Project Management

Special one-time efforts that require the disciplines of project management are a staple of the manager’s life. While there are well-established tools and methods, many project managers stumble precisely because they do not correctly understand the nature of the problems they are embracing under the rubric of ‘a project’.

Part of the virtue of project management software is its ability to calculate some of the more complex mathematical relations among tasks. Given a certain assignment of resources, task demands, interdependencies, and schedule constraints, it is possible to calculate estimated delivery dates and the critical path. More importantly, the software provides a method for exploring the consequences of changes. Reduced staff, delayed deliveries, or postponements due to weather can all be explored.

The published Gantt chart or Pert chart is a single scenario. Significant projects almost always involve a number of other possible futures. The software captures the current – or most preferred – schedule; a smart project manager will consider some of the more likely variations. Will there be a labor strike? Will a major vendor go bankrupt? Could excavations expose soil problems that were not anticipated? Contractual constraints, project update meetings, and frequent recalculation of the critical path are all tools for managing uncertainties. They either constrain players from introducing new uncertainties, pursuing early warning of changes, or calculating the consequences of the current situation.

Project management is often managing the classic tensions:  speed vs. quality, insourcing for control vs. outsourcing for lower pricing, developmental assignments vs. pushing for performance. And projects may be the forum where structural dilemmas in the company come to the surface; that is, Engineering comes face-to-face with Manufacturing, so their conflicts are suddenly in the limelight.  And every project may have its unique dilemma to approach.   A dilemmas perspective would avoid the caustic competition between viewpoints that could drain away staff energy and goodwill.