May 20, 2021 11:45 PM
Replying to Keith Novak
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I would completely disagree with Sergio. I think managers can make or break your career plans, at least temporarily.
In large organizations, there are always power struggles, particularly when there are personnel changes either on the project team, or in the management structure. Managers can promote the influence of the PM, stay out of their way, or dictate to them and often impede their performance. PMs get a lot of visibility in their work, so their own management can showcase the abilities or direct them to do things that reflect badly on their own performance.
I have had the misfortune a few times of being the PM during reorganizations where the incoming manager decided to arbitrarily dictate their own way of doing things to a high performing team, without bothering to first understand why and how we had evolved and were thriving. I've also had new managers who didn't care about my own personal development and promotion plans that I had with my prior manager.
If a good PM is getting forced to do things that make them look bad, or don't see a future in their current job, they are likely to look for (and find) a better job. That can mean trading up, but it can still mean you worked a couple years towards a goal that evaporated during an org change.
I have also had several managers who recognized my potential and gave me the chances that accelerated my career by giving me the responsibility to shape the plan, the authority to execute it, and the visibility that got me promoted, so there is a flip side.
