP training—but maybe they should.
🧢 Hat #1: The Therapist
“I know it’s not about the Jira ticket. Tell me how that made you feel.”
No one warns you that your job will involve managing feelings just as much as timelines.
- The developer who’s drowning in bugs and silent Slack pings
- The marketing lead who feels unheard
- The stakeholder who just wants someone to listen (but not necessarily act)
Real Story:
Midway through a tight-phase UAT, one team member privately messaged me:
“Can I just vent? I don’t even need you to fix it.”
That 5-minute vent session saved the day more than any RAID log ever could.
👇 Why this matters:
People don’t do great work when they’re stressed and shut down.
Sometimes, the most productive thing you can say as a PM is:
“That sounds frustrating. Let’s talk about it.”
🧢 Hat #2: The Translator
“No, when she said ‘turn it off,’ she meant temporarily pause—not delete the data.”
Business stakeholders say one thing.
Developers hear another.
And vendors? They sometimes hear a third, entirely unrelated thing.
Real Story:
We were mid-implementation on a Salesforce SMS feature when a stakeholder said:
“Let’s kill this rule for now.”
The developer almost dropped it from production entirely.
I had to step in:
“Pause = soft deactivation. We still need the rule later. Think nap, not funeral.”
👇 Why this matters:
Without a translator, your team could build the wrong thing perfectly—and no one wins.
🧢 Hat #3: The Cat Herder
“Everyone got the email. No one read it. Let’s try again—with bullet points.”
Getting a cross-functional team to move in the same direction, at the same time, is… optimistic.
People have other priorities. Competing incentives. Calendar conflicts.
Some days, you feel like you’re corralling a group of smart, capable, wildly independent cats.
Real Story:
I once had a stakeholder insist they never got invited to UAT.
Spoiler: They were in the calendar invite and the agenda and the reminder email.
I now send invites with subject lines like:
“[ACTION NEEDED] – You Are UAT – Click Yes, or I’ll Find You”
👇 Why this matters:
It’s not about micromanaging—it’s about making sure the right people show up to the right meetings to make the right calls.
🧢 Hat #4: The Peacekeeper
“Let’s pause and agree we’re all on the same team before someone gets muted.”
Sometimes, tensions rise.
- Product and tech are blaming each other.
- Vendors are dodging accountability.
- Your inbox is one passive-aggressive CC away from combustion.
Real Story:
During a late-stage go-live prep, a vendor said in a meeting,
“Well that wasn’t in scope, per my understanding.”
That one sentence could’ve derailed the project.
I took a breath, then said:
“Let’s align instead of assign. If there’s confusion, we’re all responsible for clarity.”
The energy shifted. The deliverable got done. No fists were thrown (physically or digitally).
🎯 Final Thoughts: Project Management is People Management
Sure, we have tools. Gantt charts. Smartsheets. RAID logs.
But success doesn’t come from templates—it comes from empathy, timing, and trust.
You don’t have to be a licensed therapist or certified translator.
But if you can listen, simplify, and keep the cats moving in the same direction?
You’re doing the real work of a PM.