Is Project Management Dying?

This question is raised by none other than the Project Management world champion, Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, who highlights a startling 70% failure rate in projects.

Who is the prime suspect?

I venture to accuse the excessive emphasis on the project management process—as opposed to viewing the project manager as a leader steering towards a goal.

Wait… aren't Projects and Processes two different things?!?

Project management fundamentally aims to achieve specific goals, but it inherently involves following a structured process to reach those goals effectively and efficiently.

It is a balancing act between two extremes: the Skunk Works approach on one side - and full compliance with an abstract, theoretical model on the opposite end.

Shifting Approaches in Project Management

The latest edition of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) shifts from a process-based to a principle-based view, listing 12 principles and 8 performance domains (instead of the 49 processes from the previous edition).

This change moves away from a prescriptive approach, offering Project Managers the flexibility to adapt the body of knowledge to their project's needs. Treating the 49 processes as a list of mandatory activities would be exactly what I mean by “excessive emphasis on processes”.

Navigating the complexity

This kind of adaptability has always been essential for Project Managers who work in structured organizations.

Large organizations tend to have structured processes to grant approvals and to periodically check the progress of initiatives. In order to succeed, a project manager must be able to reconcile the project perspective with these approval processes, avoiding double accounting and other inefficiencies.

What about *too much* complexity?

The clash between the need for decisive action in projects and the static nature of established processes can sometimes become an overwhelming struggle, entangling project work in a web of formalities. When this becomes a threat to the project, the situation is often described as 'Kafkaesque,' reminiscent of the oppressive atmosphere in Franz Kafka's stories. His writing evokes a blend of existential horror and ruthless absurdity, highlighting how bureaucracy can crush individual efforts.

Next Monday marks the 100th anniversary of Kafka's death. To honour his legacy, I will release a special issue of the newsletter dedicated to his novel “Der Prozess,” which perfectly captures the nightmarish texture of rampant bureaucracy.