I just read a review of a book on A Girl's Guide to Project Management. There were six bullet points for effective team working:
- Clarity of vision and objective of the project
- Understanding one another’s strengths and weaknesses
- Norms of behavior and communication
- Knowing who is accountable for what and by when
- Recognizing time zones
- Understanding cultural differences
Some are outside my interest, some are core processes in our PP&C world. What struck me though was how we (in our world) have come to speak, act and react through the Integrated Master Plan / Integrated Master Schedule paradigm.
We use words like:
- What does done look like?
- What does done-done look like?
- What are the units of measure of done?
- Heck, what are the units of measure for anything that you describe?
- How would we recognize done when it arrives?
- What's going to prevent us from getting to done on-time, on-schedule?
These are the semantics of the programs we work. Even that phrase "programs we work," is part of the vernacular of our PP&C world. "working the program" means a daily rhythm, a weekly rhythm, and bi-monthly rhythm, and the ubiquitous monthly Contract Performance Report
So What's The Point
When the author (above) speaks of Clarity of Vision, Knowing Who Is Accountable for What, and other unstated process-centric activities on a project - requirements, capabilities, budget, plans, and the like.
These "Artifacts" are used to increase the probability of success for the project. This notion of "Increasing the Probability of Program Success (PoPS)" as crept into our work process in 2009. The Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD) has pushed down onto the services the PoPS.
The IMP/IMS paradigm speaks directly to the bullets listed above and two of the topics of the book. Here's my biased view in light of the other topics in the book.
They're all important. The people aspects are important. But in the absence of a clear and concise of what done looks like, what the impediments to done and a plan to remove them, mitigate them, ignore them or transfer them to someone else all the people aspects will result in a project failure.
PMI has started to focus in the past few years - at least in our local chapter and annual symposium - on the touchy feely aspects of managing projects. Everyone is self actualized, but no one knows what done look like for the project.
That's a stretch I know, but it is a trend being pushed by those selling touchy feely training.
So What's a PP&C Lead / Program Manager To Do?
Put together a credible Performance Measurement Baseline (PMB). The PMB is the code word for
I know what done looks like, how long it'll take to get to done, how much it will cost, who will have to do what when, how I'm measuring progress toward done, and what the statistical (stochastic) behaviors of the "getting to done" look like and how to work around those unpleasant diversions along the way.
In the end books like the one reviewed are valuable to our profession. But also in the end the project has to show up more or less on time, on budget, and provide the value it promised to the folks paying the bills.
Always ask - "what is the unit of measure shows value for the thing you're trying to sell me?" Be it an idea, a process, a philosophy of living?
