Paul Ritchie introduced a new idea – the Black Letter Law. This is the notion that there are basic standards for any practice. The original practice for Black Letter Law was of course Law.
So are there Black Letter Law’s for Project Management? Paul mentions three. Here’s my take on expanding Paul’s great concept.
- Do we know why we’re doing this project?
- Do we know what components make up the deliverables for the project?
- Do we have any idea of how long it will take and how much it will cost for this project?
- Do we have any notion of what problems we will encounter along the way and what we plan to do about these problems before the bite us in the butt?
Now why is this important?
When someone comes along and claims to have something new. Be it PM 2.0, agile PM, some clever tool, or even a new take on a way of actually managing a project instead of trying to sell us something that can be used to manage projects – this is a way to ask some simple questions.
- Does your gadget help us understand better why we’re doing this project?
- Does the thing you're suggesting I use reveal the needed capabilities and business justifications?
- Does it do a better job of managing the requirements around the components of the project? Be they software, hardware, concrete, or steel?
- Can your gadget improve the management of my schedule or cost?
- Does your new approach provide any beneficial the impact to the risks impacting the project?
The answers to these and any other questions must be in units of measure meaningful to the buyer. No fluff. No “we’re the best thing since sliced bread,” no “everyone gives us wonderful reviews and votes us the best gadget in the valley,” no "here's a bunch of people who spent money with us, so you shoudl spend money with us as well."
Nope, the answers to these questions have to describe the unassailable beneficial outcomes. Stated in units of measure meaningful to the buyer. These units of measure should be dollars saved, risks reduced, value increased. Never can they be "we increase value." How much value - tell me the actual amount or at least a relative percentage. "We save you time." How much time?
Don’t hear that message? Move away away folks, nothing to see here.
