Dietmar Prudix - Project management by numbers: simple- clear-short-fast

Impressum:

Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek: Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet ber www.dnb.de abrufbar.

2016 Dietmar Prudix

Herstellung und Verlag:

BoD Books on Demand GmbH, Norderstedt

ISBN 978-3-7431-7001-8

From the same author:

Die eierlegende Wollmilchsau

Die Tage nach dem Bombenwurf

Self Placement

Nehmen Sie die Menschen, so wie sie sind

The NASA Rules

Co-Author, Kompetenzbasiertes Projektmanagement (PM3): Handbuch

fr die Projektarbeit

Projektweisheiten

Attached you ll find different perspectives of project management with different insights: The best way to get an access to projects including success factors.

For example Jerry Madden, retired associate director of the flight projects directorate within the NASA`s Goddard Space Flight Center is known as the first project manager in the NASA organization. Over years he collected these gems of wisdom.

Although it`s not part of Jerry`s written lessons learned, he consistently told his people the following: Show up early for all meetings; they may be serving doughnuts. Finally, Les Meredith (former director of Space Sciences and Acting Center Director) had this remark to make about Jerry Madden`s project managers lessons learned: God only gave us ten commandments. Jerry has listed over a hundred instructions to a project manager. It is evident a lot more is expected from a project manager

So the idea was born: Project management by numbers.

Project management is people business. A lot of learnings are linked to well-known people, like Napoleon or some super heroes.

Enjoy

Dietmar Prudix

Planning

1. I start out by believing the worst.

2. The reason most people fail instead of succeed is they trade what they want most for what they want at the moment.

3. There is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Office Politics

4. Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.

5. In politics, stupidity is not a handicap.

6. The herd seek out the great, not for their sake but for their influence; and the great welcome them out of vanity or need.

7. When you have an enemy in your power, deprive him of the means of ever injuring you.

8. If they want peace, nations should avoid the pinpricks that precede cannon shots.

9. We frustrate many designs against us by pretending not to see them.

Motivating Teams

10. Give me enough medals and Ill win you any war.

11. A cowardly act! What do I care about that? You may be sure that I should never fear to commit one if it were to my advantage.

12. Courage isn't having the strength to go on - it is going on when you don't have strength.

13. Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.

14. Victory belongs to the most persevering.

Training and Professional Development

15. Show me a family of readers, and I will show you the people who move the world.

Leadership

16. Imagination rules the world.

17. A leader is a dealer in hope.

18. He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.

19. Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent.

20. Ability is of little account without opportunity.

21. Circumstances-what are circumstances? I make circumstances.

22. Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.

23. In our time no one has the conception of what is great. It is up to me to show them.

24. A true man hates no one.

25. One is more certain to influence men, to produce more effect on them, by absurdities than by sensible ideas.

26. Lead the ideas of your time and they will accompany and support you; fall behind them and they drag you along with them; oppose them and they will overwhelm you.

Work Life Balance

27. Let him sleep ... for when he wakes, he will move mountains.

Product Launch

28. The greatest danger occurs at the moment of victory.

Managing Teams

29. Never ascribe to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence.

30. If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.

Managing Stakeholder Expectations

31. The best way to keep one's word is not to give it.

Project Communications

32. Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.

Managing Issues

33. The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemies.

34. I may have lost a battle, but not the war.

35. In politics nothing is immutable. Events carry with in them an invincible power. The unwise destroy themselves in resistance. The skillful accept events, take strong hold of them and direct them.

Decision Making

36. Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.

37. Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action comes, stop thinking and go in.

Project Management

38. All great events hang by a hair. The man of ability takes advantage of everything and neglects nothing that can give him a chance of success; whilst the less able man sometimes loses everything by neglecting a single one of those chances.

39. If you wish to be a success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing.

Risk Management

40. If the art of war were nothing but the art of avoiding risks, glory would become the prey of mediocre minds.... I have made all the calculations; fate will do the rest.

41. Audacity succeeds as often as it fails.

Compliance

42. There are so many laws that no one is safe from hanging.

Testing fails to uncover serious defects that are later detected by users (shaking confidence in the product).

IT projects commonly fail. Studies peg the average project failure rate somewhere between 50%-80%.

In recent years, many organizations have mandated lessons learned sessions for every project. This has led to a better understanding of why projects fail.

Failure often has more than one root cause. In other words, many projects are ripe with problems. The following list (with examples) represents the most common reasons projects fail.

Business Case

1. Failure to evaluate alternatives

The business case fails to consider alternative approaches to the project. This exposes the project to challenges later (i.e. why didn't we consider ____ approach?).

2. Poor financial forecasts

Financial forecasts in the business case are inaccurate.

3. Optimism bias renders business case unrealistic The business case makes rosy assumptions that don't reflect business realities.

4. Cooked numbers in forecast

Lack of objective financial analysis. The developer of the business case makes the numbers "work".

5. Metric based approvals

Reviewers approve a business case based on a handful of forecast metrics without examining constraints and risks.

6. Missed future costs

The business case promises to reduce existing costs but fails to anticipate new costs the project will introduce. For example, a system project may free-up administrative resources but increase the need for system administrators (who are generally more expensive).