Project Management’s Underlying Assumptions

Project Management’s Underlying Assumptions

There are a few fundamental concepts that, once accepted, make many of
the unique practices and processes in project management more logical.
■ Risk. Organizations need to believe the risks inherent in a project to
provide adequate management backing and support, and the team
needs accurate and timely risk information. When doing something
new for the first time, there are many unknowns that have a potential
to affect the project in some way, positive or negative. One goal
is to “flush out” as many of those unknowns as possible—like a
bird dog flushes birds out of the bushes—so that they may be managed,
and the project’s energy can be redirected to managing the
surprises that inevitably arise when the work is unfamiliar.
■ Authority. Because the project has a start and an end and specified
resources, there is a need to balance the competing requirements of
time, cost, and performance. The authority to balance these competing
requirements is delegated to the project manager and the
team.
■ Autonomy. The risks associated with the project must be managed
so that they do not obstruct progress. As risks mature into real
issues or problems, the project manager and team need autonomy
and flexibility to resolve some and ignore others based on their
potential to hurt the project.
■ Project control. To anticipate and predict needed change, the project
manager and team need ways to determine where they are in
relation to the projected time, cost, and performance goals. They
use this status information to make needed adjustments to the plan
and to refine its execution strategy.
■ Sponsorship. The project manager and team need the backing of
management, or a sponsor and champion, to ensure that the project is aligned properly with executive goals, to protect against external
interference, and to provide resource backing