For starters: Project Management 2.0 is a term without a context. 2.0 is borrowed from Web 2.0, SOA 2.0, GIG 2.0.
Reading the initial descriptions of PM 2.0 reminds me of watching the infomercials shown on late night cable. The pitch is unabashedly biased, making remarkable claims and with conclusions that are unlikely to hold up under scrutiny.
Project Management in the Context of Projects
All project management processes have a context and a domain. They don't age. They don't wear out. They don't get replaced.They are immutable.
The immutable core processes of project management are, irregardless of what anyone wants us to believe, the management of projects consists of answering these questions:
- What are we building?
- What budget to we have to build it?
- How much will it cost to build it?
- When is it needed?
- What resources do we have to build it?
- Who are the participants along the way?
- What are the impediments to our success?
But the real starting question, independent of any project management method is:
What does done look like?
No matter what you want to call the project management method. Agile, Traditional, 2.0 it must continuous answer this question and all the associated questions that come with it?
The PMBOK Questions
Most agile approaches start by trying to counter the Project Management Institutes Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). PMBOK has 9 Knowledge Areas that are appliacble of every project:
- Integration
- Scope
- Time
- Cost
- Quality
- Human Resources
- Communications
- Risk
- Procurement
So if there is such a thing as Project Management 2.0, we'll need to discover how PM 2.0 covers these knowledge areas. Now you might say, PM 2.0 is not the same as PM 1.0 and the PMI knowledge areas. OK, that's simple. We're done. But if PM 2.0 wants to continue being called "project management," it needs to some how address these areas and several other "models" of project management.
PMBOK also has 5 Process Groups. These are not phases, but these processes can be found in any phase description of a project management method:
- Initiating
- Planning
- Executing
- Monitoring and Controlling
- Closing
PM 2.0 and PM 1.0
If PM 2.0 is going to have any traction, it'll need to address how its processes are an improvement over something in the past. Start with PMBOK, start with Prince 2, start with anything and show how those processes - when implemented correctly, with competent management, in the proper domain and context - are lacking in beneficial outcomes.
There are certainty improvements to be made. Agile software development has shown that. It's time for PM 2.0 to show in tangible evidence how it's proposed processes and the method based on those processes can improve the probability of success for a project.
