pmStudent

If the video isn’t working for you, try clicking here to see the short clip on project management from Scott Berkun.

If it isn’t broken…..make sure you actually know it isn’t broken! This video is just a few minutes, and covers a classic cop-out in project management. Scott Berkun does a good job of covering some reasons why projects might be run the same way as the last project by default.

Another aspect of this, besides implicit assumptions, is natural resistance to change. We have evolved to stick with the same way of doing things unless it was personally painful the last time we tried it. That is when we seek change naturally. Scott talks about rephrasing the question/response so that some of the assumptions are exposed, which elicits thought about whether the previous way truly was effective or not.

When incentives are not set up properly, it is possible for a project manager to keep using a system that results in failed projects. The same goes for all positions and activities. If the failure is not painful enough for the people who can make an impact, they will not be motivated to change it. Of course, if you are going to hold people’s feet to the fire, you also need to give them control over the process. Mandated systems or excessive constraints combined with rigorous accountability can lead to even worse failure and dissolve morale quickly.

I hope you like the format of this post, I made the video smaller than normal and wrapped the blog post around it, which I think looks pretty nice. Let me know what you think of it!