Josh Nankivel is interviewed by a student from Help University College in Malaysia. One of Josh's statements rang a bell for me.
When asked,"What is the greatest challenge for you as a Project Manager?"
Josh said,
"The specifics depend on individual projects and their environment. In general, the greatest challenge is ensuring clarity of “what, when, who, why, and how” for everyone, including the customer, project sponsor, team members, and all external and internal stakeholders. Most project failures in my experience stem from a failure to do this."
This list of "questions" is from the Kipling Poem, The Elephants Child.
The answers to these questions must come from processes executed during the project. Here's my take on what those processes must be, taken from our process handbook.
There are 5 process areas used to answer the questions.
Identify Needed Capabilities
Define the set of capabilities needed to achieve the program objectives or the particular end state for a specific scenario. Using the ConOps, define the details of who, where, and how it is to be accomplished, employed and executed. The ConOps (Concept of Operations) is a description of how the resulting product, system, or service will be used from the Point of View of the "customer."
Establish the Requiremnets Baseline
Define the technical and operational requirements that must be in place for the system capabilities to be fulfilled. First, define these requirements in terms that are isolated from any implementation technical products. Only then bind the requirements with technology.
Establish the Performance Measurement Baseline
Build a time–phased network of schedule activities describing the work to be performed, the budgeted cost for this work, the organizational elements that produce the deliverables, and the performance measures showing this work is proceeding according to plan.
Execute the Performance Measurement Baseline
Execute work packages, while assuring all performance assessment are 0%/100% complete before proceeding. No rework, no forward transfer of activities to the future. Assure every requirement is traceable to work and all work is traceable to requirements.
Perform Continuous Risk Management
Perform the 6 process areas of Continuous Risk Management for each Deliverables Based Planningsm process area to Identify, Analyze, Plan, Track, Control, and Communicate programmatic and technical risk.
At the highest level, these are the immutable processes needed to answer the Six Questions. This is a list of the "one true method" for managing projects, in the same way the Six Honest Serving Men, were Kipling's "one true method" for gathering the news while employed as a reporter in India.
There is more to managing projects than this of course. Along with the 9 Knowledge Areas and 6 Process Groups of PMBOK, any proposed project management method must address in some way, these items. In the same way as being a reporter is more than asking and answering Kipling's question.
In the end if you are not guided by these questions, the results will be disappointing to everyone, you, the customer, the stakeholders, and most importantly your ability to grow as a project manager.
