The Naked Project--When Only the Project Manager Knows

 

PMI hit the 100,000-member mark this year, making it one of the largest global professional associations in the world, which indicates more and more companies are employing project management principles--but not the company that just canceled this project. I just ended a failed project in which no PM practices were employed. In the middle of the project, I felt like the child in The Emperor's New Clothes. Let's call this The Project's New Practices. No one could see or admit that the project was naked but me.

One rule of good entertainment is to leave the audience with hope. I want to educate as well as entertain, so after describing a project about which you might ask, "Did anything go right with this project?" I will give a few pointers on introducing PM principles in a PM-less corporate culture.

What Went Wrong

A client wanted us to employ WMV (Windows Media) files in an online self-study course. Sounds simple, but the company had never used anything other than flat text in its online learning products, and as project manager, I wanted to investigate before getting started.

As a new employee, I would be given authority over the project, only to have it snatched away again. After I explained the importance of internal testing prior to accepting the project, my boss overrode my suggestion and had the developer create a single sample …

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