Why am I telling you all of this? Because this printer did not keep his word, and I will not use him again. He has lost all my future business.

Gaining trust of your customers is hard enough to do when your customers can physically walk into your establishment or pick up phone and talk to you directly. However, difficulty is exponential when all you have is an electronic storefront and business is done over Internet.

In end, your word is only thing you have to gain credibility with your customers. If you conduct your business with integrity to do what you say you are going to do, then you will build a base of loyal customers. Why? Because you will be providing a higher level of customer service than majority of your competitors, and you will stand out from crowd.

This works on all directions on organization board. A project manager must be able to supervise his own people, work with consultants, handle his boss, work with his boss's peers and boss, communicate with vendors and possibly clients, and be able to communicate well enough with anyone to get job done.

Manages time - This is especially important if a project manager is, like most of us in information technology, managing more than one project at a time. The project manager will be hit from all sides by conflicting goals and objectives. People will demand time from manager, and he must be good at using this time wisely. Perhaps most important things are: use meetings wisely and appropriately, minimize use of email (a real time waster), stay clear of politics and plan well to avoid a crisis (the worst time waster of all).

Understands when quick action is necessary - Sometimes quick action is necessary, and sometimes it is not. A good project manager understands when an event is a crisis and when it is just someone attempting to make a crisis. Sometimes these are very difficult to differentiate - but it can and must be done.

Acts quickly when necessary - When quick action is necessary, a good project manager does not hesitate (at least not for long) and does what is necessary.

Understands when he must be ruthless and when he must use a soft touch - There are times when a project manager must act quickly and decisively, and there are others when he must be a nice person. For example, I managed a project a few years ago which took a sudden turn for worse. I investigated and found out a consultant was not doing his job. I confronted consultant, got back severe attitude and fired him on spot. The project was soon back on track. On other hand, in one instance I found a consultant was having severe personal problems and that was cause of some slippage in schedule. I immediately gave her a couple of days off and problems vanished upon her return.

Produces solutions, not problems - The job of a project manager is to manage a project such that it is completed. It is not his job to create problems. A good project manager understands this, and acts accordingly. Thus, he is always putting solutions on his bosses desk, not more problems.

Controls deviations - For some reason, many managers love to introduce change in projects after they get under way. This must be controlled or your people will feel like they are shooting at a moving target which is invisible. It's hard to hit a target if you don't know what that target is, and just as difficult to hit something if it changes constantly. Sometimes a project manager must be flexible - but those instances must be controlled and reasons for change understood.

The real measure of a good project manager is simple - his projects get completed as specified, his people feel productive (they believe they are contributing to something worthwhile), and finished product (the result of project) is of high quality.