Project Management Step by Step

Step 2.2 Check your role – are you respon-

sible for achieving the ‘why’ or making sure

the ‘what’ happens?

To be successful in completing your project, you need to know what you

are responsible for. Consider the simple example I started this chapter

with – you are decorating the front room. Remember the reason for this

was to get the asking price for the house you are selling. You must start

by understanding whether you:

●

Are only responsible for decorating the front room? (what) OR

●

Are also responsible for ensuring the house achieves its asking price?

(why)

Normally, as a project manager, you will be only formally responsible for

achieving what you have specified, not why you are doing it. You should

understand the ‘why’ but it is not your job to achieve it. Do check this

though. Sometimes your customer may expect you to be responsible for

the ‘why’, which in business is usually called being responsible for the

business benefits, or the benefits realisation. If you are responsible for

the benefits, you should pretty quickly start asking yourself some

subsidiary questions, such as:

●

Is decorating the front room really the best way to achieve the

asking price?

●

If decorating the front room does not achieve the asking price, what

do I do then?

If you are only responsible for decorating the front room without

worrying about whether it achieves the asking price or not your life is a

lot simpler!

PROJECT MANAGEMENT: STEP BY STEP

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