Preface

Imagine starting a new job and feeling eager to prove your capabilities. One day your boss approaches you with a smile and says, “I've got a project for you.” Your heart races. You have never managed a project before and have had only a little project management training. If you succeed, you will establish yourself in the company as a capable project manager; but if you fail.…

Whether you are an experienced project manager or a first-timer with little or no training, this scenario is probably all too familiar. On one hand, a new project offers a chance to excel and deliver value to the organization. On the other hand, project management is hard and fraught with risk.

Project management is a complex discipline, replete with challenges and potential rewards. Unfortunately, too many projects struggle and fail right out of the door. The Standish Group, a major source of project management research and best-practice information, predicts that only 35 percent of all projects will succeed; another 46 percent will finish “challenged” (i.e., late, over budget, or with reduced functionality); and 19 percent will fail outright1. The Standish Group identifies numerous factors that contribute to project success, including:

Swift, decisive decision-making

Clear business objectives

Clear project vision

Project management expertise

Skilled project team resources

A methodology tailored to the specific needs of the project

The right tools, used correctly2.

The Standish Group International, CHAOS Summary 2009: The 10 Laws of CHAOS (Boston: The Standish Group International, Inc., 2009, pp.1–3.

While the Standish Group study focuses on IT projects, it is not difficult to see how its conclusions can be applied to projects across all industries.

For new and experienced project managers alike, it is hard to know how to approach a project. Is it best to pick a specific methodology and systematically march through it from beginning to end, regardless of the project's size or complexity? Or should project managers do something less rigorous and hope for the best? Is there enough time or funds to develop extensive plans, or can the effort be tailored to meet specific project needs?

If you have been in the project management profession for a while, you are probably aware of the plethora of methodologies and tools available to help manage projects. Perhaps you have used some of these tools or applied a few of the methodologies. Based on your past project management successes and failures, which of those tools and methodologies really mattered?

Pragmatic project management (PM) answers these questions. The pragmatic PM approach was developed in response to a survey of senior public- and private-sector project managers who were asked to identify the most common project management tools and approaches they relied upon to deliver successful projects. Their responses were consistent in every case:

Write the project charter. Describe project objectives clearly and in sufficient detail.

Build the project team. Define critical roles, responsibilities, and communication methods.

Plan the project. Identify the project work and plan its order of completion in sufficient detail to understand how the project will move from initiation to successful delivery.

Manage project issues. Address matters straying from the project plan as they arise.

Track and report project progress. Keep the project on target by identifying its progress against the project plan and accounting for any differences. Report project status to the project sponsor, project team, and other stakeholders.

These responses form the basis behind pragmatic PM—a simple, practical, and scalable model that works. Pragmatic PM consists of five essential elements: the project charter, the project team, the project plan, project issue management, and project status tracking and reporting. Each element can be scaled to meet a project's particular size and complexity. When a project schedule is tight, project managers often find themselves with too little time to adequately plan and organize their projects. The key is to determine the minimum amount of project management effort needed to deliver the maximum benefit for the project. Small projects require only a little effort, and the burden of that effort does not have to be overwhelming. For medium-sized and large projects, management efforts can be expanded or scaled to meet project needs. Once the project manager clearly identifies a project's needs, he or she can align those needs with a simple, straightforward process. This is what pragmatic PM is all about.

This book begins with a chapter on sizing and scaling and follows with chapters on each of the five essential elements of pragmatic project management. At the end of each of the chapters is a checklist for that element. Use the checklists as you plan and execute projects to maximize the pragmatic PM approach.

Each chapter also contains various rules of pragmatic PM, which are combined in a comprehensive list at the end of the book. These rules will remind you of important things to consider when managing projects.

Project management is one of the most challenging and rewarding jobs in the business world. At its most basic level, project management is about creating something new, whether it is a new building, computer system, or volunteer management program. But the practice is not simple or easy; it requires a systematic approach and discipline. I hope the pragmatic PM approach I offer in this book will help guide you toward consistent project management success.

David Pratt

Yelm, Washington