Project management is essential for any company and organization whose work is based on projects. Without an experienced project manager, who understands the project life cycle, who understands risk management and people management, it is almost impossible to expect a successful completion of a project. Through the theoretical part of this paper it is explained what most projects should look like and what their life cycle should look like in theory. This is usually the case with smaller projects. With large projects and experienced project managers, almost any project will, to a person unfamiliar with the complexity of real-world project management, look like an example out of the project management theory book. In most cases, the truth is the complete opposite, and the only person responsible for the good appearance of a project is capable and experienced project manager. The practical part of this paper describes project management on the example of the project for the development of a platform for electronic document exchange in Croatian Telecom. This example shows how the above statement, about the complexity and challenges of projects, is the real state of almost every medium and large project. Projects of this scope rarely go by the book. A good project manager is a person who knows how to recognize the right moment for the right step in the right direction, whether in a relationship with a client, project team, or other stakeholders, all with the help of his experience and abilities. For this reason, project managers are people who, if the financial and other needed resources are met, will bring each project to its goal, regardless of any potential problems in its life cycle.