Project Management or Checklist Management?

Is it enough if a Project Manager deals with scope, cost, timelines and resources?

If you look at it - the key responsibility any PM is given is optimal resource utilization within estimated timelines so the project courses within the budgeted costs. They are equipped with fancy new methodologies that we hope can help achieve the targets. Then why do failures continue to happen? Why are there time and cost overruns, dissatisfied customers, and projects left midway?
In hindsight, the causes could be any or all of the below,

• Lack of clarity on the overall big picture
• No clear definition of roles and responsibilities
• Inability to determine the dependencies upfront - internal and external
• Lack of checks and balances
• Lack of visibility across stakeholders
• Scope creeps and lack of defined change management process
• The list goes on ...

Doesn't this make you think - "Is there something else to project management that is much beyond - scope, timelines, and cost (STC)" ???
As Greg Cimmarrusti, said, "Being a Project Manager is like being an artist, you have the different coloured process streams combining into a work of art."
A sneak peek into this artist's toolkit, a bag of techniques, methods, secrets, and best practices for that best ART OUTCOME.

• Understand Purpose - Before you begin, make sure you understand the 'PURPOSE' - ask 'WHY' and 'WHAT' is the problem being solved irrespective of the project scale. This is the foundation that you have to lay your entire intelligence on.

"No matter how good the team or how efficient the methodology, if we're not solving the right problem, the project fails." - Woody Williams

• Define Principles - Define the key goals, metrics, milestones and deliverables that align with the purpose.
• Design your "Intelligence"

  • Planning (Now & Future) - Define what must be achieved, when, by whom, and how. Plan for now, prepare for the future - embed the known unknowns into your plan and leave a way to accommodate the unknown unknowns. It is important that you accept that there will be a need for 'CHANGE' - Plan is always a living document.
  • Assemble your Team (& Stakeholders) - Having the right team on board, one that understands the big picture, aligns with the purpose and is clear on its role, is one of the key drivers for success. Determine who leads, who supports, who reviews, and who signs off at every stage of the project and ensure this visibility across the elements.
  • Dependency Management - This could be one of the potential areas of failure, especially when you are working with multiple teams, if not done right. Follow the rules of a work breakdown structure to a minute level of detail and identify "What" or "Who" might be a blocker for completion of the task.
  • Change Management - Ensure every tiny modification to the scope is properly vetted vis-a-vis the business value and impact on the timelines and cost. It is necessary that key stakeholders understand the impact and make a decision - go or no go.
  • Communication & Escalation Protocol - Have a structured FW in place for overall communication based on the team - trigger, timeline, context, and audience. Protocol to be designed to ensure proactive communication
  • Visibility & Accountability Protocol - It is key that all the players involved have complete visibility of the overall work, progress, and goals/targets. And have a single point of accountability defined for each of the teams.
• Risks & Management- Be cognizant/watchful of the potential risks - it could be as simple as knowing that one of the team members addressing a key dependency may not be available at the required time, so you can plan for an alternative.
• Systematic Error Management - Plan for correction of the system that let the mistake happen. Not the mistake. This ensures continuous improvement in your overall process leaving no option but a successful delivery.
• Review & Restructure - Like a painter, occasionally, step back and review the painting. Checks and balances at regular intervals to review the progress vis-a-vis the overall goals - across your entire PM intelligence to continuously improve, defining a culture of empiricism
• Feedback Handling & Actioning - With the review outcome as the input, identify "what didn't work", "what worked" and "what needs to be changed" across. All learnings/experiences to be added back to the "intelligence".
• Right Support for Tools & Technologies - Do not spend time on things that a tool can help you with. There are a lot out there, that can empower your intelligence, to make the entire project management easy and fast.

Remember, any toolkit is only as powerful as the Artist- for the bamboo can become a flute of divine music, only in the right hands
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