While in the process of finishing up a note about ensuring organizations have competent project managers, I ran across an article that contended that project managers were so focused on the metrics of “on-time and on-budget” that they had become incapable of actually remembering that the goal of their project was to deliver strategic business value. What was interesting about the article was that it wasn’t a rant against project management — it was a proposition for “strategic architecture” which to the author was the role of the person chartered with ensuring the project actual solved the problem/delivered the value it was supposed to when it was chartered.
I found this disturbing on so many levels I barely know where to start. Mostly I guess I just find it terribly sad. I believe in projects as a way to deliver strategic results. I also believed (when I was actually managing projects myself) that at least 50% of my job as a project manager was helping the team make the decisions that needed to be made to ensure that we did deliver the results. That meant a continuous process of keeping the big picture view of where we were going so we could nip here, tuck there, and add something somewhere else. The purpose of the schedule and budget was to make sure we stayed in the parameters of the value proposition. It was the fine art of making sure that all the pieces not only fit together intellectually but that they came together in reality that always intrigued me. The thought that people are now contending that PMs are simply incapable of doing the integration and value assurance piece of the project leaves me disheartened.
Of course maybe I’ve been looking at this all wrong. If I were starting my career all over again maybe I’d be a strategic architect and I’d be writing about the importance of having someone on the project that can do the value assurance work. I’m not sure I’m willing to admit defeat on the project front yet, but since I’m a big advocate of always being willing to entertain the notion that reality is changing before my very eyes, I’ll just add this to my list of things to keep watching, just like any other risk symptom
5 responses so far ↓
1 Glen B. Alleman // Nov 9, 2009 at 11:05 pm
Donna,
Does this organization actually say “the project can be over budget and behind schedule, and oh yea it doesn’t really have to work, when it shows up late.”
Are they out of their every loving minds?
Ok, the business problem has to be solved, but a solved business problem that is late and over budget doesn’t seem as interesting to the business as one that solves the problem, shows up on time, and within or near the last budget estimate.
Glen B. Alleman
VP, Program Planning and Controls
2 Valuable Internet Information » The Decreasing Value Case for Project Management // Nov 10, 2009 at 1:13 am
[...] Read more here: The Decreasing Value Case for Project Management [...]
3 Donna Fitzgerald // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:32 am
No actually what they say is that without a strategic architect; the project will show up on-time and on-budget but it won’t be either useful or useable because the project manager is only capable of functioning as a “task droid” (my word not theirs).
Bottom line is that a vast majority of people are both literal and unfortunately lazy. Sometimes the laziness is a source of brilliance (”Progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things” RH) but sometimes it’s just assembly line thinking.
Effectively the article was building a case for an emerging activity called “strategic architecture” built on the bones of the project management whale.
4 Samad Aidane // Nov 10, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Donna,
This sounds interesting. I would love to read this article. Can you let me know the link?
5 Bill Duncan // Nov 16, 2009 at 5:51 pm
If you’re reading about an IT organization, I’m really not surprised. Most of the IT organizations I deal with (not all, but most) still haven’t figured out the difference between software development and project management much less the difference between project management and project controls.
So your “task droids” are most likely project controls clerks with the title of project manager but not the skills or the responsibilities. Maybe if you encourage the development of the strategic architecture role you’ll find some organizations will real PMs operating in that role?
Nah, won’t happen.
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