Project Management In The Real World

When I was but a young child my mother read me a story that, for all intents and purposes, came straight out of the Grimm brothers library. The story was about a project manager that was lucky enough to manage in the most perfect, supportive, positive, encouraging, politics free organization. The project manager had the unconditional and relentless support of his (although it might have been ‘her’) project sponsor and all stakeholders, internal and external, have gone out of their way to offer the support and the buy-in necessary to make sure the project is delivered exactly on time and right on budget.

As I grew up I discovered that this, like many other childhood fairy tales, was nothing but a feel-good story as in reality there are no such things as perfect conditions and consequently there are no such things as perfect projects.

I argued the case in an earlier post (see HERE) that not all project managers are born equal (so to speak) as some are lucky (or smart) enough to work in mature organizations while others (and IMHO – the majority of us) are unlucky and are bound to operate in less than mature environments.

Further to the above I believe it would be also prudent to mention that project management (be it a profession or not) carries some functional components, the complexity of which cannot be taught in training schools or PMP learning institutions.

 While project management teaches you that…

• communication is a key component of the project manager job – it does not teach you how to communicate effectively and productively
• organizations are committed to the preservation and maintenance of historical records – from my experience – very few actually do
• there are some challenges in managing projects in matrix organizations, it does not teach you how to navigate through the bureaucratic maze this arrangement actually creates
• projects are a temporary endeavours it does not indicate they can – and do – turn into a permanent headache

One of the areas, training cannot equip you with the relevant skills to successfully deal with, is bureaucracy. Organizational bureaucracy, driven by fear and incompetency, can cripple, maim, or at least – weaken, even the strongest minded, self-assured and confident individual. Having been dealing with this modern reflection of incorrect risk management attitude, I have little respect and little appreciation to the role played by the Quality Assurance Gate Keepers, who, by and large, add negative value to the business by hiding behind process instead of using common sense, while blocking projects from moving into production.

My solution: Relax Service Transition and Change Management processes and allow project managers to do their job. Use the funds you saved on financing the dedicated and over elaborate Service Transition and Change Management department and utilise it to equip the projects with project administrators who can help and maintain audit trails, and demonstrate compliance with corporate project auditing requirements.

Think about it!

Related posts:

1. Project Management in the Real World (and what is ‘Real’ anyway?)
2. Veni Vidi Vici is Not a Substitute For a Real Plan