The Art of Project Management

3.3. The magical interdisciplinary view

These three points of view always overlap each other. Every business consideration has technical and customer implications (which is the same for all of the other permutations). So, getting the best planning perspective requires laying out each view on equal footing and seeing where the similarities and differences are. Some decisions will need to be made that favor one perspective over another, but that shouldn't be done by accident. It should support an intelligent strategy derived from getting as much value from each perspective as possible.

By investing time in exploring all three perspectives, it's possible to see opportunities for smart strategic decisions. It might be possible to satisfy some of the top issues or goals from each of the three perspectives by defining a project targeted at where the three perspectives overlap. Those are areas that have the greatest potential value to the organization because one effort can simultaneously address business, technology, and customer goals.

Almost as important as its strategic planning value, using a Venn Diagram (like the one in Figure 3-2) can defuse perspective bias of engineers or marketers. It helps teams see overlapping points of view, rather than only competing ones. Early and often during project-planning discussions, this diagram or something like it (e.g., a diagram that includes a list of potential goals from each perspective) can be used to frame suggestions made by people who ...