Project Methodology

 

There are now many project management methodologies to choose from these days. But remember simple is often the best.

I have often seen young project managers get bogged down in the minutae of methodologies and loose sight of what they are really trying to do and importantly why? It doesn't matter whether it is a development, project management or any other methodology - they are but guides to what works and what does not. They should never be regarded as table d'hôte or a set menu but rather a la carte or a menu from which to choose approaches that match the requirements of the project, its size, criticality and peoples ability to use the approach. If it looks to complicated or time consuming it probably is, at least for your requirements.

Always remember, project management is a juggling act with three primary balls: SCOPE (what you are trying to achieve, ruling out anything beyond that), RESOURCES (the money, equipment and human resources required to complete the project) and TIME (the time available to achieve the objectives of the project). These three variables are often thought of in the form of an interconnected triangle. If you have to adjust one it will effect one or both of the other two variables. For example, Increase the scope and you will probably need more resources and/or possibly more time.

There is an important fourth ball QUALITY. It can be regarded as laying in a 'cat's cradle' formed at the centre of the triangle by interraction with the three primary balls. In other words Quality is a function of the three other variables and good project managers must monitor this with a separate Quality Plan (an approach to ensure that everyone knows on what criteria we will judge the outcomes of the project). Many project managers make the mistake of only thinking of outcomes as a tangible item such as the implementation of a new system when in fact the 'soft' outcomes are equally important and require a similar approach. Such soft outcomes as customer satisfaction or some clearly defined business benefit.

Project management methodologies provide approaches to tracking and responding to changes in these variables to ensure that a project is what the customer ordered i.e. the scope has been correctly defined and achieved; completed on time within the budgeted resources allocated and to the level of quality stated at the outset.

Today using some form of methodology is taken for granted but of course this was not always so. I often remind young project managers that they built the pyramids without Prince 2 or being PMI qualified. I would suspect that many of the great projects in history were as successfully implemented as projects today. The one thing that has remained almost totally consistent in the 30+ years I have been a practicing project and program manager is the abysmal statistics of failure associated with projects of one type or another, particularly in IT. Why is this so when clients, project managers and organizations are so wedded to methodologies? Simply this - structured methodologies and best practice may reduce the risks for a project if they are used cautiosly and with understanding and common sense. They are not a panacea for all project ills and can do more harm than good if they are simply regarded as a recipe for a successful project.

Does this mean that I don't agree with using these methodologies. Most emphatically not!

In fact back in the 60's I was instrumental in introducing project control techniques into the UK as an offshoot of one of the largest technology projects of all time, the Polaris Nuclear Deterrent. One of these techniques imported from the USA was Critical Path Analysis or CPA a technique that had also been developed in the UK by the then Gas Board. The latter received little attention due to its rather long winded name - The Longest Sequence of Irreducible Events! A name not much likely to endear itself to the Project Managers of the day. There in itself is valuable lesson for today's Project Managers - any method or technique needs to be adopted enthusiastically and this is most likely to happen if it is seen or perceived to be useful and any project needs to be promoted well. Project Managers should use whatever marketing, sales and communication techniques they can to sell their project throughout its life.            

Project Lesson 1: A methodology is an a la carte menu of techniques to use as fits your project.
Project Lesson 2: Sell your project - and sell the sizzle not the sausage!