1. Drive – The persistence or stamina to get things done. This is the fuel that makes us ask what else needs to be done? What can cause me a delay? Approvals? Budget allocation? Design? etc. Drive keeps us focused on doing the things that will see us to the finish line, even if some of the lesser tasks get missed or relegated to Without drive, everything becomes a chore instead of an action in the lineup. And when everything is a chore, only the absolute minimum gets done. Not a good scenario.

2. Intelligence – If drive is the fuel, intelligence is the engine, our tool. This does not mean that only the person with good school grades will be a good PM. In this context intelligence is the ability to analyze and understand what is important from a whole list of things that need to be done. And the more complex the project the more intelligent we have to be about our analysis, prioritizing and management of risk of various things happening. Typically intelligence grows with diverse experience and increases the value to his employer.

3. Taking responsibility and making decisions– goes hand in hand with leadership. If the first 2 traits above are in place this comes close behind. If one’s analyses are based on logic and reasoning, then taking responsibility and making decisions is far less risky (of making mistakes) and becomes easier. Making a decision based on having most of the important information is a lot better than not making any decision until every bit of data is in. By then deadlines would be missed and delays reverberate through the project. The consequence of making a mistake is diminished if a logical train of thought is followed. The few instances in which mistakes occur subsequent to this would be as a result of incorrect, or lack of information. They become a learning experience and should not diminish the PM’s overall performance of his job.

4. Being realistic about : expectations of oneself and the other players in the project; allocation of risks; quantifying everything. There are many instances in all projects of being unable to quantify things before the project starts and therefore we take calculated guesses and make provisions (provisional sums or contingencies) for the things (hopefully minor) that we know we will miss. A project with many provisional items, could indicate there are many risk (unknown) factors or could mean insufficient research was done to quantify or assess the risk of those identified provisional items.

5. Understanding the motivation of the other players in the project. This includes approval and permitting bodies, contractors, internal support staff such as accountants, auditors, lawyers etc. and most importantly, your employer, or manager or whoever you report to. If you know the objectives of the other side, it becomes easier to negotiate to get things done.

6. Finally, the thing that will result from the above is – no surprises. Surprises are the kryptonite of a PM career. So the fewer the better. Surprises are a symptom of lack of any of : planning, knowledge, experience, common sense – which are all of the things that make a great PM. (kryptonite is the one substance that disables Superman superpowers in the comic book story).