I'm struck by how smart Jonathan Feldman is when he identifies that the best PPM leaders have a balance of hard and soft skills. Let's face it - we often hire the sharpest, smartest engineers, and communication isn't necessarily in their skill set. It might never have had to be.

Here's what Feldman says: "Think of it as a balance of soft skills and technical acumen....These people are rare, but to be successful with PPM, you must find them, either inside or outside your organization, and put them to work. Don't limit yourself to IT. Are there savvy people in line departments who have an interest in solving the problem?"

That sentence is clear. You want "savvy" PPMs - people who can read people, empathize with them, help them get the job done, and then get out of the way. At the root of this skill is not smarts or business sense or anything remotely alpha dog - it's about - dare I say it -  love.

Second, you want people who want to solve the problem. Easy to say, not so easy to find. How many meetings revolve around everyone's take on an issue? Does this solve the problem, or merely keep it alive? We all need to know when our point of view is less important than just getting the job done. And this, when it comes down to it, is about letting go of self, and rediscovering our essential humility, even when the stakes are high.

--Marti @ the Summit

Fieldsman's article "Get Your Projects in Line" appears in the March 8, 2010 issue of Information Week.