Why Is Project Management Important?
Up to this point in my blog I’ve written about relatively innocuous topics like goals and productivity. But today I’m going to be writing about project management, so buckle up because things might get a bit bumpy.
Project management? Controversial? Well, not really. But I do want to say something that some project managers might find offensive. And here it is: project management has no intrinsic value. In and of itself, it is worthless. All the gantt charts, all the communication plans, all the burndown charts, all the team standups, all the story points, and all the meetings are completely worthless unless they help your team achieve things that are valuable. I don’t care if you have a PMP, CSM, ACP, CSP, or SPC after your name. Those certifications are only valuable when they help other people get work done. Weird, huh?
Finding Value in a Worthless Profession
As someone who loves project management and has made it his profession I think I can speak on these matters with some authority. I readily admit that as a project manager I produce nothing of value. I’m overhead. Actually, as a manager of project managers it’s even worse! Why do I even exist? Why is my work important?!
Here’s why. Project management is all about helping other people get good stuff done. As a project manager this is your purpose and this is the value you add. It takes a certain type of person to be okay with this. If you like being in the limelight, project management might not be the best profession for you. There’s nothing wrong with wanting attention, of course. Being recognized and thanked for your work is an important motivator for many people.
But as a project manager your work is usually not directly visible. It’s seen through the work that other people are doing, getting the right stuff done on time and with great quality. It’s seen through teams that are happy, motivated, energized, and working efficiently. It’s seen through team members having time to focus on getting their work done because you’re taking care of a bunch of stuff that would otherwise get in their way. And it’s seen through complicated work getting done in the right sequence so the pieces of the puzzle all come together at the right time - so it almost looks easy.
Project Management is a Means to an End
You can think of project management like your car. You travel in your car to get from point A to point B. By itself your car has no intrinsic value. Its effectiveness in getting you where you want to go is what gives it value. Likewise, the processes represented by project management (and the people who drive those processes) help teams get where they want to go, and in that sense project management adds tremendous value.
But processes are only valuable insofar as they help teams get stuff done. There are plenty of well known project management processes out there - take Scrum for example - which come with some very specific and prescriptive practices. I’m not a huge fan of tinkering with proven processes for no reason, and I’m a big fan of Scrum. But the process is there to serve the team, not the other way around. The process should never be held sacred. It’s okay to change it (cautiously!) if it isn’t working for you.
It can be hard for a project manager to deal with this. We’re experts! We have certifications in these processes, for crying out loud! Actually, that’s what can make a project manager extremely valuable - helping a team understand where to tweak the process to make it work better. Only an expert who truly understands the process and why it works can make an effective recommendation on how to change it.
In Summary
By itself project management is worthless, but for a team trying to get work done it is extremely valuable. It is a means to an end, and project managers should always be focused on helping others. From a process standpoint, if something isn’t working don’t be afraid to change it. Process serves the team; the team doesn’t serve the process.
And for you non-project managers out there - if you’re on a team with a project manager you appreciate, take a minute to tell them thank you. They don’t hear it often enough.