Introduction

Gather a group of project managers together in a room and the war stories flow without prompting. Tales abound of the big project that got away or of snatching victory from the teeth of overwhelming risk. There is no better way to gather lessons learned and insight into the mysteries, failures, and successes of the project management world than from seasoned veterans.

Not all veterans, however, have sterling records or have successfully sorted out the best PM practices for all types of projects. Many project managers are purists: They relentlessly apply a strict methodology to each project from its charter to its closeout. They leave no plan unwritten, defining every task to a minute level of detail, regardless of whether the task is easy or hard and no matter how much the excessive planning costs the project.

Forcing all projects into the same, detailed framework regardless of actual need is a common problem. With project failure rates high, there can be a tendency to overreact through excessive planning, risk avoidance, and so on, which can all drive a project's budget and schedule into the ground.

At the other end of the PM spectrum are those who feel that even the most basic project management techniques are a waste of time, a needless bureaucracy impeding project objectives. I recall an invitation from a large state agency to participate in a project it was preparing to launch. I agreed to begin work on the project immediately and asked the project sponsor to forward any existing project documentation. That way, I told him, I could hit the ground running when I write the project's charter.

The project sponsor responded by saying that the agency did not ascribe to “PM bureaucracy” because there was too much work to do and too little time to do it, and it simply got in the way of progress.

I decided to turn down the project because I did not think my approach would fit very well with the agency's approach to projects. The project charter identifies the project's objectives, key milestones, roles, responsibilities, budget, management approach, and more; without it, the project is not likely to succeed. To be successful, every project needs to incorporate certain essential elements, regardless of its size and complexity.

Somewhere between over-relying on project management dogma and rejecting all project management is the perfect approach for every project. Project managers must identify among the numerous PM tools and techniques those that are most appropriate for each project. This is the essence of pragmatic PM.

The pragmatic PM approach is simple and straightforward:

The essence of pragmatic PM is using minimum effort to achieve maximum project gain. For small projects, apply relatively less project management. For large projects, apply relatively more project management. Figure 1 offers a basic depiction of the pragmatic PM scaling model.

Figure I-1 The Pragmatic Project Management Scaling Model

The five essential elements form the backbone of pragmatic PM. Figure 2 shows how the elements fit together to manage a project from its initial charter to its completion.

Figure I-2 The Five Essential Elements of Pragmatic Project Management