Lean Project Management?

A colleague of mine recently told me she was approached to help with lean project management. Seriously? I’m challenged to think of anything more redundant.

The whole lean movement is based on reducing or eliminating non-value-added steps and reducing the costs of the value-added steps. But isn’t that what project managers do every day? Recall the role of the work breakdown structure (WBS): to identify ALL the work required and ONLY the work required to make the project successful. Don’t we constantly balance resources, sequence activities and handle risks to bring the project in as fast and inexpensively as possible?

Hmmmm, maybe I should sell “Lean Project Management”. I don’t have to change a thing except my marketing strategy.  We’ll promote that we eliminate any activity that doesn’t help the project. We’ll promote that we find the best resources to do the activities as inexpensively as possible. Yes, I can do this!

Cheers, all