The Mind of the Project Manager, Part II

In my seminars, I frequently ask people what aspects of the project the project manager owns. The concept of ownership is one of the critical tools I use to run a successful project. Remember: we are not necessarily subject matter experts (SME’s) in the discipline of the project, we are SME’s in project management.

So, I’m curious what aspects of the project you think project managers own. If you don’t mind, let’s do a short poll. I’ve randomized the answers to avoid any prejudice.

I’ll post my choices in a few weeks.

A letter to Scrum trainers and the world of Agile

Dear Scrum Trainers:

I know how proud you are of your wonderful methodology (that you claim isn’t). I know you built Scrum to find a new way to do software projects that works … and it does. However, I have to admit I’m getting tired of you bad-mouthing classic project management.

If I put the same conditions on a classic project as you put on Scrum, I’d be just as successful. Classic project management does NOT dictate that project managers should be split among dozens of projects. Classic project management does NOT state that project team members should be pulled in 20 different directions. Classic project management does NOT dictate that the plan should never change.

These are conditions incompetent executives force on us. This is NOT a defect of the discipline, rather a circumstance of the business society and culture.

Now, allow me to offer a truce. While learning Scrum, I’ve discovered that the same technique you use to be successful are the same ones I used (as long as 30 years ago) to be successful. I learned Bruce Tuckman’s Stages of Team Development by watching teams some 25 years ago and design my project around it. I can’t remember a basic PM seminar I’ve run that I didn’t pound “the definition of done” into the attendees heads. I and my students embrace change in classic project management … we just make sure it’s change that adds value, and I get to adjust my time and cost accordingly. I have a single-point-of-contact (SPOC) for my client, you have a product owner.

And … I DON”T have to have a daily meeting to run a team. My 7-minute weekly meetings run just fine.

So, I have an idea … instead of bad-mouthing us which only forces me to push back, why don’t we work together to the common good? Why don’t we find those concepts that work well in both Agile and classic PM and promote (dare I say) best practices.

It’s uneducated and incompetent executives we need to address, not each other.