Chapter 12. Project Management for Everyone

Based on the definition of a project offered in Chapter One, nearly everything that is done in most organizations is a project. In fact, the only work that does not qualify as a project is that which is repetitive. For that reason, there is hardly anyone who does not manage projects—whether they be at work or at home. And by that line of reasoning, everyone can benefit from applying project management methods to the work that they do.

The interesting thing about project management is that the profession itself did not develop the tools that we use. All of these were conceived as part of the process of managing products. The work breakdown structure (WBS) was developed so that all steps that must be performed to manufacture a product could be identified and that estimates of time and cost could then be established. Scheduling was developed to then place these tasks in sequence, since the WBS alone does not show the sequence in which the work is done. And finally, earned value analysis was developed to measure the progress of work as it flowed through the factory. The method is called a standard cost system to those of you who are familiar with manufacturing terminology.

Dr. John Anderson, who is vice president of administration at Wake Forest University, once said to me that project management is the only discipline yet developed for managing work, and I would agree with him. There are many manufacturing techniques that have been developed to make work more productive, but the basic methods of planning, scheduling, and controlling work that are central to project management remain the key elements used to manage work.