Technical versus People Management
A particular and major breakthrough was the development of "network analysis"
and the concept of "critical path". This grew out of the US Navy's
complex Polaris program and NASA's Apollo program in the fifties and sixties.
For many years and even to the present day, the critical path method, or CPM,
and its associated "probability" techniques have been viewed as the
essence of project management in terms of planning and controlling project performance.
More recently, however, we have seen a definite shift to the "human"
side of project management and the incorporation of techniques essential for
dealing with people equitably and effectively. At the same time, there has been
a growing recognition that the creation of large physical projects, such as facilities
and infrastructure, are not the only types of project to which these techniques
can be applied. Indeed, projects can be many and varied, including "intellectual"
type projects such as the introduction of new administrative systems, attitude
changes and even cultural changes have been attempted in some organizations.
Today, we have a much better understanding of the holistic aspects of project
management. For example, we know that project management and corporate management
have fundamentally different orientations as indicated in Table
1. Specific differences between "project' and "enterprise"
management are shown in Table 2. We also know that a "project"
is essentially a "process" which leads to the delivery of a "product"
within the confines of certain "constraints".. Occasionally, the term
"project" is used loosely in substitution for the term "product",
but this inevitably leads to confusion.
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Enterprise
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Project
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Direction
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Goals:
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Continuity defined by
sets of Objectives
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Purpose:
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Change defined by
sets of programs
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Objectives:
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defined through Strategies
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Programs:
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Defined through sets of projects
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Process
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Strategies
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achieved through Tactics
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Projects:
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Achieved through sets of Tasks
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Tactics:
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achieved through consistent Activities
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Tasks:
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Achieved through variable Effort
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Activities:
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result in
continuous product
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Effort:
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Results in
unique product
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Table 1: A Hierarchy of Management Orientation
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Enterprise
(Period based)
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Project
(Plan-Accomplish based)
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Output is defined within department's responsibility
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Objective is an exception to the usual routine
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Desired results are generalized, influenced externally
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The required result becomes specifically identified
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Goals and deadlines are general
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Goals and deadlines are specific
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Routines are related
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Activities are related
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Management based on market forecasting
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Management based on project forecasting
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Reporting based on long-term financial accounting
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Reporting based on short-term project accounting
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Products are identical and in large quantities
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Specific product is unique
(or very limited)
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Table 2: Enterprise versus Project Management
We know too that this project process is susceptible to the application of
a systematic and logical sequence. In its most basic form, this may be described
as "Plan first, then produce". The benefit of applying such systematic
logic is that the process itself may be improved in its performance.
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Scope
Creep
