Tim ArthurRetired| SelfPalm City, Nc, United States
What are some of the things you have heard Project Management skeptics say, and what have you responded with? For instance, one of the myths I hear is that Pmgt will cause the project more time because more paperwork has to be done.
The intent of this discussion topic is to create a mini-knowledge base so that other PMgrs can benefit, and use it to handle skeptics they face.
Some of our planning group uses the following as a tag line on our company emails: "Planning is bringing the future into the present so you can do something about it now."
There have also been a couple of other sayings floating around that I'm sorry to say I don't know who to attribute them to:
1."Those who do not plan for the future will have to live through it anyway"
2."There are dreamers and there are planners; the planners make their dreams come true."
I also agree with the posts that mention the myth that "if you know MS Project you know how to plan a program." I have been a program planner for almost 20 years now and I am still flabbergasted by the folks that come to me halfway through a program crying for help because they are "red". They did not feel the need to engage the planner at the proposal and/or initial planning phase of the program because they thought they could do the planning (essentially a task list) by themselves and do it cheaper than bringing in an expert. Our group constantly finds ourselves having to bail out red programs because the PM or VP didn't REALLY understand what planning is. IT IS MORE THAN PUTTING A TASK LIST INTO MS PROJECT!!!! Saving Changes...
Tim ArthurRetired| SelfPalm City, Nc, United States
Wow, some really interesting ideas thanks everyone. Rama I definitely believe there's a lot to be said for the 80/20 rule you describe. Teresa, thanks for honoring us with your very first Gantthead post - and in fact I will be reusing some of your quotes on my email signature, good stuff thanks! On that note I would like to commend you :) and extend the award of excellence for Project Management Myths Discussion board, the gold star of excellence!
Be sure to display it proudly.
Tim
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Anonymous
Here's one I love. It's a variation on some of the ones already offered.
"We should be able to take a good manager/analyst/architect and have them manage a project" (It suggests that PM's do not have a skill set to offer that is any different than just good management)
Project Status Myth: 10 minutes of content crammed into a 60 minute presentation is a good update. Saving Changes...
Anonymous
There are probably some useful things done by project managers.
Unfortunately in the IT industry the only experience I have of Project Managers is of people with no real technical, product or business domain knowledge who then try and produce plans with no real understanding of the vocabulary used in the plan, or the degree of criticality or reliability of estimates.
If there are PM's out there who do not attempt to convince senior management and themselves that they can do magic, and know their industry to a deep level, you should do everything you can to get rid of the people described above. They do you only harm. Saving Changes...
Richard HowProgramme Management Consultant| How Associates LtdHarthill, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom
The most common project management myths
the view from senior management that if a PM can get someone to agree to an unachievable deadline that suddenly makes it achievable.
Adding a risk to the risk log mitigates that risk and it can then be ignored.
If you dont have a risk log there are no risks to your project
due to product manager and project manager only having two different letters a product manager can easily be a project manager.
favouriye saying
if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
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Tim ArthurRetired| SelfPalm City, Nc, United States
Richard!
Nicely said. I hadn't considered those but you are spot-on.
Tim Saving Changes...
Hans RobbersSenior Director| SalesforceVlissingen, Netherlands
I do agree with Richard and will even go one step further. Ifsenior management can convince a pm to accept an impossble deadline or budget it is all of a sudden achievable and even better there is a scapegoat.
Remember you are asked to lead the project. Asking is a posting a question and so you have the opportunity to say NO (the Dutch way) or Yes, however when you are willing to change the following conditions (the polite way) ;-)
Tim a great log with really useful insights and new view points. Thanks for sharing with us Saving Changes...
