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The Most Important Word in Project Management

5 points by edragonu 17y ago

edw519 17y ago
So here it is, the most plain, powerful, single word you have to know, and use when managing a project: NO If you aspire to mediocracy in an enterprise, then this may help you survive. Otherwise, it's horrible advice. If you have serious competitors, then you have to find YES. If you are attempting to do something extraordinary or for the first time ever, then you have to find YES. If you are building a startup, then you most certainly have to find YES. I am not saying that all things are possible. I am saying that you need to find YES. Once you get into the habit of saying NO, you forget how to find YES. A simple (and timeless) example. Your customer wants Deliverable X in Time Y using Resource Z. You know it's too much and will disappoint. So instead of saying NO as OP recommends, you find a way to do what can be done. It may have a few less features, may need an extra resource, or may take a little more time. Or better yet, you analyze the constraints long enough to find methods or tools you hadn't considered to say YES to all of it. (We never would have found Framework ABC if the customer hadn't forced us.) I have often been to only person finding YES when I was surrounded by others preprogrammed to saying NO. That's how they survived. Usually in an enterprise or institution. That same thinking is a disaster in an achievement oriented environment. Finding YES forces you to stretch beyond your previously perceived limits. Settling for NO dooms you to mediocracy forever. Some may call this a semantic argument. I call it state of mind. How badly do you want it? Find YES.
- beliverable 17y ago
  Thanks for reading my post and for sharing your perspective on this. I totally agree with you on this one. Finding YES is definitely the best mindset to have, as a project manager - I guess this is what I mentioned as well: being a solution seeker. However, in order to protect "the Definite YES" (in getting things done, in securing resources, in clarifying the scope of the project before starting the work) from its less helping cousin ("the May Be YES"), I prefer to use "NO" to set up clear boundaries, especially when expectations of different stakeholders start to go wild. Thanks again for sharing your views - great comments, much appreciated. Next week I will have a post dedicated to those areas of project management to which I pay careful attention when saying NO, in order to protect and encourage Finding YES.
deleted 17y ago
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wanderr 17y ago
I agree with this post wholeheartedly. At my company I've seen many projects fail, and a few succeed. Our most successful projects have also been the narrowest in scope. Once the project is successful, it's much easier to add on things one by one because you already have something successful. On the other hand, our most epic failure of all time was a project that was supposed to only take a couple of months but went on for many, many months. In my opinion, the project's biggest problem was a lack of naysayers. Said project was going to have every feature ever. It was going to be Facebook, but prettier and with more features. That project was evetually killed of course, but the man hours and resources wasted on it were quite astronomical for something that, in hindsight, should have been pretty obvious that it would fail. I will add that one skill I've learned is the art of saying 'later' instead of 'no'. If an idea is good but too time intensive or too low priority relative to everything else, 'later' acknowledges that and reserves the right to revisit later but still ultimately is a no, albeit less injurious to the ego of the person asking.
- beliverable 17y ago
  Thanks for your comment and for reading my post. I totally relate with your story regarding that online project aiming at too many things things... having a too scattered scope is as deadly as a vague scope. And, as you say, "later" is a help in letting everyone prioritize what's important and urgent: the vital elements for the project's success. Thanks again for the insights!

5 points by edragonu 17y ago

So here it is, the most plain, powerful, single word you have to know, and use when managing a project: NO If you aspire to mediocracy in an enterprise, then this may help you survive. Otherwise, it's horrible advice. If you have serious competitors, then you have to find YES. If you are attempting to do something extraordinary or for the first time ever, then you have to find YES. If you are building a startup, then you most certainly have to find YES. I am not saying that all things are possible. I am saying that you need to find YES. Once you get into the habit of saying NO, you forget how to find YES. A simple (and timeless) example. Your customer wants Deliverable X in Time Y using Resource Z. You know it's too much and will disappoint. So instead of saying NO as OP recommends, you find a way to do what can be done. It may have a few less features, may need an extra resource, or may take a little more time. Or better yet, you analyze the constraints long enough to find methods or tools you hadn't considered to say YES to all of it. (We never would have found Framework ABC if the customer hadn't forced us.) I have often been to only person finding YES when I was surrounded by others preprogrammed to saying NO. That's how they survived. Usually in an enterprise or institution. That same thinking is a disaster in an achievement oriented environment. Finding YES forces you to stretch beyond your previously perceived limits. Settling for NO dooms you to mediocracy forever. Some may call this a semantic argument. I call it state of mind. How badly do you want it? Find YES.

beliverable 17y ago
Thanks for reading my post and for sharing your perspective on this. I totally agree with you on this one. Finding YES is definitely the best mindset to have, as a project manager - I guess this is what I mentioned as well: being a solution seeker. However, in order to protect "the Definite YES" (in getting things done, in securing resources, in clarifying the scope of the project before starting the work) from its less helping cousin ("the May Be YES"), I prefer to use "NO" to set up clear boundaries, especially when expectations of different stakeholders start to go wild. Thanks again for sharing your views - great comments, much appreciated. Next week I will have a post dedicated to those areas of project management to which I pay careful attention when saying NO, in order to protect and encourage Finding YES.

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]

wanderr 17y ago

I agree with this post wholeheartedly. At my company I've seen many projects fail, and a few succeed. Our most successful projects have also been the narrowest in scope. Once the project is successful, it's much easier to add on things one by one because you already have something successful. On the other hand, our most epic failure of all time was a project that was supposed to only take a couple of months but went on for many, many months. In my opinion, the project's biggest problem was a lack of naysayers. Said project was going to have every feature ever. It was going to be Facebook, but prettier and with more features. That project was evetually killed of course, but the man hours and resources wasted on it were quite astronomical for something that, in hindsight, should have been pretty obvious that it would fail. I will add that one skill I've learned is the art of saying 'later' instead of 'no'. If an idea is good but too time intensive or too low priority relative to everything else, 'later' acknowledges that and reserves the right to revisit later but still ultimately is a no, albeit less injurious to the ego of the person asking.

beliverable 17y ago
Thanks for your comment and for reading my post. I totally relate with your story regarding that online project aiming at too many things things... having a too scattered scope is as deadly as a vague scope. And, as you say, "later" is a help in letting everyone prioritize what's important and urgent: the vital elements for the project's success. Thanks again for the insights!