Listen to the full episode — approx. 43 minutes
What does it actually take to be a good project manager?

Not a certified one. Not a process-compliant one. A genuinely good one — someone teams trust, clients rely on, and boards don’t have to worry about.

In this episode, Frank Meyer and Marco Hartmann break down what separates project managers who deliver from those who consistently overspend, overrun, and overpromise. They cover the knowledge gaps most PMs never address, why emotional intelligence matters more than methodology, and what it really means to manage risk before it manages you.

If you’re working in or around large infrastructure projects — and you want to understand why so many go wrong — this is where to start.

53% of ERP implementations exceed their original budget. The root cause is almost never technology. It is structure.

The 7 Key Insights:

  • The PM’s job is not to know every system in detail. Maintain the overview, understand enough to recognise when something makes no sense, and know who to ask. A PM opening Visual Studio to change code is a signal something has gone wrong.

  • Empathy is the most underrated skill in project management. Every team has its own culture — production, supply chain, delivery, IT. A PM who can’t adapt their communication loses trust, and with it access to honest information.

  • You need to understand if you have been understood. A meeting where the PM leaves thinking everything is clear while no one in the room has a clue what was discussed is a project in slow decline.

  • Risk management means having solutions, not naming problems. Anyone can list risks. Each risk needs a mitigation, a responsible owner, and a path to resolution. A risk on a list without a solution is a documented failure waiting to happen.

  • Never try to win every fight. Conceding three things that don’t matter in order to hold the position on one that does — this is deal-making as a core PM skill.

  • Projects always go over budget. Accept it early. Plan for it honestly and make it visible before it becomes a crisis. The PM with an honest plan and a realistic buffer is in a far stronger position than the one who agreed to an impossible timeline.

  • Experience cannot be certified. What it provides: a wider toolkit of solutions, better-calibrated estimates, and the composure to stay effective when something unexpected happens.

Got questions — or a topic worth a podcast?

Related topics: