CHAPTER 2
,What Is Project Management?
The design, adaptation, and deployment of project management life cycles and models are based on the changing characteristics of the project and are the guiding principles behind practicing effective project management.
Don't impose process and procedure that stifles team and individual creativity! Rather create and support an environment that encourages that behavior.
—Robert K. Wysocki, Ph.D., President, EII Publications
CHAPTER LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter, you will be able to:
- Understand and apply a working description of project management
- Apply a business value definition of requirements
- Use goal and solution clarity to define the project landscape
- Understand and explain the four quadrants of the project landscape
- Know the characteristics of Traditional Project Management (TPM), Agile Project Management (APM), Extreme Project Management (xPM), and Emertxe Project Management (MPx)
- Know how complexity and uncertainty affect the project landscape
- Understand the similarities and differences between Linear, Incremental, Iterative, Adaptive, and Extreme PMLC models
I suspect that for many of you this chapter will be your first exposure to just how broad and deep the world of managing projects can be. It never ceases to amaze me that even after more than 40 years of practicing project management I am still encountering new challenges and learning wondrous things about this amazing discipline. You should realize that project management is not just a matter of routinely filling in forms and submitting reports, but rather it is a challenging world where you will be called upon to be an effective leader, to function at the limits of your creativity, and to be courageous at all times. It is a world in which you will continually face situations you have never faced before and will have to look inside your toolkit and concoct workable approaches.
For those of you who are practitioners, it's no secret to you that your project management landscape has changed and continues to change. With the change comes a constant challenge to assess project conditions and adjust your approach to managing the project. We live in a world where the characteristics of the project and the environment within which the project takes place are constantly changing, and those changes should inform you as to the tools, templates, and processes that will be most effective. As you closely examine those characteristics, you will gain an appreciation of just how challenging the task of effective project management can be.
You're not in Kansas anymore! The discipline of project management has morphed to a new state; as this book is being written, that state has not yet reached a steady state. In fact, the practice of effective project management may never reach a steady state. The business world is in a constant state of flux and change, and it will always be that way. That continues to influence how you need to approach managing projects. And your approach itself is going to be in a constant state of flux and change. What does this mean to the struggling project manager? Take courage: It's not as grim as it may seem. In the chapters that make up Part II later in this book, I am going to clearly point the way for you. If you really understand what I am presenting in the chapters that make up Part I, you will have acquired a robust tool kit and an enduring strategy for delivering effective project management.
So let's get started on your journey to becoming an effective project manager.