The Project Book

CHAPTER 72 METHODS NEED TO BE UNDERSTOOD

If there’s one thing we’re good at in project management, it’s confusing the hell out of people with terminology about methods. It has become a disease and it needs to be eradicated. Too often I hear (and see on social media) arguments about which one is best, how someone is applying it wrongly or why all projects are doomed if they use or don’t use a particular method.

It’s so unhelpful and, frankly, boring. What these method martyrs have lost sight of is the fact that in project management it’s our job to deliver a product that satisfies a customer need and allows them to get the value they expect for their investment. Some 99.9 per cent of the time, the customer doesn’t care how it’s done, providing they get those things in the agreed time frame and within budget. Currently that’s not happening, so the arguments about which method is best are misplaced.

I discuss methods in detail in chapters 42 and 43.

The biggest issue with methods is that for years senior managers have seen them as silver bullets to improve the way projects are delivered. This is lazy and fails to recognise that people and culture are the biggest determinants of project success or failure.

Changing culture and coaching or getting rid of people can be a long and laborious process, but that shouldn’t mean it’s avoided. It needs to be tackled head on if you want to improve things, because simply changing your method of delivery won’t do this.

Most organisations are ...