The Caretaker Trap — Why Too Many Project Managers Fail to Deliver
One problem I see all too often—particularly in the non-commercial sector—is that project managers see themselves as caretakers rather than deliverers.
They see their role as one of stewardship: to monitor, to manage, to minute, to organise communication and coordination. They are diligent administrators, keeping the paperwork pristine and the process ticking along. But they stop there.
They don’t necessarily feel an imperative to do anything.
And that’s where projects go to die.
In many public sector settings, this behaviour is reinforced by hierarchy. Sponsors and executives make the decisions, while project managers are expected to “support” the process. The danger is that this support becomes entirely passive—merely taking notes, updating dashboards, and maintaining the illusion of progress through tidy documentation.
But project management isn’t about clerical precision. It’s about momentum.
A great project manager doesn’t just observe—they provoke, push, nudge, prompt, and drive progress. They chase decisions, challenge delays, and create the conditions for movement. They take ownership—not necessarily of every outcome, but of ensuring that something happens.
Projects fail when nobody owns them.
When the project manager becomes a bystander—someone who simply records the decisions (or indecisions) of others—the project loses its energy. It loses accountability. It becomes a bureaucratic loop of updates and meetings that achieve nothing.
Documentation matters, of course. So do governance, communication, and process. But they are means, not ends. The purpose of project management is to deliver outcomes, not minutes.
A project manager should have skin in the game—a sense of personal commitment and responsibility for moving things forward. They should know when to escalate, when to press for clarity, and when to hold people to account. They should embody the project’s intent, ensuring that every meeting, report, and conversation leads to a decision, an action, a result.
Because if all we do is manage the machinery of the project without driving its direction, then we’re not managing projects—we’re simply curating their slow decline.
Project managers are not caretakers of process. They are catalysts for progress.
And the difference between the two is the difference between failure and delivery.