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No Manifesto
Mark Mullaly is president of Interthink Consulting Incorporated, an organizational development and change firm specializing in the creation of effective organizational project management solutions. Since 1990, it has worked with companies throughout North America to develop, enhance and implement effective project management tools, processes, structures and capabilities. Mark was most recently co-lead investigator of the Value of Project Management research project sponsored by PMI. You can read more of his writing at markmullaly.com.
The agile movement has a manifesto. Does project management need one? The answer lies in what value it would offer, and whether or not agile, extreme and other approaches are actually all that different from project management as it is practiced today, and in the context of getting things done.
Manifesto (noun): “a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer” Etymology: 1644, from the Italian manifesto: “apublic declaration explaining past actions and announcing the motive for forthcoming ones;” originally “proof.” Source: Merriam-Webster online; Online Etymology Dictionary.
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about project management — what it is, what it means and why it adds value. I’ve also spent a great deal of time writing about it, speaking about it and debating its use. My earliest recollection of the debate was when I was appointed (the only) project manager for a small consulting firm nearly 20 years ago. When answering the question of what my role was by the analysts and programmers, the response was, “That’s it? What are you going to do the rest of the time? What will you do of value?”
So began my journey in terms of trying to explain why project management has value. It isn’t over yet.
Of late, I have been both participant …
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I have made good judgements in the past. I have made good judgements in the future. - Dan Quayle |