by Is there still some value?
Value. This is such a small word but there is a lot of promise in it. Value can be defined as ‘the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something.’
Value can also have interpretations depending on the lens that is used. From an accounting perspective, value equates to the monetary worth of an asset. Economists have a different perspective. To them, value is based on ownership. How much benefits and rights are arising from owning something. That is the true value. Marketers on the other hand defines value as the extend to which a product or service meets the customer’s needs. In ethics, value denotes the degree of importance of something or action, with the aim of determining what actions are best to do or what way is best to live.
So, when the question is then asked, what value does project management bring to or have for the organization, I am sure that I will get a multitude of answers. Answers will raise from ‘nothing’ to ‘we cannot live without it’. It also depends on whom I ask? I am sure that business will have a different answer than the Project Management Office and the project managers themselves. As they say: beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The same applies to the value of project management.
But how must one go about to determine or measure the value of project management? I think an objective view is needed. One cannot ask the PMI or IPMA what the value of project management is, as they are making money from selling project management to individuals and companies. Asking them is like marking your own exam paper.
Recent research indicated that organisations do derive value from project management irrespective whether the project was delivered within the constraints of time and cost.
The projects under investigation were on average 131% more expensive and to make things worse, these projects were on average delayed by 71%. Let us put this in perspective. A project that would have cost $1 000 000 and a duration of 1 year, would then ultimately cost $1 310 000 and be delivered in 20.5 months. Not bad taken into consideration that the stakeholders still believe that they get value from the project.
Now the question is: did they get value from project management or from the actual delivered project?
I am arguing that they are getting value from the actual delivered product and the benefits that these products provide and not from the Project Management process. At the end, it is actually what was delivered rather than how it was delivered. Yes – it would be nice if we can deliver the final product or service quicker and faster but it seems as if IT projects are notorious for being late and over-budget.
Does this imply that we need to find a different delivery mechanism for IT initiatives?
Let me know what you think.
This was a guest post by Carl Marnewick, an educator and researcher at the University of Johannesburg. He sees himself as a recovering Software Development Project Manager.
Project management creates value by delivering projects cheaper and fast. That’s where the value is.
The system/environment within which project management takes place could itself be the culprit. Edwards W. Deming during his life’s teaching and in his book ‘Out of the Crisis’ constantly pointed managers to find and repair damages within the system as a first step, rather than find and unmask any culprits at the coalface. He estimated that over ninty percent of problems track back to the enabling (or rather disabling) systems/environments for which Leaders are accountable.
Ironically, many front-line workers actually do know where the problems and pinch points lie, but often they have no one to tell, or no one whom they tell has the depth of listening skills, or realises the opportunity for improvement.
Supervisors, Managers, Leaders are actually both responsible and accountable for the hard and soft systems within their organisation and more accurately, within their influence.
Perhaps a very attractive future for project managers, might be to become project Leaders. They would need strong training, coaching and support from their Leadership in turn. The title might also benefit from a change with ‘project’ being substituted with a term carrying less baggage.
Totota leaders advocate, honour, and guide Leaders who develop Leaders who develop Leaders with the right stuff. They have come to this from deep observation, listening, and active experimentation over time.
Today we are witnessing the beginning of the start of the rise of some exceptional Leaders required for positively navigating the accelerating change and complexity that we find around us. Positive Leaders with vision.
Software project management is dead is a statement from the expert as yourself-a person who does not want to know more, because he will not be an expert any more.