Monday, October 3, 2011

I am a project manager


I am a project manager: At its most basic, that means knowing "how" to get things done. That "how" stands, primarily, for "process." Many, but not all, my thoughts here share that focus on process.


I am deeply involved in both program and portfolio management. That means not just"how" but "what" and "why" and "when." "What" is to be accomplished could be referred to as "the ends." "How" the thing is accomplished, then, refers to "the means." "Why" is the strategic framework. "When" is about organizing the various "what's" into a logical sequence of events.


Standing outside the context of business and business technology I often speak to social, political, or cultural issues. Not here on this forum but on others. We (myself along with other project managers) have something to share; it's important. Important in the context of business, technology, and important in the larger context of getting things done in life.


Regardless of how carefully and rightfully the vision is crafted, goals defined, and success factors enumerated, if the methods, techniques, processes, and people employed are imperfect, those imperfections become realized in the outcome. In a sense, the end becomes the means.


We never achieve greatness (success) through flawed means. The most brilliant strategy is brought to naught by tactical failure. No amount of individual effort can overcome it; no amount of shiny rhetoric can gloss it over; neither advertising nor marketing can salvage it.

Posted by: William W. (Woody) Williams

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