by Josh
PMI has a Facebook page now, and they recently asked an interesting question I would like to ask you as well.
How do you define “project management” in a way that inspires others to learn more about this important discipline?
I’ve struggled with this in the past. When I say I’m a project manager, most people have no idea what that means. I normally talk about the specific project I’m currently managing because they can relate to it better.
But a generic definition that is clear and inspiring to others? I don’t know if I’ve ever tried that.
Here is my first shot.
“Project management is leading people to get non-routine things done. Every project is different, so managing them is a dynamic and challenging job!”
What do you think? Let’s do some back-and-forth in the comments section here and come up with something together!
71 Comments
Josh Nankivel September 03 2009 19:50 pm
Interesting...sounds like it could be applied to an operational role though.
Shim Marom September 07 2009 23:23 pm
Having read through the comments so far it seems to me that some respondents have actually missed the point. The task given was not to come up with the ultimate definition to what project management is. The task was to come up with a SHORT definition to what project management is. I would have thought that as project managers we will be more sensitive to the need to refrain from scope creep. After all isn't this one of the key performance indicators we're accountable for?
ejlySeptember 2, 2009 4:23 pm
Project management is Git’r'done without the flannel shirts and pickup trucks, usually. : )
More seriously: project management is work that starts and completes something.
Josh Nankivel September 03 2009 19:52 pm
Great points. In my definition I was looking for 3 main points:
1. Getting things done
2. Unique "projects" distinquished from operations
3. People: leading, collaborating, multiple stakeholders, etc.
Glen B. AllemanSeptember 2, 2009 7:05 pm
Josh,
Why not Cleand’s definition…
Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing, and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives.
The Project Manager is the person who performs the activities of Project Management.
Josh Nankivel September 03 2009 19:53 pm
It's a good definition, but I'm looking for something that people outside our world can relate to. Trying to put myself in their shoes, you lost me at the word "discipline".
Shim MaromSeptember 2, 2009 7:08 pm
Here’s my short definition:
“Project Management is the process of coordinating the effective utilization of resources to achieve a unique outcome.”
Glen B. Alleman September 03 2009 09:41 am
Shim,
Are there other verbs beyond "coordinating?
Josh Nankivel September 03 2009 19:55 pm
I like it! Still would people who have no knowledge of project management be able to relate to it?
Perhaps a short story is in order to help people understand..
Dr. Paul D. GiammalvoSeptember 2, 2009 8:41 pm
Sorry folks,
Project management is a process, and that process is embedded in virtually everything we do.
For a surgeon, each operation or procedure is a project; For a commercial aircraft pilot, each flight is a project; For a lawyer, each case is a project; For a contractor, each contract is a project;
One of the reasons we grapple with the definitions lies with the fact that we have conflated the process a person follows in order to do what is is they have to produce with their job title.
Asked another way, given project management is embedded in all medical procedures, would it be appropriate to call each surgeon a project manager? Do we refer to the “Pilot in Command” (PiC) or do we refer to the Project Manager responsible to fly us from point A to point B?
As a life long, committed, passionate project manager, and one who earns a significant portion of our revenues from providing project management related training and consulting, I find myself in a funny position of having to refute my life’s chosen career path, but somehow, the role or the importance of project management has become distorted beyond what I am comfortable with.
Real? Yes… Important? Yes….. Necessary? Yes….. But only in the context of being the means to an end…. And only in the context of being a process that is EMBEDDED into just about everything we do…..
BR,
Dr. PDG, “shaken, but not stirred” in Jakarta
http://www.getpmcertified.com
Glen B. Alleman September 03 2009 09:32 am
Paul,
What would be the improvement in our understanding of project and their management, if we adopted your point of view?
Separating the process of "managing projects," - using your anecdotes of pilots and surgeons - is the "project manager" the one who performs the actual work during the management of the project?
It would seem the pilot, who is participating in the process of "managing the flight," is not a "project manager," rather is a pilot and is not performing “project manager” activities, but is “operating” the aircraft in accordance with the policies and procedures of his profession.
The "project manager" is possibly the person who oversaw the design and construction of the first few aircraft (program manager she is called at Boeing). Once the aircraft is in production, the person overseeing that production at Boeing is called a Production Manager.
The expansion of "project management" - the verb and "project manager" the noun to every activity dilutes the definition and removes of clarity of the role description of a project manager as well as all the role descriptions you displaced.
"Project Managers" (the noun) "manage" projects (a verb). Only on trivial projects does the Project Manager perform the work of the project - flying, cutting, welding, digging, or any other skill needed to complete the project.
As well the line between operations - operating the airline (the business of flying) for example and "managing" the aircraft during a flight for the airline has been blurred in your definition.
As a PIC of a CH-47 for several years, we "flew the missions that were briefed in the morning" Saying to our CO, "Major we’re going to go manage our ‘projects’ now, to deliver troops and supplies to the field," would receive an odd look of “Mr. Alleman, what in the hell are you talking about?”
Glen B. Alleman
VP, Program Planning and Controls
Shim Marom September 06 2009 20:10 pm
Paul,your observations are correct but you haven't met the objective of this exercise. I thought the objective was to come up with a definition of up to 140 characters long. This is a bit limiting, but that's what we were asked to do.
How would you make your definition shorter?
Travis AndersonSeptember 2, 2009 9:08 pm
Josh,
My role related to project management is that of a Project Controller. I tell people that I make 2 + 2 = 4 and then try to disprove the theory.
This reminds me of a joke.
A project manager asks his administrator what 2 + 2 equals. The administrator states in absolute that 2 + 2 equals 4. The project manager then asks his accountant what 2 + 2 equals. The accountant states in relative terms that 2 + 2 equals 4 plus or minus. Finally the project manager asks his project controller what 2 + 2 equals. The project controller turns off the lights, walks over to closes the blinds, and sits down by the project manager to say in a whisper, “What do you want it to equal?”
Josh Nankivel September 03 2009 19:59 pm
Thanks for the joke, I needed a laugh!
I can safely say though, putting myself into someone's shoes who has no knowledge of PM, your answer confuses me more than anything!
Dr. Paul D. GiammalvoSeptember 3, 2009 12:51 am
Travis,
Not to get too heavy here, but is what you describe the mark of a professional anything?
One of my long standing beliefs is the practice of project management has been significantly damaged by people who claim to be professionals, accepting projects they know in advance are doomed for failure. That is not to say we should not challenge ourselves or be willing to accept challenges posed by others, but there is a difference between taking measured risks and gambling.
I think if the compensation of project managers and project team members was directly linked to achieving the stated objectives, we would see people thinking twice about taking on projects that were doomed from the start.
But getting back to Travis’s story, without some “skin in the game” project managers can tell you anything you want to hear, which is not what professionals do.
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
Travis Anderson September 04 2009 20:35 pm
Dr. PDG and Josh,
To my point about my job is to make 2+2=4 and then disprove the theory, is to say that the equation is always correct and therefore a method for evaluating my numbers against. A big part of my job is developing a RLN using Primavera and then integrating the results with Deltek Cobra. Any time we use applications, it is always a good idea derive the known values for quality assurance. Before anything goes out of my office, the metrics are evaluated from multiple angles for validity. This is to ensure that my cost numbers are in fact the correct numbers. I always conduct a data trace exercise against my known values, e.g. 2+2=4 always. The I spend a lot of time trying to discover where my plan may have holes, e.g. disprove the theory by having a sum zero check in place.That is the professional thing to do for your PM and CAMs.
Ed haskinSeptember 3, 2009 2:50 pm
I ask them if they saw the wedding planner with j-lo in it. Anyone can plan a
wedding but if you want
it done right you hire a
professional. That’s what I am a professional manager of projects. Then I change the topic of sports.
Josh Nankivel September 03 2009 19:59 pm
I LIKE it! Relating it to something they already know is a great way to tell the story and make it real for them.
Josh NankivelSeptember 3, 2009 8:03 pm
I got this one from @nsheikh via Twitter:
The art of doing more, with less resource, in the most efficient way possible.
Chris McSpirittSeptember 3, 2009 8:06 pm
In order to avoid confused looks by friends, I usually just tell them that I help my colleagues build things better (in my case software) by organizing the effort.
Josh Nankivel September 03 2009 21:20 pm
Thanks Chris, I like this one! They may ask "better than what"?
Steve WatsonSeptember 3, 2009 9:02 pm
When my friends ask what project managers do, I reply…
“We’re the grease in the machine of business. We organize resources to get one-time jobs done.”
Josh Nankivel September 03 2009 21:19 pm
Thanks for the comment, I like this one!
jennifernavarro (Jennifer Navarro)September 3, 2009 9:55 pm
RT @pmstudent Comment on How Do You Define Project Management To Your Friends? by Glen B. Alleman [link to post]
Pawel BrodzinskiSeptember 4, 2009 8:16 am
For me the easiest way to describe what PM does goes like that: PM is like a boss of a small company, except they’re doing that each time with other team and not for themselves but for someone else.
PM, the as a boss of a small company, has to organize people around, find work for them, check if it’s being done, react when something goes wrong, plan for future etc. I guess it’s even similar load of bureaucracy to deal with although a different type.
Josh Nankivel September 05 2009 21:07 pm
Thanks Pawel, I like the analogy!
MSFTProject (MSFT Project)September 5, 2009 3:27 pm
How Do You Define Project Management To Your Friends? [link to post] (via @pmstudent) #pmot
Andrew McLennanSeptember 6, 2009 5:56 am
I normally say to friends “Jack of all trades and master of organization” and to my son that I fly a desk.
Josh Nankivel September 06 2009 11:50 am
Awesome! I think I'll start calling myself a desk pilot too!
Steve Watson September 07 2009 18:41 pm
"...fly a desk", that's great!
Michiko DibySeptember 6, 2009 7:39 am
Josh, I tell them “I organize people to get things done.” and if they ask what ‘things’, I say, “for example, creating a computer program” or “figuring out how to do things faster at work, and not waste time on doing things by hand.”
This is usually when I’m talking to like parents at a school ball game, or in the grocery store. People who indicate that are absolutely removed from software development.
Josh Nankivel September 06 2009 11:49 am
Thanks Michiko, I like it!
Cynsk8 (Cynthia Thomason)September 6, 2009 7:40 am
Constant Stress RT @pmstudent Comment on How Do You Define Project Management To Your Friends? by Shim Marom [link to post]
RalphSeptember 7, 2009 11:32 am
As a laymans definition I generally say that:
Project management is the process of leading a group of people towards a commonly shared goal.
Josh Nankivel September 07 2009 12:07 pm
It's good, but I'm afraid it doesn't draw a distinction between general management and project management. Dr. Paul would probably be happy about that though! :-)
The commonly shared goal could be meeting a monthly quota in an operational setting.
AdSeptember 7, 2009 6:24 pm
Project management is the documented way I show my boss my team knows how to successfully complete an implementation or project. This documentation usually consists of the work break down and work assignments (who’s doing what) in MS project and a separate multi-page document outlining costs (vendor quotes), computer network diagrams (Visio schematics), required steps and changes needed to complete the project.
I’m not PMP certified yet. But hope to be by the end of this year.
Thx
Ad^2
Shim MaromSeptember 8, 2009 12:10 am
Having read through the comments so far it seems to me that some respondents have actually missed the point. The task given was not to come up with the ultimate definition to what project management is. The task was to come up with a SHORT definition to what project management is. I would have thought that as project managers we will be more sensitive to the need to refrain from scope creep. After all isn’t this one of the key performance indicators we’re accountable for?
Josh Nankivel September 10 2009 10:45 am
Good point Shim, but I don't mind the diversity of interpretations.
PMI was trying to do this in 140 characters, but my question was actually this:
"How do you define “project management” in a way that inspires others to learn more about this important discipline?"
And then I confused things by having a slightly different question in the title to try and make it snazzy:
How Do You Define Project Management To Your Friends?"
I did this on purpose. I figured some would answer one or the other and I could review and compile our collective thoughts into a revision of my prototype definition.
It's actually a happy addition that other interpretations came out like the PMI's 140 character one or the formal definition view. The more ideas, the merrier!
Gabriel Blanc-LaineSeptember 8, 2009 1:25 pm
Project Management is the finite skill of circus ringmaster, Mother, best friend, boss, and total overseer of all things involved with, resulting because of and ending in any given task.
Josh Nankivel September 10 2009 10:40 am
Wow! Deep and broad at the same time! It seems almost poetic, but I'm not sure it would make sense to the uninitiated...
Max CameronSeptember 8, 2009 3:07 pm
Project Management is taking responsibility for things others would rather leave untouched.
Ralph September 08 2009 17:00 pm
I like this, but I think it's a bit flippant for a formal environment.
Josh Nankivel September 10 2009 10:37 am
I like it Max! When explaining it to friends, that's a good way to start off at least!
Steven MulhallDecember 18, 2009 8:27 am
My (and most people’s friends) are not in employment in the Project space and so do not know the PM venacular.
I prefer to tell them I manage a business idea and the resources required to get that idea “done” from start to finish in a short set period of time….
gsempeDecember 18, 2009 4:38 pm
And why not:
I’m the member of a team as Phil Jackson was a member of Chicago Bulls.
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Rosario RizzoSeptember 2, 2009 2:43 pm
My simple (very symple) definition of project management for my friends is:
working better and organized