What is a project manager?
A project manager is the person accountable for getting a specific piece of change delivered: a new system, a building, a service or a regulatory response. They plan the work, coordinate the people doing it, manage risk and money, keep decision makers informed, and are answerable when something slips.
They are not usually the person doing the technical work, and they rarely manage the delivery team through a line management relationship. Their value is that someone holds the whole picture and makes sure the right person decides the right thing at the right time.
What a project manager does day to day
Keeping the plan honest, unblocking people, running short meetings that end in decisions, managing risks and issues, talking to stakeholders at the level of detail each needs, reporting so a decision can be made, tracking money and effort, and protecting the outcome the work was funded for.
How projects differ from operations
Projects are temporary, produce something new or changed, and assemble a team that later disperses. Operations are ongoing, keep an existing service running and reduce variation. Success is measured differently in each.
What the role is not
It is not doing the technical work, not simply chasing a task list, not the most senior role in the room, and not tied to one fixed method. The sponsor owns the investment and the benefits; the project manager is accountable for delivery.
Common questions
Project managers rarely need specialist technical depth, a degree is not a universal requirement, and project, programme and product management are different disciplines: a project delivers a bounded change, a programme coordinates related projects, and product management owns an ongoing product.