Recently, I was invited to speak at the PMI(r), National conference in India. There were more than 1000 people there and some interesting speakers. Some of these speakers are in the project management field, while others have reached the pinnacles. We can all learn a lot from them.
I was struck by the interesting views of the participants and speakers. L & T, a large construction company, won the PMI(r). Their entire team walked up to the stage with their customer, and they were giddy about the project that they had just completed. They were recognized for the great work they did on the project. !
Another top speaker discredited the notion that project management can be flawless. He said that failures are the foundation of any project’s success. The more we can get up and try again when we fail, then the better we are at delivering the projects.
I agree with the speaker that failures are the cornerstones of any project’s success. You learn from every project you work on. However, failures are not always affordable and can lead to the project being permanently terminated.
As project managers, we must be able to anticipate and take preventative actions whenever possible. This is what I consider the cornerstone of any project that succeeds. The big question is, how can you anticipate a project’s failure?
Anticipation requires knowledge and understanding of how to deal with situations in projects. I want to distinguish between “work” and “managing” a project when I say knowledge. The work requires knowledge of the industry. For example, IT, construction, or pharma. When we talk about managing a project, the boundaries between the domains are irrelevant. Instead, we get to experience and concepts of project management. As our friend said, experience is gained from failures. However, if you learn early enough, knowledge and concepts about project management can help you avoid costly mistakes.
Project management techniques and concepts can make it easier to manage projects effectively. It is possible to apply it to make the projects run more smoothly and within the time constraints.
As I mentioned, failures can be costly in a project. The sooner we realize this, the better we can do our project delivery.
