Page 61 - Impiantistica Italiana Maggio Giugno 2014

What is success? case is a change. Moving house is a change.
Getting married is a change and benefts from
The computer system that never worked is a good project management. Staying married
worse crime in project management than the requires good ordinary management.
one which was fnished late or over budget. If project management is management of
Doing the wrong thing on time and within change, ordinary management, all the rest of
budget is a much greater crime than getting management, is management of no change.
the right thing a bit late and a bit over budget. Perhaps not very diffcult and not very
But the real goal is, of course, to get all three challenging. Certainly not as rewarding as
right. The general in charge of the army: project management.
I forecast that, in time, project management
• I and all my staff are very sorry that we will dominate management and non-project
lost the war, Your Majesty, but you will be management, ordinary management,
pleased that we did not spend more than will become unimportant. Ordinary
you expected and that we fnished before management is “keeping things going”.
the winter as planned. May I respectfully Every time somebody has an idea for
wish you and your family a comfortable improving what we do or doing something
exile. new, we have a project to be managed.
We project managers have to have space in
The surgeon: our standards because of the uncertainty of
outcome even for the best of us. The science of
• I am very sorry that your husband died managing the unexpected is risk management.
during the operation. It will be little Only in relatively recent times have we begun
comfort to you that my fee will be as I to realize that skill in risk management is the
forecast and even less comfort that we most important skill for a project manager.
were able to start the next operation Anybody can manage a project with no
a few minutes early. I should be very unexpected events, but nobody ever gets a
happy to operate on you or any of project with no unexpected events.
your relatives and friends in the future. A key feature of project management skill
must therefore be the management of the
The standard which all project managers unexpected.
should try to achieve is that all their projects The uncertainties of the world and what
should be successful. But what is success? happens in it mean that if we manage without
It is whatever the promoter believes to be the ability to deal with the unexpected, all
success. This is always some combination of our projects will miss their objectives and the
the three things - I want the fnished thing to standards of achievement will not be met. So,
do this and to be like this, I want it to be ready as we move towards improving our project
to use by this date and I want it to cost no management standards, we must work to
more than this amount of money. get better at shrinking the risks of problems
The three objectives can be of different along the way and getting better at changing
importance. Usually, the performance the plan every time the unexpected hits us.
standard is much the most important - as The former is risk management - the latter
the two examples above illustrate. So why does not yet have a name. It is not crisis
do the conventional standards of project management as many of the unexpected
management technique focus on time and events are not big enough to create crises
cost management methods? but are certainly big enough to beneft from
The best project manager in the world will not a change of the plan for the remaining work.
always reach the standard of meeting all three What we need is a team of people on a
objectives. This is because “every project project which can react creatively to every
gets its ration of unexpected problems” and unexpected event or situation and do so in a
projects which are much different from the coordinated way. Historically we did not react
ones we have done before get a big ration of in a co-ordinated way.
unexpected problems.
Every project is a change. Putting something
where nothing was before is a change whether The New Engineering
the thing is a building, a computer system Contract (NEC)
or a new product. Changing the way we do
something is obviously a change from doing Typically the promoter of a project would want
it the old way. Making a flm or a television a particular problem to be solved in the way
programme is a change. Winning a court which was best for him – the outcome of the

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