John WickeCPA, PMP, CPCU, CGMA| RetiredOcean, Nj, United States
One of the advantages or disadvantages of age is that you get to see and hear of the "next great thing". As a CPA, CPCU, CGMA and PMP, I have gone through a litany of the Accounting APBs, the FASBs and now the ASUs. I have also gone through Zero Based Budgeting, Activity Based Costing, Cash Based Underwriting, Risk Based Management, Waterfall, Agile, Kanban and other such heralded solutions. Frankly, all of the above ARE NOT SOLUTIONS. They are tools. The only real solution is found between your right ear, your left ear and below the top of your head. From the many PMI offered webinars I have taken and listened to the Q&A at the end, I believe many of our up and coming practitioners have confused tools for solutions. Project management is not a mechancial process. Just my opinion. Saving Changes...
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Very well said, John. Spot on! Saving Changes...
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
People love to believe there are short cuts to success. There is only one: failure. Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Totally agree with you. Just to add, few people understand that solution is equal to "the thing" (product/service/result) plus "the way" (project) to create it. Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
Agree John.
A solution helps with a specific problem, in it's own context.
Context is for example
- timing (same solution in winter and in summer?),
- social (same solution in Germany and India?, even in different industries and organizations?, different teams)
- environment (infrastructure, laws/regulations)
Tools & techniques are maybe generalised solutions to parts of that problem. The total solution will be a system of applicable tools&techniques. Applicable is the human part of deciding how to build the system. Saving Changes...
Latha Thamma reddiSr Product and Portfolio Management (Automation Innovation)| DXC TechnologyMckinney, Tx, United States
"It is an important and popular fact that things are not always what they seem. For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much -- the wheel, New York, wars and so on -- whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man -- for precisely the same reasons."
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