Guiding Quote

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.” Einstein

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Project Managers and Methodologists: The Bureaucrat



In large companies all methodologies ossify into operating procedures and fall under the control of functionaries. The jihadists do have the redeeming virtue of wanting to do things better and to improve delivery of projects and products. The bureaucrat doesn’t really care about performance as long as all the forms are filled out properly. They don’t care if your project is slowed down, they have their procedures and you will follow them. Documentation proliferates as successive reviews of the methodology generate more rather than less control points. It is a rare that a methodology becomes slimmer over the course of time. Bloated is a kind description of most mature methodologies. A key indication of the age of a method is the size of its getting started guide or its quick guide. If its five pages its young, if its thirty pages it’s old.

How thick is your guide?
            
Generally it is a waste of effort for an individual project manager to assail these behemoths on an individual project basis, don’t waste your energy trying.  All you can do is adopt the maximum and minimum approach. By which I mean you use as much of the methodology as you need to deliver your project, and then complete as little of the paperwork as the system allows. So it’s maximum of benefit for the minimum of paperwork.