What does project management mean to me — a project manager’s sermon

In the beginning was change. Well, the beginning, itself, was change. From the beginning, however, change challenged. Some wanted change, some preferred more of the same.

Change versus same creates confusion.

To clear up confusion, someone powerful stepped up and said, “change must be” looked around said, “make it so”, then retired to a local watering hole for results.

Things were suddenly interesting, now there was expectation, not just option, but anticipation.

With necks on the line, our early kin debated what to change, when, and, in the early days very firm delivery dates, of what was at stake.

People accountable for change generally:

• Embark on a cattle drive and hope most of the herd arrive;
• Plot trajectory towards something you expect is over there;
• Engineer a process map of what should be;
• Harass others with verbal, mental, or physical threat;
• Pitch a horseshoe for luck; or
• Devise a plan

Flash forward a few millennia to this project manager’s journey through the valley of death (well more a trail of tears through a valley of despair) and what project management means to me.

Though intended as a sermon, I come as a repentant sinner to share my humble station of divine grace of what project management means to me through countless projects, emotions, and nerves saved.

Return to Change

My journey began in strategic planning. My function:  facilitate and design strategic plans.

Implicit in strategic plans is a complicit adoption of said plan. But prior trails lay littered with dusty, 3-ring binders and the hollowed-out souls of those who planned before. Early in planning, many stakeholder conversations included:

• “Not this again … “
• “We tried this before … “
• “We never implemented the last plan … “
• “Why is this any different from the other efforts … “
• “I have better things to do, like run my organization … “
• “Let’s just skip this effort and pretend we never met, they never follow through anyway … “
• “Who cares what we plan, they end up telling us what to do anyway … “

The not-too-subtle message:  why get excited when nothing changes? People were tired their prior commitment went unrealized, efforts fizzled, and the prior state returned to rule.

Change comes as either incremental improvement or a launch of something new. However conceived, something different this way comes. The solution was not just planning, but planning for change in people and around what to learn for competence needed to contribute. Whether new product or new process, if people do not know what it looks like, than they will not know they got there.

Some react to change and some plan to change, the difference reveals project management to me.

There’s a Process for That

Early in consulting, I was surrounded by professionals who created a lot of documentation. This den of vipers spoke of logic and presented rational process flow diagrams and reengineering process maps.  These fork-tongued, serpents heavily-weighted plans with process models and slightly amused themselves with people pacts within process.

To this confederacy, change meant process, not people; technology over competence. People and behavior rarely entered discussion until “as-is” and “to-be” process mapping finished.

Maps intended to satisfy people need, but people need to experience the journey to really understand what happens at the destination.

I could not count project success without end-user adoption and utilization of the project objective.  Too many projects with too many failures. Too many times getting it done went against getting it accomplished.

Luck is not a reliable substitute for a plan. However, I could not expect a change if I was not prepared to change.

I saw their exercise of project management and thought to join their cabal, speak their language, communicate change, and measure progress of where to start and what to account for.

Who’s On First

What project management provides me is an intentional plan for change and a shared perspective of what change will look like.

What project management means to an organization:  competitive advantage.

Project management provides a body of knowledge to understand how to plan end-user adoption and utility. There is no process that assures success, but there are options in project management that help articulate success:

• Identify scope,
• Understand risk, and
• Plan how to modify and align expectation

Rolling out a process to change is not a plan to change from here to there. Project management is about getting the most people from where they are to where they need to land; style points are deducted for losing people along the way.

To me project management means there is a toolkit to dig into at any point you say, “what a minute, this is crazy”.

The direction laid out includes what to start, what to stop, and what to continue, but if no adoption plan exists than you do not have a plan.

People Over Plan

What project management means to me:  there are people here that need motivation to succeed over there. Plans are rational people are emotional. Change is a constant cycle to plan for. If you get to the destination, but no one was willing to move with you, you lost.

People may find comfort in a plan, but a plan is not a prescription for success. There is no prescription to set something up for success, but there are options and project management provides engagement guideposts to understand what people need to stop doing and what they need to start doing.

Project management provides me a sense of confidence to review a project at any phase and understand what is working, what is at risk, and what needs to change.  As an accountant would look at financial statements to deduce the financial health of a company, project management provides signals of the project start, the project under way, and the project delivered.

I do not consider myself a project manager. Project management is not one-off, but repeatable. I consider myself someone who adopted project management to better work a plan for change.

In America we have a comment:  “It’s the economy, stupid“. Project management to me means:  “it’s the people, stupid”.

Project management is not a process, but a promise.

Project management is not about the plan, but about the people.

Project management can deliver you from hell fire and eternal condemnation. Clemency is yours, release yourself from process and walk with people towards a projected shared future.

* Noah joke reference
**Who’s on first joke reference

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This post is published as part of a first project management-related initiative to publish unique posts on a common theme at the same time.

More than 70 bloggers from Australia, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, UK, and the USA contribute their thoughts on this topic.

Check out the complete list of posts . Much appreciation to the lead protagonist – Shim Marom.