Within the project management domain one has to have clear appreciation of the distinction between accountability and responsibility, according to Shim Marom, author of quantmleap.com. The fundamental point is the question of “when and where does the buck stop?” Is it the project manager who is by default the one who needs to pay the ultimate price for the failure or is this issue a bit more complicated than that? Is there a point at which things might happen under your watch for which you could not and would not take the responsibility?