The Value-Abled Project | ||||||||||||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
||||||||||||
 |
[ Login/Subscribe ] | |||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
||||
 |
||||||||||||
Features
Departments
Opinion
Executive
Resources
|
Home > Departments > Methods & Means
Only by managing and demonstrating project value can we truly justify adding resources, changing scope or moving deadlines. In a new series, Steven Devaux describes how project managers and organizations can break out of the time-budget mindset to better focus on the most important part of any initiative — the return on value.
This is the first in a series of articles exploring, summarizing and expanding on the specific techniques, metrics and implications of a methodology called Total Project Control (TPC), which focuses on managing and demonstrating project value.
Let’s begin at the beginning, with a definition: Project. “A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.” This definition is from page 338 of the Glossary of the Project Management Institute’s 2004 edition of the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge. Oh, what a wondrous moment that was when the first PMBOK Guide was published, back in 1996 — so many knotty arguments that hinged on semantics seemed suddenly to disappear such as “What’s the difference between a task and an activity?” and “Is a work addition that doesn’t alter the final product really a change in scope?”
Those who remember the lost-in-the-wilderness pre-PMBOK days should think carefully before urging a change in the definition of a word as fundamental as “project.” I want the reader to know that I have thought this over very carefully for many years, and have come to the conclusion that a change is essential to the progress of the project management discipline.
Please login/register to read the entire article.
| |||||||||||||||||
|
Privacy Policy Contact Us User Agreement