The Four Types of
Project Managers
By: Team 2
Organization’s growth opportunities fall into
four different categories
Two questions create a matrix that
distinguishes the four different kinds of
project managers
INTRO
Does the growth opportunity match with
existing strategy?
Can a reliable business case be made?
THE PROPHET
Pursue business
opportunities outside of the
existing strategy.
Success probabilities are
uncertain since quantitative
data evidence in that area is
hard to come by
Projects that do not
materialize causes them to
be tagged as fals prophets
Challenges existing strategy
and brings to light
overlooked growth
opportunites
Projects are often risky
THE
GAMBLER
Pursue business opportunities
that lie with organization’s
current strategy
No quantitative data evidence
to predict the success
probabilities
Risk takers and not even
previous bad outcomes deter
them. The good thing is they
are within the strategic
boundaries of the
organization
Follow the rules of the game
in seeking growth
opportunities
Important for organization
since they update existing
strategy by bringing to light
growth opportunities that
could be possibly condoned.
Seek organizational followers
who also like to bet
MTV’s 1st digitally integrated
program was run by Gamblers
THE EXPERT
AN EXPERT HAS DEEP
COMPETENCE IN A FIELD OF
STUDY
HEAVILY RELY ON THE
ACCEPTANCE OF THEIR IDEA
FROM WORK COLLEAGUES
LIKE TO JUMP OVER THE
STRATEGIC BOUNDARIES OF
AN ORGANIZATION.
THEY MAKE DATA-DRIVEN
DECISIONS
THE
EXECUTOR
PURSUES OPPORTUNITIES
WITH LITTLE TO NO RISK
BUSINESS CASE IS VERY
STRONG
BACKED UP WITH
TRUSTWORTHY QUANTITATIVE
DATA EVIDENCE
UNLIKELY TO HAVE
INNOVATIVE IDEAS
To Managers
Make room for each
type to work in their
own manner
Be receptive to other
manager's processes
Discover and leverage
the strengths of your
coworkers
Correctly matching
projects and project
managers
To Executives
ALL 4 PROJECT MANAGERS ARE
CRITICAL TO THE SUCCESS OF
AN ORGANIZATION
OVER TIME, ONE TYPE OF PM
SEEMS TO BECOME
DOMINANT IN THE
ORGANIZATION
ALL VIEWS MUST BE
CONSIDERED THROUGH
COEXISTENCE AND DIVERSITY
CREATE PLATFORMS THAT
WILL ALLOW PMS TO
COLLABORATE TO FOSTER
GROWTH AND BUILD BETTER
IDEAS
MATCH PROJECTS WITH
COMPATIBLE PROJECT
MANAGERS
Questions?