Are Project Managers Fungible Resources?

While in a meeting with a corporate recruiter, she made a comment to the effect that project managers are as interchangeable as car batteries. This statement sat with me a bit. It prompted me to examine the PM profession a little more deeply. What do we do, how do we do it... is it really that generic that someone in a recruiting role could/should have that perception? Can any one of us switch jobs with any other PM and be just as effective?

 
And if so, is that a bad thing? Employees who are easily replaced have one less barrier when it comes time for a promotion or reassignment. By nature, PMs are more general contractors than specialists, managing all types of problems from IT to HR to business process and so on. As a generalist, one can be viewed as more flexible and open to more opportunities, potentially outside the PM world. Any job/role/person can be replaced, but are PMs "more replaceable" than most?

Many organizations make very specific requests of PMs. Manage the project, track to dates, identify and report issues, manage the PM methodology. These types of projects are typically the ones that require a great deal of specialty knowledge and subject matter expertise. Maybe there is a heavy focus on writing code, where a PM could not/should not be actively involved. Maybe it’s more of a hands-on type project like racking a server. In these cases, it's the basic, PM 101 skills that are needed. The project manager is being asked to maintain the to-dos, keep the team and management informed and keep the project on the rails. Subject matter expertise, although always helpful, is rarely a necessity for a PM in this role to make the project run. The team has a specific set of tasks and skills, and the value here is keeping things moving and removing any barriers. In these types of projects, PMs could be interchangeable.

 

However, as anyone looking for a PM job knows that project management means a lot of things to people. Some PMs have a laser focus on the basic PM skills; tracking to the plan, the budget or to that organization's PM methodology. Others place more emphasis on the solution development and problem solving. This role requires a PM who can help the team see the strategy and arrive at the right answers. These PMs need to be able to grasp what leadership is trying to accomplish, decompile it to its essence and help the team assimilate it into their daily work. These PMs not only needs to be able to see the big picture, but need to be able to communicate it effectively, recognize progress towards it, redirect where necessary, facilitate creative problem solving, etc. These roles require thought-leadership, critical thinking, business acumen and solid judgment.  

 
But are these skills any less interchangeable, in the broader sense? Admittedly, they are less common. Not every hire an organization makes will be able to understand strategy and how it impacts their team's day to day work. Not every PM knows how to move a group from "we can't" to "these ideas might work". PMs with this skill set are certainly rare, but they are not irreplaceable. It is really more a question of hiring and corporate values. Does your organization hire for business acumen? Does your company value leadership skills in the PM team? If the answer is yes, you may have fungible PMs, even in this instance. If the answer is no (or I don't know), there will most likely be a need to take a close look at specific skills of the resources when assigning PMs to initiatives.

The more basic disconnect in the scenarios described above is that it does not account for changing needs, differences in organizational preferences and individual leaders. It assumes that, if PM 101 is all that is expected from our resources, that is all that anyone ever will expect, anywhere in the organization. It also assumes that if those needs change, magically, the individuals filling these roles will change with it. Both of which are very unlikely.

Realistically, project managers are no more or less fungible than any other role in an organization. Each PM brings with them a basic set of skills, along with a cultivated style, approach and energy. Each PM has strengths and weaknesses, specific subject matter expertise, preferences on types of projects and people they like to work. It is a complex role that's part field sergeant and part peacemaker. Misinterpreting the ability to be flexible enough to add PM value to any project as being interchangeable resources would be a mistake. There is as much value in choosing the right PM for a project as there is for any other role - even an HR Generalist.