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Date
The subject of - or rather the question regarding - "what is project success" is fundamental to the evolution of our discipline.
As leaders in the area of sustainability's intersection with PM, we're of course interested in how you - and the rest of your colleagues, as well as your stakeholders, of course, view project success. It is not as simple as it seems. It is NOT just about delivering your deliverable, much as you would like it to be.
One simple idea we would like to assert:
Project Success 
Project Management Success.
In English: The success of your project is larger (in the largest sense of the word larger) than your success in managing the project. That is, you could manage a project so that it is within budget, on time, and meets requirements, but also such that the project's product just doesn't cut it. Alternatively, your project, as assessed by PMBOK(R) Guide criteria, could look like it was produced by the hands of angels, and yet the project's product could fail to deliver benefits to the customers or to the organization, or, yes, we have to add this part, to the planet. In other words, it would look good on the Gantt chart but not on the (triple) bottom line.
You can actually read about this in the latest edition of PM Network magazine with an excellent story called "The Value Proposition".
Yet, the many brave authors and thought leaders who have approached this question have come to some important conclusions (like the equation above), but they always seem to come up short in terms of sustainability. They don't seem to even recognize (until we point it out to them, and then they say "Eureka!") that they are writing about sustainability.
So we thought we'd use a 'green-by-definition' project as an example.
The Tesla Model S is an electric car that has been winning accolades for performance and design.
It's a sleek, sporty, 'muscular' car that makes looking good look good.
But now the Tesla S has just blown away all of its internal-combustion colleagues not in energy efficiency, not in carbon-cutting, nor in looks or acceleration, but in safety. Safety! Why? One reason (there are many): Because unlike a standard gas-fueled engine or even a hybrid, the car does not have a ready source of incendiary liquids to engulf the driver and passengers in flame.
Have a look at these fascinating stories:
Tesla S roof so strong it broke the crush test machine
Upstart Tesla wins top US safety rating
So to our point.
The success of the project "deliver Tesla S" is not limited to the handover to production. The PROJECT SUCCESS goes on to save lives of Tesla drivers. Notice how ths type of sustainability is not related to the environment at all. It's the 'steady-state-ness' of it all that we are aiming at. This is also sustainability.
Look for some new, improved, expanded, enhanced presentations and materials from EarthPM which will tackle this aspect of sustainability in project management.
An for your own projects: think about the project's deliverable(s) in the steady state. What lessons can you learn from the Tesla S?
Posted
by
Richard Maltzman
on: August 22, 2013 02:24 PM |
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