This Focused Performance Weblog started life as a "business management blog" containing links and commentary related primarily to organizational effectiveness with a "Theory of Constraints" perspective, but is in the process of evolving towards primary content on interactive and mobile marketing. Think of it as about Focusing marketing messages for enhanced Performance. If you are on an archive page, current postings are found here.
Saturday, August 09, 2003
Projects and Programs Require Managers -- Johanna Rothman links to my recent abridged "Top Ten" list and adds another...no project manager. (I do worry about executive attention to a Top 11 list, given the reason for the restating of the original.) If one is asked deliver without someone identified with the PM role, Johanna wisely suggests asking...
"'What value does this project have for you? Have you ranked this project among the other projects?' Once we start talking about relative value, the other person has a chance of understanding whether it's worth fully investing in the project or not.
"If you have projects you're not willing to fully invest in, stop doing them. Cancel the project. But if you are willing to invest in the project, make sure you've got a project manager or program manager able to manage the project to completion. One person (not a committee) takes the responsibility for organizing, steering, and managing the project. If you're not willing to hire a project manager, don't do the project. Spend your money on something else."
Kind of ties into my #9 (#9, #9 -- sorry, flashed back to 1968 there for a moment); working the wrong project. If it ain't worth doing, it ain't worth doing.
"The tribal wisdoms of the Dakota Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says that 'when you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount'."
(via High Context via McGee via Cubicle Dweller, who I found linked to me on Technorati.com. Isn't blogging grand? Sometimes it's like the old childhood game of telephone, with less excuse for distortion and misunderstanding. And if you scroll down on Anders' page, the comments lead to a previous source as well. Would you believe Tom Peters? For some reason, I would.)
posted by Frank - Permanent Link -
|
View Frank Patrick's profile
