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Date
We are down to our last two contestants, and the differences between the two are significant. Frank is a traditional project manager, faithfully following the project management discipline we’ve all come to know and love. He has a very successful career managing project after project within budget, meeting stakeholder expectations, and on the pre-defined schedule. Beth, on the other hand, sees the scope of project management (excuse the pun) expanding. She believes that project managers are really business leaders and should have a “seat at the executive table.” She sees the chief project officer (CPO) as the natural progression of the field.
So let’s look at some specific differences. Frank believes that his role begins when the project charter is delivered. In that charter is the project’s purpose, a high-level project description, some initial risks, summary milestones, acceptance criteria, and the authorization of his power. It is typically prepared by the project sponsor. The project charter is considered outside of the project boundaries, boundaries that traditional project manager color within. On the other end of that boundary is delivery of the product of the project and the collection of artifacts, etc, better known as the closing processes.
Beth doesn’t believe in coloring within the lines. She believes that a project manager has significant input into the project charter, not because that is where the project manager is often appointed and given the power to plan, organize, and control the project, but because previous project experience can help steer the business. Additionally, she believes that she can help not only with connecting the organizations “business mission”, but also connecting its environmental or sustainability mission. And if there isn’t either or both, then she believes that her project management experience can help her craft them. Project managers are the “business end of business”. Projects are where the rubber meets the road, where ideas turn into reality. Projects are how companies survive. Whether organizations are repairing or replacing internal processes, procedures, or equipment, or producing new products, projects oil the mechanism.
Further, Beth believes that once a project is operationalized, it is still not over. There are long term considerations that the project manager can see, because of the global view project managers have. Those long term issues, or as McDonough and Braungart put it “Cradle to Cradle”, should be part of the project manager’s plan, at the least, a consideration of same.
Frank, however, thinks that by pushing the boundaries of traditional project management, that a true project focus will be lost. The triangle of cost, time, and quality will be compromised. After all, it should be enough to successfully complete a project within those boundaries.
It comes down to America’s vote. Which way do you think that project management is headed, continuing to fine tune traditional project management functions or expanding the role of project managers to “the board room?” At the next “tribal council” someone will get voted off the island. Or, will they both get voted off in favor of a yet to be determined survivor?
Posted
by
Dave Shirley
on: June 06, 2011 11:53 AM |
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