Effective Project Management

Section C Execution Planning Influences

As mentioned in the introduction, the concepts, principles, and processes of project management are the same for all projects. However, total flexibility is required in a project's execution.

Technological projects (the primary focus of this book) have a physical end product that is easier to describe and quantify and is easier to see being produced. Their success can also easily be measured. Information technology projects (see paragraph 4.8 below) are more difficult to describe, and the production process is not visible. Business change projects or programmes (see Part II, Section B) are, perhaps, the most difficult to visualise, and it requires considerable committment to realise their benefits.

This section identifies significant inbuilt cultural characteristics, as well as some imposed influences, on how a project is executed in different contexts. The language barrier mentioned in Section B is increased because a different language has to be used to make it acceptable/suitable in that environment. For example, the legal world is uncomfortable with project management but can cope with ‘matter management’, and risk analysis becomes ‘due diligence’. In the medical world, the project manager is a ‘consultant’. In the film world, the project manager is the ‘director’, and a breakdown structure becomes a ‘story board’.

1 Project Characteristics, Size, and Complexity

1.1

Firstly, projects with multiple work fronts and access ...