🚩Tactical Memo 103: Without the Title, Leading Gets Filed as Helping Out
You ran the whole project. The all-hands thanked you for pitching in.
Justin Bateh
October 15, 2026
Tactical Memo #103 | The Unwritten Rules · Career | 3 min read
Tactical Memo: a new issue every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday on career growth, AI at work, and modern management, read by 18,000+ leaders at Amazon, Deloitte, and Google. Forwarded? Subscribe free.
Final cohort of 2026 Become an AI-Powered Project Manager runs Nov 2 to Dec 5. It's the last cohort this year. It's built for project managers and for anyone running projects without the title. You'll build your own AI Project Brain and 4 working AI agents that take status reports and update-chasing off your plate. No coding required. Enroll now and get Project Management That Actually Works free, a $350 value. You also earn 16 PDUs. |
In brief The situation: You're running a project, but nobody gave you the project manager title. The mistake: You do the whole job quietly and call it helping out. The move: Name the role at the start and describe it as leading at the end. |
The story
Your manager hands you a project in a 1-line Slack message. "Can you keep an eye on this?"
You build the tracker and run every check-in.
You chase every late piece for 3 months.
It ships. At the all-hands, the VP thanks the team, then thanks you for pitching in.
3 months of running it. Filed as pitching in.
If you've ever been asked to "keep an eye on" a project, you know this moment.
Nobody took your credit. There was never a role on paper to give it to.
Project managers have the title to tell the room who led. You don't.
Without the title, running the project gets filed as helping out. Here's how to work with it.
The moves
1/ Name the role in the first note
In the first week, send 1 note to everyone on the project.
Say what the project is for and who owns each piece. Sign it as the person coordinating.
That's the whole note.
Most teams never decide who's running a project. They default to the name on the plan.
Put the plan in writing first, and the questions start coming to you.
Say this "I'm coordinating this one. Here's who owns each piece and when we check in. Tell me if I got anything wrong." |
2/ Borrow authority from whoever asked
You can't make anyone do their part. The person who handed you the project can.
Ask them to say who's running point OUT LOUD, ONCE, to the whole group.
After that 1 message, people know your follow-ups come from the person who asked for the project.
Your follow-ups stop being favors and start being the job.
Ask this "Can you send 1 line to the group saying I'm running point on this? It'll save everyone some chasing." |
3/ Describe it with the word "led"
When it ships, write 2 sentences for your manager.
Say what the project changed and what you ran to get it there.
Use "led" and "ran." NEVER "helped."
Your manager repeats your words in the rooms you're not in.
Hand them "helped," and "helped" is the word they repeat.
Do this "I led the ___ project. It ___ by ___. I ran the plan and the weekly check-ins across ___ teams." |
The outcome
| Most people | You |
|---|---|
| Take the project and start working | Name the role in the first note |
| Chase people as a personal favor | Have the sponsor say who's running point |
| Say they helped out | Say what you led and what it changed |
Proof. In Smartsheet's survey of Australian workers, 83% said projects at their company are at least sometimes run by people with no project management title or role. Smartsheet, 2023
This week
The title is how a room knows who led. Without it, you supply that part yourself.
People who've learned this name the role at the start and describe it the same way at the end.
Nobody else is going to do it for you.
Try it the next time someone asks you to "keep an eye on" something.
Your record will say whatever you called the work.
Reply
What's 1 project you ran that got filed as helping out? Reply with the project name. I read every one.
Until next time.
Justin Bateh, PhD
Former COO, LinkedIn Top Voice
Founder and Editor, Tactical Memo