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Synopsis
This note complements material from any number of text books and business publications on this topic. The basic premise for this primer is to offer a very simple frame of reference to better understand the core concepts behind project management. Frankly, it is intended to unravel the mystery and occasional scorn surrounding roles titled “Project Manager”.
What does a Project Manager do? Is (s)he just a political buffer or the “fall guy”? Is (s)he just a pesky, often times highly paid and visible, glorified note taker? Why then do so many projects fail? What should their performance objectives be aligned to?
This document attempts to answer some of these questions, while laying the groundwork for advanced concepts in a future publication.
The terms “project”, “program” and “initiative” are used interchangeably. Specific meanings can be attributed to each of these terms according to the context in which they are used.
While on the one hand students and early practitioners can be made aware of the core concepts of Project Management, achieving meaningful success as a Project Manager is a career long endeavor of continuous learning.
The observations in this document are lessons from more than three decades of managing projects, large and small. Some of these lessons seem obvious and repetitive; yet, empirical evidence suggests that ~ 70% of projects fail to achieve their intended goals. This seems to imply that there aren’t many adept managers around to appropriately and meaningfully apply the right resources, tools and techniques at the right time. Context of and for the project, the project manager’s style and the team’s chemistry have as much, if not more, to do with the success of a project, than the methodology, tools and techniques deployed. This is true for project teams in the same location in close proximity, in remote locations within the same time zone or 10,000 miles away, or any combinations thereof.
The Project Management Framework (named “The House that Rao Built”, until a more marketable name comes about) depicted and described in this document, is a frame of reference and not a starting point to introduce this material. It can be used as a checklist of major categories of Project Items to consider when initiating, tracking and completing a project or a collection of projects.
Project estimation is the foundation on which a Plan is developed. Scientific and methodical approach, through use of appropriate software tools, could be adopted in the formulation of estimates and plans. Despite use of such tools and methods, there is enough evidence to postulate that no two project managers will be able to achieve the exact same outcomes from executing the same plan. Challenges arise during the execution of the plan and tracking of progress; there is significant variation in responses by different project managers to such challenges. The culture of the organization, the environment surrounding the project execution and the business case on which the Project Charter is founded, influence and test the manager’s ability to artfully navigate the various personalities and politics, all of which have the potential to impact the scope, duration and availability of resources in material ways.
Definitions of success for an initiative assume that the intended goal for the project is clearly known and articulated at the very beginning, and that it does not (or intended not to) change through the life of the project. This is the fundamental fallacy in the determination of the success of an initiative. In the commercial world (and in many non-profit organizations), progress and results are measured in Internet time and the span of attention, thereby patience, is expected to diminish over time. Moreover, technology is assumed to help expedite completion. However, it is important to be aware that easy-to-use end-user solutions are enabled by complex underlying technology. Implementation or even use, customization and integration of such complex technology require expertise and skills that may be hard to obtain or otherwise train within the life of a project.
On the other hand, where technology is not necessarily a key enabler; viz., conducting a major social event such as a wedding – a time bound project – we would manage expectations, whims and fancies of people through meticulous planning, effective delegation, rigorous tracking and by invoking contingency scenarios when necessary at critical junctures.
A reasonable and sound criterion for success in either case is to achieve the end result, through various iterations of change, with minimal collateral damage.
In an ideal environment, all a manager has to do is to prepare a plan on the basis of a defined scope and expected outcomes – as described in the Project Charter – and then execute the plan with available resources. In reality, the manager needs to establish a baseline plan at a point in time (“the ideal”), utilizing the best available information at that time and a heavy dose of judgment; and then expect to navigate the inevitable changes and variances through the life of the initiative.
