Projects need Leaders more than Managers.
I've probably just offended many Project Managers, but please read on...
My job lets me work with talented programmers and business people all over the planet. These folks all know their jobs - the programmers know how to write good code and the business folks know how to run their business - but when you bring them together they often can't get a project finished.
The objective of the projects that I work on is to deploy Business Solutions. Requirements grow up to be Plans, Plans grow up to be Projects, but many Projects just don't grow up to be Solutions. Like the Energizer Bunny, these Projects just keep going and going and going... but they never get anywhere.
I blame a lack of leaders.
Look back at the American Civil War and you'll see that Generals who were great managers, such as George McClellan, were able to build great armies... but they weren't able to win the war. Great leaders, such a US Grant, won the war. Good management is crucial... but without a real leader to follow the army doesn't win.
I fear that leaders are born, not made (although training certainly helps improve them). When a project is stalled, a hero can't just "take charge" and get a project back on track. Leaders aren't leaders without followers.
People follow someone who knows how to get there. Experience is crucial - we'll follow someone who has been there before, or someone who's been in similar situations. This is why the Technical resources on your project team will want to follow a Technical Lead.
Most Technical Leads will fight any attempts to turn them into Project Managers - they're leaders, not managers. Management requires a lot of drudgery... Leading is much more exciting.
The problem with Technical Leads is that they tend to focus on the Technical battle, not the Business war. You may have some really happy programmers, but a bunch of disgruntled Business folks sitting around griping that the techies are building the wrong things. Technology is a means, not an end... Tech Leads sometimes forget that.
What we need are real Project Leads... People who command the respect of both the Business and Technical folks. We need people who have met both Business and Technical challenges in their careers, and who can show all of us "how to get there"...
That's why we lack leaders for our projects. There simply aren't many Business people in the world who are respected by Techies, and not many Techies in the world who are respected by Business people.
This is not by any means an easy problem to solve - but if we want success for more of our projects, we need to find more of these leaders.
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