2022 in Project Management - 5/8
2022 has been an unprecedented year, and it brought with it a wide range of challenges and developments that have the potential to change the way that project managers approach their craft.
This is the fifth article in the list.
5. Football World Cup
The standard way to evaluate the success of a project is to measure it against the criteria that were set out at the beginning of the project. This usually includes the "triple constraint", that is time, cost, and scope.
However, even if all other criteria are met, even if all the requirements were met and the quality standards were respected, the ethical implications of the project can undermine the success of the project. By implications we must intend the consequences of its realization, as well as the standards followed during its execution.
Even a magnificent technical result such as the construction of seven amazing stadiums can be obscured by the shadow of inadequate standards for work safety.
The main methodologies for project management include a set of principles or an ethical code of conduct, but it cannot be expected of a methodology to define moral standards.
Methodologies are global by vocation, and they cannot afford to demand more than local laws and regulations do. Because of their own nature, the highest ambition those methodologies can have - in terms of defining ethical standards - is to comply with the lowest common denominator.
Once more, the key factor is not the methodology followed for a project, but the culture in which the project takes place.
Organizations are cultures, and projects are their stories. When you write a good ending for your story, make sure that it will look good to all of the stakeholders.
The List
Football World Cup (this article)
Upcoming
The Aquadom collapse
Generative AI goes mainstream
ABBA Voyage virtual concert
Bonus point
Agile Methodology and big-”A” vs small-”a”: according to the State of Agile report 2022, "Accelerate Time to Market" is the #1 expected result of an Agile transformation. The ability to manage changing priorities has disappeared from the radar, meaning that it is relevant for no more than 30% of respondents.
Up next
#6: The Aquadom collapse
What if specific regulations do not exist (yet), or are meant for traditional ways of doing things - and you’re doing something radically new?