AOM 2010 Montreal (Final Session)
Hi again,
AOM 2010 has drawn to a close, but as I said yesterday there was one more session I hadn’t commented on. Its title was “Project Success” and as tired as I was, and as reluctant as I was to potentially go to a downer after the high of the last session, I felt I had to go. It was very poorly attended – which meant it was going to be hard to sneak out if it was rubbish. The first person I met was a senior staffer responsible for project delivery at the US Department of Defence – I understand why he’d be interested in success! The others were the, by now, familiar faces either interested in the subject or feeling they had the answer, and no one was listening.
Ok, lots of stats were shared… and repeated… the World Bank statistic that 25% of the global economy is now dependent on projects and 80% are considered failures – oh dear, stifling a yawn, why did I sit so close to the front?!! Eyeing moments for escape.
And just then it happened!… The first new thought on the subject I have heard at the conference. (As excited as I was about the airline story it wasn’t strictly a story about projects – though I challenge anyone not to benefit from extrapolation.
There is some research on the types of projects (remember no one but us cares whether they are called projects or programs or portfolios – these people were studying and reporting on initiatives where organisations want a specific outcome).
I’ll cut right to it. They have discovered (yes, discovered) that there are actually different types of projects! Well I’ll be! Further, they have discovered that PM tools and methods do not work for most of the projects – (well I’d argue that they don’t work for any if you restrict the craft to the admin aspects and remove through governance any chance of a PM actually driving an outcome!)
It seems that of all projects, only 16% fit the description of delivering a unique outcome – which means, oh dear, I’ll have to think about it. The debate got very lively from this point and I forgot all plans to escape. It was actually fun to hear the cut and thrust of debate, and while I was astounded that there was ever any research to determine the difference it does at least give me something to think about on the long flight home. What if only 16% of what are called projects are only projects? And what if we could call them something else—- Oh, I forgot that most of the big advances and important outcomes to orgs are dependent on those 16%. Is there a chance we can rescue PM from its slide into irrelevance? Is there a chance we can abandon the 84% of ‘projects’ to the people who are chasing accreditation and failure and concentrate on regaining our reputation for delivering the hard stuff?
Oh, the questions go on… and on…. and on, but I’m on the job. I am seeing the Head of Microsoft Project in Seattle in a few days – think I’ll open up the subject with him and see what he thinks.
This isn’t funny or even very informative, but there is light at the end of the otherwise depressing tunnel of the state of the profession. (Actually I am speaking at the PMAA event in Sydney on the 2nd September and the topic is “Dinosaurs or Nanotechnology – Which will we be in 2020”…. Not only do I have some altered thoughts, I have a forum for sharing – life is good!
Well finally, back to the Black Swan. Long, long ago in a land far away, there were swans. They cruised the rivers and had a feature in common that was easily observable – they were all white. Seems reasonable. So, when Swans were defined the definition included ‘white’. Then, and this is why I like this story, Australia was discovered and we have BLACK SWANS! Apparently lots of them but I haven’t looked yet! Why is it relevant to PM? Well most organisations think that their project failure is a one off and won’t be repeated – rare – but in fact there are lots of black swans – and they aren’t a surprise except if you only believe in white swans. Well it appealed to me and there are books on the topic by Nassim Nicholas Taleb – I’ve got that book too but I haven’t read it yet so I am only going on what I heard at the conference.
Well that’s it for another year. It’s a privilege to have attended and such a shot in the arm to be able to spend time reflecting and soaking up other peoples’ thinking. Glad you have enjoyed these updates.
I have a few more on specific topics related to PM which I am sending out internally but if you’d like copies of those too please let me know.
Thanks for your comments and feedback, and…
Keep smiling! … Diane