There is no Such Thing as a Generic Project Manager

The work breakdown structure concept is generic: It fits all types of projects. The same cannot be said for the project manager. Background determines who should lead a project. The project manager of a house-building project could not be expected to lead the construction of a jet engine. A jet engine project manager must understand aerodynamics, thermodynamics, combustion, mechanical design, and other closely related specialties—things that are foreign to the house builder. This tells us that a marketing manager is obviously the logical person to manage a sales and marketing project, a software expert to manage a software development project, and so forth. Because the person who manages a project must have technical skills relevant to the project, there is no such thing as a generic project manager!