Although I have not done this myself yet, I have seen a couple of cases of project managers leaving a project in the middle. Things went fine both for them and the projects.

I agree with Pawel that ethics is an individual judgment.

Here are a couple of things I would try to do:

• give enough notice to the stakeholders (to get prepared both mentally and from an organizational point of view); this is important to avoid burning too many bridges; I have seen cases where the word was out unofficially that the PM would leave already 3 months before it happened; I would avoid a "1 week notice" type of exit; the project team is one of the stakeholder, and at first they can be disappointed, but the disappointment wears off and people just get used to the fact;

• handover the project to the new project manager; it can be helpful to leave a clear documentation;

I do not mean this to sound harsh, but I really find we self promote this PM thing and projects to an unrealistic degree of importance, or as a PM we act like we are the single point of failure. At the end of the day it is a job, just like every other job, with people who can be replaced. People leave jobs every day and they are replaced with equal or better talent.

You simply do so with professionalism, e.g., notification consistent with the complexity and status of your role, effective transitioning, etc.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "leave a project in the middle". If you mean just flat walk away, that tends to get you fired at most places I've worked. If you're talking about going to your senior management and saying you want off, I've done it. I paid a big price for it. A couple of VPs (and it was a big company) were very unhappy with me.

I was a PM on a multi-million dollar billable project. The project sponsor, and his boss (a VP) had big bonuses tied to the project performance. They either completed it by Christmas or they lost a LOT of money. And so they rode me day and night, making me promise to accelerate the schedule. And I did, finding ways to get clever with parallel work. However, they were handed a big set back by a 3rd party, which in turn delayed my project. The end result was that I now had about three days to conduct a migration that took about three weeks--and this was days before Christmas.

Long story short, I refused to print a schedule saying we'd finish on time. I issued jeopardy notices instead, setting off a firestorm. My manager tried to convince me to change the schedule. I told him no. Then I volunteered to leave, and was replaced. My manager and his manager both ended up getting fired after the project. I was also told that three individuals combed my project records, looking for grounds to terminate me as well. In the end they couldn't because of the accuracy of my project schedules and status reports.

you must do what is right for you and your family

That's always trade-off game and one should decide about priorities.

I'd let alone family since everyone would state family is more important than work even though not everyone would act as they believed in that.

Other than that you should decide about things like:

• Team's trust. You might convince some people to join or even hired them so they may expect you won't jump off.
• Project status. Leaving in the middle of project without preparing anyone to take over your role can burn some bridges behind you which is never a good thing.
• Commitments you've made. You might commit personally to do something, e.g. lead a team to the end of the year, and leaving would break your word.

Having said that, if a new option is a kind of dream job I think pretty much everyone would leave no matter what.

And about ethical guidelines, well, ethics is such individual thing. If I felt fine about the move I would leave.

I personally have hard time leaving my team in the middle of a project. To me it is about three things:

1. The commitment I have made to the project. If I start the project, I commit myself to completing it. In addition, it is the finished projects that makes me a happy employee and they make it fun to come to work.

2. The trust put in me by the project sponsor, my team and stakeholders. Leaving in the middle definitely contributes to loosing trust. Consider that this world is really a very small one. In many occasions, I would work with folks who I thought I would never meet again. In my experience, if you lose their trust once, it is almost impossible to regain it back.

3. There is always a better solution than leaving the project in my opinion. You have to look for it and put effort in finding it. If there is a conflict, find a way to resolve the conflict. If you don't like people, look for way to turn your opinion about them around.

Of course, I can imagine cases when you have to move to another city or scary for your life or won $100 millions in the lottery. Actually I might still stay at work if I won a lottery. However, jokes and unforeseen circumstances aside, I believe a PM should finish the project.

Leaving a project is not the norm for me. As Nick Dudar says above, I made a commitment to the project when I signed on. I want my clients to see me as reliable and stable--not a flight risk. In my whole career I've walked away from three projects. In two cases I walked away during the planning phase because of the following:

• stakeholders deadlocked on scope - after weeks and weeks of discussions, I finally said, "call me when you know what you want"
• stakeholders wouldn't give the project priority - that was a huge red flag to me

In a third case I walked away in the middle. That was NOT a popular decision but in that case the toll it was taking on me was too great (long-ass commute, wicked degree of stress, consistently late hours, with two more years to go). However, it's not so easy to extricate yourself from the middle. There are integrity issues at stake--you can't just leave the whole team in the lurch. Well, you can, but don't expect anyone to ever call you again.

I found a suitable replacement for myself and made a smooth transition first. Then I waved goodbye and ran straight to the pharmacy for more Xanax and a week long nap. LOL

David E is right in his comment above - a PM is expendable just like anyone else. However, the PM also carries detailed knowledge of THAT specific project with THOSE specific people in his head that, if not communicated, could seriously slow things down after he or she leaves.

If a PM wants or needs to leave a project midstream, I see no reason why not, as long as it's handled with a degree of integrity and professionalism that shows he's still trustworthy, but that set of circumstances just isn't for him.

If you are leaving for a career change or a new opportunity, then acting with courtesy and professionalism, you can definitely leave.

On the other hand, if you are simply abandoning a project, your first responsibility would be to tell the client/project sponsor why you are abandoning that is, the root cause of your wanting to drop it.

At the very least, this information will give them visibility into the project's overall feasibility or the challenges you encountered in the project.

In the best case, this could raise awareness of specific factors that need to be changed and help convince the stakeholder to make the changes.

If you were proceeding in this way, don't phrase your first approach to the stakeholder as "x and y stink and therefore I'm leaving."

But rather, "I have serious concerns on the project and my association with the project. I'd like to discuss this issues so we can resolve them..."

My situation is a little different than most here, and as such the answer is an easy "yes" -

Every move I've made has involved leaving projects in the middle, the end, and the beginning. In my world I manage multiple projects (20+) on a rolling basis so there is never a point when I'm 'done' because there are always others in various stages.

As others have said, it's job, nothing more. I would have no more problem leaving than when one of my team tells me they're leaving. I always wish them the best, ask about the new opportunity, and then download as much as possible to their replacement. Same for me. I give appropriate notice, make sure all of my responsibilities are up to date and handled, and work as much as I can with my replacement before I leave to get them up to speed. Then it's "here's my number, call me if you have any questions", and we part ways.

I always have a vested interest in the projects success, even after I'm gone. I still often drive past many of the projects I built or worked on and stop and look. But ultimately the project will end and belong to someone else. And while I would like to be able to successfully finish every project I have ever touched, I would be foolish to pass on an opportunity out of a (to me) faulty sense of loyalty.

As long as I've done my job correctly, am leaving the project in good shape, and make a smooth transition to the new PM, then I have no qualms about leaving.

Staying or leaving a company or a project should be first and foremost a business decision. Trust me, at the end of the day this is exactly how your employer or client thinks.

Yes, leaving a project is a difficult decision sometimes and there is always a lot of emotions involved. You should certainly deal with those emotions (yours and your team’s) but the final decision should not be emotional.

Giving adequate notice is not just a good thing to do ethically or morally. It is also good business. It is a small world and people will talk about the damage you left behind, if you do not help them make a smooth transition. Leave without adequate notice too many times and eventually your reputation will catch up with you.

Companies always find a way to survive without even the most indispensable people. your managers and project team members will eventually come to term with and may even understand your decision.

However, people can quickly forget all the good things you did and long hours you worked for them, if they feel you abandoned them in the middle of a project. That’s the last impression they may have of you and the first thing they may mention about you in the future.

You should always try to genuinely help them make a smooth transition.