Maplewood Software - Project Management

Project Management
Project management is more than tracking deadlines. A more appropriate term for the job might be Project Sensei, a term of respect for someone who has achieved a certain level of mastery in an art form or some other skill. Project Management should be about wisdom and leadership.

Wisdom is the ability to see the long-run consequences of current actions, the willingness to sacrifice short-run gains for larger long-run benefits, and the ability to control what is controllable and not to fret over what is not.
-- Russell Ackoff
"A concept of Corporate Planning", 1970

Leadership establishes healthy community. Community thrives when communication flows easily because of mutual understanding. Leadership establishes cohesion around a common vision.

Methodology
Choosing a methodology before defining the project is like choosing the shoes you are going to wear before choosing the activity you will be doing. Wearing sandals on a ten mile hike through rugged terrain is not a good idea. We like to break projects down into one of two general categories: Discovery and Bridge.

Discovery Project
Lewis and Clark are visible historical figures in the Northwest US. The Corps of Discovery triggered development of the area, and traveled through our backyard. Discovery Projects are named after the Corps of Discovery. Discovery Projects know where they are going, but don’t know how to get there, just like the Corps of Discovery was charged to travel to the Pacific Ocean but didn’t know the route to get there.

Bridge Project
Bridge projects have full knowledge of where they are going and the route to take to get there. A bridge project is like building a bridge across a river gorge. You can see every detail of the landscape; you just have to figure out how to get a span over the river. Managing a bridge project is very different from managing a discovery project.

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