The concept I was going for when I came up with this title is loosely based on what I, for some reason, remembered was a Bible verse, but it is really a Chinese proverb.  "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime."

The Method, Not the Means

I believe the same holds true for process vs. technology.  Right now somewhere there is a wife buying her husband some cool new tool to entice him to do a job around the house that can be done a number of different ways with a number of different materials.  I know it worked for me...but in the long run it didn't really motivate me beyond the initial task at hand.

No amount of cool software will replace good sound fundamentals when it comes to creating repeatable processes that can be taken to the masses in an organization and help take it to the next level.  For example, there are nice requirements management tools out there, but if a customer or a project team has no clue how to capture requirements and can't follow a process to get from requirements definition to actually developing a solution, then the project will fail no matter what requirements capture method or methodology is use.

PMI and PMP promoters would say this is where like-mindedness and common dialogue helps an organization create those repeatable processes and helps keep all project managers in an organization traveling down a similar path.  It allows the organization to put the same face on each project, remain consistent and create the same type of customer experience for each customer and for returning customers...and thus, likely creating greater customer satisfaction.

I don't disagree with that statement, though I also don't think it is the only way to get there.  Experienced project managers bring invaluable knowledge to the table and can also easily adapt to sound project management methodology and principles.

Enough about that though...I'm heading down the wrong path again.  What I'm trying to say here is that when managing a project, know the following:

  • What the end solution needs to accomplish - this will help the team determine the best technology to use to accomplish the end goal
  • What information needs to be captured and presented - this will enable the project manager to utilize the best software or technology to deliver information in a timely and understandable manner

When I was serving in the role of Sr. Project Manager at Rockwell Collins, I was required to present larger, more visible projects to a Technology Council comprised of leaders within the organization.  The goal of the council was to help ensure that the proper technology was being used for the solution because many customers pushed for a particular technical solution that may not be in the best interest of the project or the corporation (these were internal projects for internal business units, for the most part).  By presenting a high-level view of the project and a proposed solution to the council, we could jointly decide on these larger projects what the proper solution should be.  We had a good process in place, which allowed us to utilize the best technology for each project.  Process first, technology second.

Summary