Home » WordPress231 » projects » Starting a project the right way

Starting a project the right way

Technorati Tags: Project management,Project failures,failure,management,what not to do

Most inexperienced, or experienced but stubborn, project managers make pretty much the same mistake, when preparing or managing their project. It could be called “the project plan is the project (and I know it so listen to me)“. From the moment they hear that they are going to be responsible for a new project, they swiftly double-click on MS Project (or Excel), click on New, and there they are… Prince of the Schedule, Duke of the Resource normalization, King of the Critical Path. They usually ask the right questions, often understand the issue at hand, and may even come up with the perfect action plan to achieve the goal. And their brilliance shines over the 1217-line project plan, “which can also conveniently be condensed in a short 76 items-one pager”.

And their project fails. And they do not understand why, since their planning was excellent, their analysis superb, and their daily updates delivered with a Swiss-like precision. Usually, they will call onto circumstances, poor leadership support, changes in goals. These may have contributed to the failure.

But where is the real mistake?

Well, to answer this one, here is another question: have you read the terms and conditions of your credit cards?

Now, if you are the one in thousands who actually reads the T&Cs, here is another one for you: Honestly (it will not be repeated), have you read the project plan of your last project? how long have you spent on it? have you even opened it?

Do you start seeing the mistake?

Now, if you like modern art, you may recall by now the famous painting of a pipe, titled “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” or, in English “This is not a pipe”, by Magritte. The intent of the artist was to illustrate the treachery of images, the fact that the representation of a thing is never the real thing.

This reality of the gap between the real things and their representations is pervasive:

• the map is not the territory

• a blue print is not a product

• a feature set is not a software

Would a blueprint of a sports cabriolet make you feel how it is like when your hair blows in the wind on a sunny day? No. Would a brochure of a new software help you manage your inventory? No. Would pointing your finger along a freeway get you there? No.

Similarly, creating a comprehensive project plan will not get you to a complete project.

So what is that we do wrong exactly?

As precise and inspired your project plan may be, it is only as powerful as the picture your team has of it. So the more complex it is, the less likely it will succeed. But even if it is simple, it will not work if your team does not own it. There is a reason if the military rehearse a plan, again and again. Watch the Dirty Dozen for a good, albeit dramatized, example of this.

Now, the real duty of a project manager is not to make a beautiful project plan that nobody will watch. It is not to create a beautiful concept that does not meet reality. The real duty of a project manager is to face circumstances and beat them flat, with a team. It is hence to bring people together around an objective, the objective of the project. And in most organizations, where most team members will be involved in multiple projects at any given time, their duty is also to compete for their time, to get mind-share from these people, to seduce them, get them to like you, your project, understand their contribution, and make it happen.

And you may need a project plan, but that’s a side product. You can keep it and frame it if you want. I will frame the smile of the team on the pictures we take, when we’re done.

Home