Interesting question!  I don't think I can cover off all my thoughts on this subject, but I'll throw a few out there:

• A good PM needs your typical leadership qualities - level-headed, calm under pressure, delegates responsibility appropriately, accepts responsibility for failures but shares successes with the team.
• I like a big-picture PM who can appreciate and understand the details but does not feel the need to ask about every little detail all the time.  Micromanagement will undoubtedly bring down the project and demonstrates that the PM has little trust in the project team, which also leads to failure.
• Another trait I like to see is a PM who will take the time to ensure that proper planning has occured, even if they're dropped in the middle of a project.  A good PM will argue with sponsors the need to have an effective, documented and accountable plan in place or else the project will invariably set itself up to be manipulated by the forces of stakeholders over time.  Without a proper baseline in place the project has no way of understanding how to respond to requests for change, be they appropriate and natural or otherwise.
• The best PMs I've had have advocated the BA to be working alongside the PM from almost the project inception to completion.  That does not mean that the BA would become a QA lead for testing (which is one of the biggest misconceptions I still see out there), but rather is responsible for ensuring that the solution is being built to the needs of the stakeholders.  

Hi Craig,

I agree with Larimar's post.

• Good baseline, with good change management process.
• Clear understanding and communication of SDLC and the deliverables required.
• Good communication skills - both ways. Willingness to listen and ask for ideas.
• Provide clear goals to team members and manage them based on their capabilities. Sometimes micromanaging of a team member may be necessary for a time but generally giving goals and monitoring progress to them.
• Good stakeholder management. Including protecting team members from politics.
• I'm personally most comfortable with people with a track record i.e. people I can respect

Not sure I agree that a PM needs to take the sole blame for failure. Probably that isn't what Larimar meant though.

Kimbo