The Accidental PM

Welcome to issue #005 of Under the Surface. Each week, I share one thoughtful piece to help you grow, lead and thrive in the messy reality of project work. If something lands - or misses - I’d love to hear your thoughts. And if you’re exploring what’s next, you can join the Pathfinder waitlist to go deeper with others on the same journey.

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Everyone thinks project managers have official titles - until they realise they’re doing the job without one.

We picture project managers as clipboard holders with certifications, technical processes and a formal seat at the table. They work on capital projects, transformation programmes, or digital rollouts. They use acronyms.

So when a piece of work lands in your inbox that doesn’t come with a Gantt chart or a formal kickoff, you don’t think of it as a project.

Until you’re knee-deep in dependencies, chasing colleagues, aligning stakeholders and trying to hit an invisible deadline.

And suddenly, you’re in charge… unofficially.

You’re leading something complex, but no one gave you a title, a timeline, or a playbook.

Maybe someone left the team and you were told to “pick it up.”

Maybe a shiny new idea emerged and now you’re the one “driving it forward.”

Maybe it’s just always been your thing, even if it was never written down that way.

The meetings get booked. The emails pile up. People start looking to you for answers.

You wonder when this became your job and why it’s so draining.

It’s not just another task.

It’s a project, in disguise.

This is more common than you think and more dangerous than it seems.

In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey writes:

Accidental project work is often the result of unconscious choices: saying yes without scope, trying to help without structure, solving problems without ownership.

You can’t lead differently until you recognise the pattern.

Because when you don’t realise it’s a project, you can’t manage it like one.

You stay reactive. You keep everything in your head. You juggle priorities without boundaries or strategy. You keep absorbing new asks because there’s no clear definition of what this work actually is.

And then the work goes sideways, not because you lacked effort, but because you lacked the frame.

As Jocko Willink writes in Extreme Ownership:

By tolerating ambiguity, we inherit chaos.

By not naming the work, we get blamed for its failure.

You don’t need a new title, you need a new lens.

This isn’t about becoming a certified project manager or adding corporate polish.

It’s about seeing clearly.

When you name what you’re doing - coordinating people, managing scope, aligning tasks to outcomes - you take back control. You ask better questions. You create space to lead, not just deliver.

You don’t need permission. You need perspective.

Others are already doing this and you can too.

I’ve seen a junior design engineer bring calm to chaos by simply writing down who owns what.

A mid-level operations lead turned spiralling tasks into a simple checklist and instantly gained breathing room.

No fancy tools. No management theory. Just ownership.

They didn’t wait to be called a leader.

They led what was already true.

So here’s the quiet challenge: look at your calendar this week.

What are you running - unofficially - that deserves to be called a project?

What would change if you treated it that way?

Let me know what you spot.

Yours,

Gerwyn

PS – What we’re building at Coron Projects

I’m building something for project professionals who want more than just tasks and titles. Pathfinder is a new kind of membership built for people in engineering and construction who are ready to grow, lead and thrive on their terms. No corporate bullshit. No gatekeepers. Just the tools, support and mindset shifts that help you take ownership of your career.

It’s currently in development and if that sounds like something you might want in your corner, you can join the waitlist here and include “Pathfinder” in the message.