As a consultant, I visit many organizations and speak to them about project management. A large majority of managers who deal with small initiatives complain that project management methodologies are overkill for their project/organization. Furthermore, some use this logic to justify their lack of following any sort of project management processes or techniques. It is with these Project Managers in mind that I read Tom L. Barnett's A Small-Project Playbook article on ComputerWorld. An article that promised to find the solution for the manager of small projects.

In the article, Tom proposes that in such circumstances a Project Manager can use his Playbook "tool" to manage the project. The "tool," however, is nothing more than a chart consisting of "eight columns: Task Name, Description, Due Date, Owner, Issues, Deliverables, To, and Waiting On." Tom says this allows him to replace the WBS, meeting agendas, resource assignment matrix, and status reports.

However, I view this as a dangerous proposition when speaking to clients that are already weary of project management. The playbook is just a tool that will be rather useless in the hands of a person that does not already know the project management concepts that are used to populate it. Project management is a set of processes, not tools. Furthermore, it serves as a poor introduction to project management techniques for the beginner. Rather than learning proper project management and using critical thought to apply the appropriate techniques, beginners will learn bad habits right from the start. The tool does not even encourage a small project manager to split their activities into initiation, planning, execution, and closing. It transforms a project manager into a task master.

Rather than taking the less-than-ideal approach, beginners should focus on light-weight management methodologies like SCRUM, an agile methodology focused on small, cross-functional teams. From this, they will learn the benefits of setting up and following processes without burdening the organization with heavy frameworks. New project managers need to understand that success is more dependent on critical thinking and process than tools and technology. The bottom line is: neither the playbook nor Microsoft Project will make one a project manager.

For more information about Agile methodologies, see Raven's article Good List of Agile Program/Project Management Resources.

In his article "Expectations and Violations," Paul Glen discusses the human side of project failure. We consultants are often called in to a company as a last resort to save a failing project. Typically, this happens after a project has missed deadlines. The company realizes that the imminent failure of the project is not due to poor schedule or cost management but to human and business relationships.


I completely agree with Paul on this issue. It is nearly impossible to avoid poor project performance without considering human issues and expectations. Functional managers have dealt with human issues far longer than pure project managers. However, we must do our best to manager people as much as cost, schedule, and scope.

Do you have examples of projects that have failed because of human issues? Leave a comment.