In this presentation, I offer my thoughts on the bad, the ugly, and the good aspects of project management best practice frameworks. Delivered to the Brussels Pint of PM meeting on 1 August 2019.

1. Are Best Practices REALLY
Best Practices?
Brad Bigelow
Pint of PM
1 August 2019

2. 2007-8 2011-12 2015-17 20172015-17
My Creds

6. They’re Generic.

7. “This PMBOK Guide
identifies a subset of
the project management body of knowledge
that is generally recognized
as good practice.”

8. “This PMBOK Guide
identifies a subset of
the project management body of knowledge
that is generally recognized
as good practice.”

9. “This PMBOK Guide
identifies a subset of
the project management body of knowledge
that is generally recognized
as good practice.”

10. “This PMBOK Guide
identifies a subset of
the project management body of knowledge
that is generally recognized
as good practice.”

11. “Most projects
most of the time”

12. NOT Your Specific
Project,
NOT Your Specific
Situation”

14. x

15. They’re Tools,
Not Solutions

17. The PMBOK will
tell us how to run
all our projects!
Its processes are
guaranteed to work!
We’ll never have to
figure things out
for ourselves again!

18. If I do everything it says
in this book,
my project WILL succeed!

19. You don’t have to use every
tool on every job.

20. There are
appropriate
and
inappropriate
uses for any tool

21. They’re hard to prove.

22. Generally accepted as superior …
… because it produces superior results
superior
superior results

23. Where’s
the
evidence?

26. Is the corollary true?
Does evidence show that inferior practices
produce inferior results?
inferior practices
inferior results

27. Ernest Codman
Every hospital and every surgeon
should follow every patient
long enough to determine whether
the treatment was successful,
and to inquire, “If not, why not?”
with a view to preventing similar
failures in the future
and to improving the quality of care

30. Where are the Ernest Codmans
of project management?

31. They’re Not a Substitute for
Serious Organizational
Change Programs

32. We’re adopting the
PRINCE2 methodology.
You need to take a class
and get certified. OK.

33. So I took the class and got
certified. How are we
going to apply PRINCE2? Read the book.

34. Umm…

37. Did I mention to
read the book?

38. Organizational Change
is Like a Circus Tent:
One Pole Alone Won’t Keep It Up
Best
Practice
Guidance
Training
Mentoring
Internal
Templates and
Procedures
Review and
Refinement

39. Who Stands to Profit by Them?

40. Publishers/Certifiers
Training
Providers
Consultants
Exam Centres
Adopting
Organizations

41. • Managing Successful Programmes (MSP)
• PRojects IN Controlled Environments (PRINCE2)
• Management of Risk (M_o_R)
• Portfolio Management (MoP)
• Management of Value (MoV)
• ITIL
• Portfolio, Programme and Project Offices (P3O)
• P3M3
• RESILIA
• PRINCE2 Agile
• AgileSHIFT

42. A Common Vocabulary

43. “Scope”
Work
Breakdown
Structure
Product
Breakdown
Structure

44. Developed by Practitioners

45. PM
PM
PM
PM
PM PM
PM
PM
PMI Staff
Academic
Academic

46. Open to Practitioners

51. Developed Objectively

54. PMBOK 6th Edition
Committee Members,
Content Contributors,
SME Reviewers,
and Final Exposure
Draft Reviewers

55. Evolved through Repetition

56. Sixth Edition
(2017)
Carry Forwards

57. Supported by an Extensive Body
of Knowledge

58. • Practice Guides
• Journals
• PM Network
• PMI Chapter Meetings
• PMI Conferences
• PMI Conference Proceedings
• PMI Webinars

59. If you’re not a member of a Project
Management Group yet, join one.
If you are already: get involved!