It sometimes happens that your are unexpectedly promoted to being a project manager, or you are already managing a project but you are moved to a much bigger one.  There is a range of different reactions you may have at first: excitement for the challenge, fear, boost of self-esteem, panic…

Whatever your initial feelings are, you have to make sure you think you are up for the challenge.  Different things may make you doubt you are the correct person for the job:  necessary skills, some people in the project may think you are not valid for the role, the customer may be difficult to deal with, big project risks…

Analyse it and be honest with yourself.  Don’t be too gentle or hard to yourself.  List the things you have to learn, the areas where you will need more help and the possible risks or conflicts.  After this analysis your feeling about the project may be different:  you were confident at the beginning and then realized the project was more demanding than you thought or you thought you were not ready for it and now you are confident you can perform the job.

After this process there are two possible options:  you think you are able to lead the project to success, or you don’t.  If you do, congratulations!  If you don’t, it’s time to talk to your boss about it.  He may have seen something on you that you haven’t and you are readier for the job than you think.  Or you may not, and in that case it better to let someone else to take over.  There will be another chance.

Don’t underestimate the power of the confidence in success of the project manager.  As a leader, he will transmit what he feels.  Lack of confidence can lead an easy project to failure and a strong confident leader can make a complex project be a complete success.