Accidental Project Manager is a business professional where project management is a secondary responsibility, but who is asked to do important corporate projects nonetheless. Many accidental project managers end up managing projects full-time while having no formal project management training, such as a degree.

Imagine you’re working at your desk, going through your regular routine, when you suddenly receive an email.

“Congratulations!” reads the email. ”We’re putting together a project team for a critical project that our CEO wants to accomplish! And you are a contender for this team’s project manager position based on your prior achievements in a variety of areas. We warmly welcome you to our meeting room today at 13:00 for the project meeting, which our CEO will also attend.”

Congratulations… you’re the project manager! 

Like many others, you probably didn’t set out to become a project manager, but rather fell into it. You weren’t hired to execute (or manage) project work at first, but over time you were requested to manage a few projects in addition to your normal duties. You haven’t gotten much, if any, training, and your organization lacking an unified project management strategy.

Even with the best of intentions, businesses may choose Project Managers who lack the necessary expertise or skills. They may have had success on a small project and feel that success can easily be transferred to a bigger, more complex project, only to discover after the project fails that this is not the case. Project managers require abilities that evolve in response to the complexities and problems of the projects they oversee.

So here it is: You’re unsure of your timetable planning abilities, and you’re expected to handle several tasks with no instruction or expertise. You conceive of yourself as more of a “chaos-pilot” than a project manager at times, attempting to navigate as best you can. How do you know what to do—or whether you’re making the proper decision?

What does it mean to be an Accidental Project Manager? Who is an Accidental Project Manager?

An Accidental Project Manager is a subject matter expert and/or someone who is known for getting things done. Project management is a secondary responsibility of their role, at least at initially. Many accidental project managers end up managing projects full-time while having no formal project management training, such as a degree.

“When I grow up, I want to be a project manager.” This isn’t a sentence you hear every day. Most children aspire to be a doctor, a teacher, an astronaut, a fireman, an actress, or a football player. But, up until now, you’ve never heard of a child aspiring to be a project manager. However, the project management profession is quickly becoming one of the most prominent in the world and is growing at a rapid pace. The Project Management Institute predicts that the project management labor force in seven project-oriented industries would rise by 33%, or almost 22 million new positions, by 2027. (Source: Project Management Institute (2017), Project Management Job Growth and Talent Gap 2017–2027.)

Aside from the well-known professions, many new ones are developing, with an increasing number of experts working in software development, digital marketing, machine learning, artificial intelligence, data analytics, and so on. They start working in different business areas such as Project management is one of the areas with a high professional demand in this industry, and many professionals end up -accidentally- becoming project managers despite never applying for the position.

Difference Between Accidental Project Manager and Professional Project Manager

Most project managers, according to studies, begin with a certification that influences their early years of employment. In many circumstances, these individuals would be given project management responsibilities in their particular disciplines or businesses. They tend to lean into project management if they demonstrate capability and work well with others. Project management is frequently a good fit for their natural abilities and complements their primary strengths and skills.

It will be simpler for them to transition to full-time project management if they have completed some training that will provide them with the necessary technical and interpersonal abilities. Many of these abilities are often refined via project management experience.

• Accidental project managers are usually able to provide a technically good solution that the sponsor did not intend. Alternatively, they may fall short of the budget or timeline. The skilled project manager understands that understanding how to provide the outcome is only necessary if the product fits the standards and is delivered on time. There is a direct relationship between the criteria, the activities, and the outcome, which results in customer satisfaction.

Here are six easy techniques for you as an accidental project manager to help you manage and deliver projects while also increasing your project management confidence.

1. Ask For Support and Guidance: The first step is to identify someone who can support you in your PM duties. Take a look around and think about the people you work with or the people in your immediate network. Look for someone who has completed a few projects previously and is prepared to spend time with you. Invite them to coffee and pick their brains on what they would do if they were in your shoes.
2. Improve your fundamental project management skills: You aren’t the only one who has been given the duty of managing a project for the first time. Many project managers are in similar situations, and the Internet is full with tools that may help you improve your abilities and point you in the correct way. Why not take an online/classroom PMP course, listen to a podcast, join a LinkedIn group, read a book like Project Management for Dummies, or attend one of the PMI’s numerous talks? Another wonderful method to build confidence and insight into your field is to get out and meet other project managers at professional networking events.
3. Plan collaboratively with your team: Many project managers make the mistake of believing that they must do all of the planning on their own when they first start out.  You not only disconnect the team when you plan in isolation, but you also shut yourself out from some of the team’s greatest ideas. Trusting others to deliver a solution and delegating decision-making is an important component of project management. Finally, teamwork is essential to the success of any project.
4. Develop a milestone plan: One of the most crucial skills to learn early on is how to create a milestone plan, which you can easily do with the help of your team. Here’s how to do it the old-fashioned way:
   • Bring the entire project team together with a stack of sticky notes to map out and brainstorm everything that needs to be done on the project.
   • Ask each teammate to use sticky notes to list down any Project-related activities or events that come to mind.
   • Group your notes into eight to twelve milestones that cover the whole project, then prioritize them and high level dates and owners.
   • You’ll have a high-level plan with a timetable that flows from left to right in the end.
5. Focus on customer needs: Delivering what your clients truly need and adding value to their companies through the project is one of your most significant tasks on a project. It’s all about connecting with your customers, listening to them, getting inside their brains, and determining whether or not what they claim they want is exactly what they want.
6. Make good on your commitments: It’s very simple to over-promise in this industry, especially when you want to do a good job. When a senior manager asks you to do something impossible, it might be difficult to say no. However, it is better to have the discussion up front than to fail to deliver on what you promised.

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