The current edition of Aviation Week & Space Technology has an article titled "Help Wanted: Good program management starts at the top, which could be the industry's problem."
The crux of the article is we've lost the leadership focus on the programmatic aspects of programs for a variety of reasons.
The question (of program success) does not come down to technology or even money, but the ability by industry and its government customer to lead and deliver on their promise.
This problem is not unique to aerospace and defense. It is common in the commercial side of projects as well.
According to a yearlong industry review, hosted by AW&ST and culminating in a conference here this month (Phoenix), industry leader believe they have made real progress in implementing best practices - but getting people and programs to follow them thoroughly and consistently remains the greatest shortfall.
One of the key challenges in our industry of PROGRAM MANAGEMENT (my emphasis).
The group, lead by Price Waterhouse Coppers (PwC) says the first step in improving performance is by building "objective and honest" assessment of the current state of industry's program management. The ... good planning, discipline, and communication within the projects...
To create the proper management structure to support program execution...with facets of strategy, risk, cost, budgets, planning, task schedules and technical milestones are integrated. Program managers are ... proactive in managing change...
The A&D partner at PwC said...
We believe that the aerospace and defense industry must be proactive in elevating its program management effectiveness, adopting balanced framework to mitigate or control risks and to cushion the impact when the customer requirements change.
Now let's ask some hard questions about project management
- Do the projects you work as a project manager have a disciplined approach to cost, budget, planning, task schedules and technical milestones?
- Do the projects you work elevate the project management effectiveness, adopting a balanced frameworks to mitigate or control risk and soften the blow when requirements change?
Why do do many projects not have control controls or even the rudimentary notion of budgeting? From some of the comments here lately, it seems many projects operate in the dark ages and are happy to continue to do so because, "it will frighten the developers."
Failure is a self-fulling prophecy, an unavoidable consequence of the tolerance - or even encouragement of the idea that full management engagement in cost, schedule, and technical performance measurement is simply too much work, too much "management," too much governance.
