A wise man once told my that the only job of a PM at Microsoft is to make shit happen. Career PM's are defined by their ability (or inability) to do that.

I have observed that there are 4 personas a PM can take on when engaging in this meta-task:

• The Hand-Wringer. Worries most about getting everything lined up internally and being completely buttoned up before taking an idea public. Vulnerable to analysis paralysis.
• The Strategic Influencer. Plants key ideas in the minds of other people. Relies on the other people's ability to execute on the goals they originate, which is both a blessing and a curse.
• The Consensus Builder. Touchy feely, gets broad buy-in, makes sure everyone is happy before moving on. Risks design-by-committee.
• The Juggernaut. Has an end goal in mind, unmercifully relenting, amount of intermediate destruction caused is inversely proportional to other people's ability to get out of the way. Can be tremendously productive, but in this limit this interferes with your ability to successfully execute the other strategies.

As I spend more time at Microsoft, I'm realizing that no single strategy is independently successful in all cases. Each one, applied exclusively, ultimately leads to failure.

The key is know which strategy to apply when.