Why Can’t We Just Follow Some Best Practices?

Why Can’t We Just Follow Some Best Practices?

I received a disturbing note from a friend the other day and thought I’d share it with you. His note confirms what I have been seeing, but have been reluctant to admit. This colleague is a project manager working on a project with another company and their project manager. This other PM is a PMP who is also working on his Masters in Project Management. If I were paired up with a PM with these credentials, I would be very happy indeed, thinking that this is ideal. However, my friend wrote that this person is not willing to do the most basic of project management best practices. It was difficult having a kick-off meeting, scheduling status meetings, or collecting status.

Why is that? If this were an isolated case, I could write it off to something like he just must be tired of meetings, or his organizational culture is one that doesn’t follow formal processes. But this isn’t an isolated case. He was writing me to compare notes and ask if I had seen this before. Unfortunately, I have to say ‘yes’. We all talk a good game in theory, but when push comes to shove, why can’t we follow through and do what we say we are going to do? Is it lack of management support? Overwork? A ‘get it done’ mentality?

There’s never time to plan, but always time to fix. Not enough priority or visibility until the project is in jeopardy. Why must we wait until the situation is dire to do the right thing? Can’t we learn from these experiences? I am sure a lot of PMs would like to sleep better at night, knowing they are acting proactively and with management’s support, rather than fighting an uphill battle. If you have thoughts on how to turn this trend, please write and let me know. Maybe we’ll explore this topic deeper in future postings.

Vicki Wrona, PMP®is the founder and President of Forward Momentum, LLC, an 8(a) consulting and training company found at www.forwardmomentum.net. She has been managing projects and mentoring project managers for the past 20 years in both the private and public sectors. She is an instructor for Global Knowledge and developed GK’s PMP® Exam Prep Boot Camp, part of the program that won PMI’s ® Professional Development Product of the Year Award in 2007. She has trained over 3,300 professionals, including over 1,600 on the PMP® exam. Currently, she is serving on PMI’s® PMBOK® Guide 4th edition creation and review team.