Project Management Best Practices, 5th Edition

2From Best Practice to Migraine Headache

2.0 INTRODUCTION

For almost 40 years, project management resided in relatively few industries, such as aerospace, defense, and heavy construction. These industries were project‐driven and implemented project management mainly to placate customer requests. Project management was considered something nice to have but not a necessity. As a result, best practices in project management were never really considered important.

Within the last two decades, project management has evolved into a management process that is mandatory for the long‐term survival of the firm. Project management is now a necessity rather than a luxury. Project management permeates all aspects of a business. Companies are now managing their business by projects. Project management has become a competitive weapon. The knowledge learned from project management is treated as intellectual property, and project management offices (PMOs) have been established as the guardians of the project management intellectual property, reporting to the senior levels of management and being given the task of capturing best practices in project management.

As with any new project management activity, benefits are accompanied by disadvantages and potential problems. Some of the problems are small and easy to correct, while others are colossal migraine headaches and keep executives awake at night. The majority of the migraine headaches emanate from either a poor understanding of the benefits ...