Myth Busters
By Schupak, Amanda | |
Proquest LLC |
Debunking 5 misconceptions holding project management -and organizations-back.
Budget, schedule and scope are only the beginning.
Project management is no static set of routines. It's a constantly evolving, open-to-innovation process.
"A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK* Guide)-Fifth Edition, the captured and codified experience of thousands of project managers around the world, continues to grow. We project managers should not be dogmatic and rigid," says
Where there's change, there's the possibility for misconception. Only 54 percent of organizations fully understand the value of project management, according to PMI's Pulse of the Profession(TM) report. That might explain, in part, why project success rates are so low: Less than two-thirds meet their original business intents.
To set the record straight-and help organizations stay on track-we asked project managers to weigh in on five common project management myths.
Myth: Process Trumps People
Reality Check: "Process is meaningless without people," says
At military-vehicle services firm
Finding the right people is only the first step-they also need to be empowered to break from standard procedure when necessary. "I remember a statement from an early project management guide that said, 'Apply as much of the process as is necessary,'" says
"The right people weren't engaging the right experts, so while many of the processes were being executed, good decisionmaking wasn't there."
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Execution Is Everything
Reality Check: Organizations may be eager to get the job done, but pulling the trigger on a project without proper planning inevitably leads to "increased rework that creates frustration, hurdles in workflow, low efficiency and overruns in cost and time," says
Project managers must constantly battle the widely held belief that planning slows things down, says
It's funny-to everyone but a project manager. "The absence of planning only creates chaos and haphazard advancement on execution," warns
"The absence of planning only creates chaos and haphazard advancement on execution."
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Myth: Once the
Reality Check: Many years ago,
Not two weeks later, the call center had to be evacuated for several hours when that risk was realized. The time away from desks and phones had a negative impact on customers. "It was a living example of the risk involved in not having a disasterrecovery plan in place," says Ms. Koenig, program manager for global services supply chain based in the
Cheryl Mclntyre-Hall, PMP, manager of the enterprise project management office of
"Too often, risk management isn't included as an agenda item in project status meetings, and therefore the focus can get lost beyond the start of the project," she says. "It's not until a catastrophicevent occurs and significantly impacts project progress that ongoing risk reviews are conducted." She advises project and program managers to convene separate risk-review meetings at regular intervals in the project or program "to ensure that risk management is always on the radar. This is critical especially for large and/or complex projects."
"Too often, it's not until a catastrophic event occurs and significantly impacts project progress that ongoing risk reviews are conducted"
-Cheryl Mclntyre-Hall, PMP,
Myth: You Should Never Kill a Project
Reality Check: When the business landscape shifts, it may wipe out the very purpose upon which a project was built.
Though it may sting to stop a project, sometimes that's the smartest move. Throughout Ms. Koenig's "To have the business sense and strength to terminate a project that no longer fits the environment is to be praised, not punished."
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career with various companies, she has been on teams that, once the portfolio is set, get stuck in projects, sometimes for years, because so much work has already gone into them that no one is willing to pull the plug. "By the time the project is delivered, it is not always still relevant," she says. "Sponsors and project managers alike are often afraid to kill a project midway through for fear that it may reflect badly on them. In my opinion the opposite is true: To have the business sense and strength to terminate a project that no longer fits the environment is to be praised, not punished."
Emotional attachment by project owners may keep a project going even when it's no longer in line with the market needs, says Ms. McIntyre-Hall. "If the members of the portfolio governance structure get stuck in this mindset, then the organization risks not achieving its strategic objectives. This could have a more far-reaching effect, such as fall in market ranking, which may culminate in business downsizing if the situation persists."
Myth: After Budgets Are Set, New Project Ideas Must Wait
Reality Check: Putting projects on hold can be a measured move in a fast-paced business environment. But ignoring an innovative idea because it doesn't align with budget cycles is a surefire way to miss big opportunities.
"There will always be new ideas, innovation and project requests," she says. "Ideas and innovation are not the problem, so stifling them is not the answer."
"Ideas and innovation are not the problem, so stifling them is not the answer."
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Copyright: | (c) 2014 Project Management Institute |
Wordcount: | 1544 |
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