Steve Sinofsky recently wrote a very detailed description of the Program Manager role in Microsoft ("PM at Microsoft") on his blog. For all who are interested in Program Manager positions within Microsoft (including myself), I think this entry is a great point of reference.

<personal-sharing>I have been appointed the lead several times in various projects. For me being a lead is not about instructing people what to do. I noticed most of the time, responsible team members generally know what to do when they have been assigned a task, otherwise they will ask for more information to accomplish it.

 I see the role as lead as one who main task is to support the other members of the team in their function. Sort of the water boy in the team, keeping the matters from distracting the other members' functions. Defining the project scope and keeping it on track ... These are the sort of tasks that I really enjoy and do well in, which is why I am focusing on more on PM and also Technical Product Managers opportunites (I love working with customers and getting feedback back to product group) in Microsoft.</personal-sharing>

PS: If you are not subscribe to Steve's blog, I would strongly encourage you to check his blog. Although I have never met Steve in person, but I think very well of him as a humble, genuine and people-developer person based on the manner he communicates thru his blog and the advices he offers to college grads.