The Most Fundamental Factor in Successful Project Management

For the past 20 years I have seen projects come and go. Sadly a shocking number of them come a cropper. 

Studying and trying out various methodologies from PMI to Prince and other less known ones, I found that all of them uniformly were missing critical aspects. They are all very useful in their own right and worthy of study and application, depending on what one is working on. But I have seen people who spent many years studying and becoming perfect at one or another project management methodology, and yet led one failed project after another.

The ratio of failed technology projects is unacceptable and depending on what study one reads ranges from 22-76%. Fact is that there is no reason any project should ever fail, technology or otherwise.

There are common denominators that are missing or ill-defined in most project management methodologies. One such example is the lack of a proper definition of the subject of communication. No matter how “good” a project manager is, he can yet fail on this one subject alone. Most systems of teaching discuss communication only on the level of mechanics rather than what it really is: the key component of human interaction. Whether in personal life or in business, communication is fundamental.

And there are several other factors that can fail projects which are either missing or touched upon only superficially by the various systems.

The planning and accomplishments of objectives is an art and those who can do it, are worth their weight in gold.

One fact underlying all others, is that some people are capable of accomplishing tasks despite all odds. And that’s the kind of personality a successful Project Manager has to be. Nothing describes this kind of personality better than the essay “A Message To Garcia” written in 1899. Here is a link to a PDF of it, it’s a short read and well worth it.