Stephen LeybourneRetired Professor| Boston UniversityWakefield, Ma, United States
Often the PM is accused of a 'blinkered' approach to his or her project, focusing on 'delivery' of 'their' project deliverables, without due regard for the effect of their actions elsewhere in the organization.
In these turbulent times for organizations, with change as a constant in the environments within which organizations and projects function, how do we ensure that the PM uses a 'wider business awareness' when making decisions for project delivery ??? Saving Changes...
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Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
If the PM has the behavior you mentioned then she/he must be awarded for that. The PM focus is work needed to create the product/service/result in accordance to the objectives defined for the project. That is because a new role (not new, but perhaps could be considered new for the PMI) emerges: the Business Analyst (BA). The BA is the role that must take into account the impacts each initiative produces to the whole organization (the right name is enterprise architecture). That is because one of the key skills of the BA is the systemic thinking. But both are roles so the same person can perform both roles. What you describe is a misunderstanding I found inside a lot of organizations around the world after more than 30 years of professional career. Saving Changes...
Al TaylorI.T. Contractor| IndependentWaterloo, Ontario, Canada
good discussion!....Grady Booch wrote this in his book "Managing Object Oriented projects" (sorry I am working from memory here)
"A ruthless obsession with the fundamental goals of the project is required to succeed"
So I think I am agreeing with Sergio.
Does anyone have access to the full quote? Saving Changes...
Al TaylorI.T. Contractor| IndependentWaterloo, Ontario, Canada
well so much for memory....:(.....Mr Booch in fact said this
"a ruthless focus on satisfying a well-understood collection of essential minimal features" Saving Changes...
Stephen LeybourneRetired Professor| Boston UniversityWakefield, Ma, United States
But is a ruthless obsession with delivering the fundamental goals the only thing that matters...
What if you make a change in your project that maybe saves $10k, but it costs $100k in increased costs elsewhere in the organization because you haven't thought about the 'wider business implications' of your actions ??? Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
You can not make a change if it has not been approved after executing the change management process. In fact, that is one of the key tools that helps to the PM in taking into account the impacts. Saving Changes...
Stephen LeybourneRetired Professor| Boston UniversityWakefield, Ma, United States
Sergio - you are assuming that organizations have 'rigid' PM processes that are adhered to... Some larger organizations have relatively mature PM processes that are executed rigidly, but they still need to respond quickly to change.
However, in most organizations, 'delivery' is what is important, and delivery means delivering what the organization needs at that moment - not necessarily what was proposed or agreed in the requirements spec or the project charter.
This means that sponsors ask for 'quick' and undocumented changes, and project managers improvise to deliver on emerging and unplanned requirements. In this scenario however, the PM still has to have an understanding of the 'knock-on' effects of his or her actions... Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Stephen: while I understand your point what I assumed is that we have a project manager with enough common sense in place. But I could agree with you about the same situation could happens in a real life situation. I have been working in large organizations with no change control process formally defined. So, in the case you are describing, it does not matter what others think about the PM behavior. If the PM or some other person act in this way then she/he will close to be fire. I could agree with you that those things happens. And that is because the PM must not take this type of decision in a project. No matter the level of formality in your organization. That is because the business analyst exists and the program and portfolio managers exists. Saving Changes...
