2. No two projects are the same but
this funny collection of truths is
widely spread in the majority of
projects.
3. Project Management Truths
• A project is one small step for the project
sponsor, one giant leap for the project
manager.
• Good project management is not so much
knowing what to do and when, as knowing
what excuses to give and when.
• If the project is going exactly to plan,
something somewhere is going terribly wrong.
4. Project Management Truths
• Everyone asks for a strong project manager -
when they get him they don't want him.
• Overtime is a figment of the naïve project
manager's imagination.
• Good project managers know when not to
manage a project.
5. Project Management Truths
• All project managers face problems on
Monday mornings - good project managers
are working on next Monday's problems.
• Some projects finish on time in spite of project
management best practices.
• Good project managers admit mistakes: that's
why you so rarely meet a good project
manager.
6. Project Management Truths
• The more ridiculous the deadline the more
money will be wasted trying to meet it.
• The first 90% of a project takes 90% of the
time the last 10% takes the other 90%.
• The most successful project managers have
perfected the skill of being comfortable being
uncomfortable.
7. Project Management Truths
• To estimate a project, work out how long it
would take one person to do it then multiply
that by the number of people on the project.
• Never underestimate the ability of senior
management to buy a bad idea and fail to buy
a good idea.
• Fast - cheap - good: you can have any two.
8. Project Management Truths
• When the weight of the project paperwork
equals the weight of the project itself, the
project can be considered complete.
• If it happens once it's ignorance, if it happens
twice it's neglect, if it happens three times it's
policy.
• Some things that don't count are counted,
many things that count aren't counted.
9. Project Management Truths
• If it wasn't for the 'last minute' nothing would
get done.
• If you can interpret project status data in
several different ways, only the most painful
interpretation will be correct.
• Projects don't all fail in the end, they fail at the
beginning.
10. Project Management Truths
• No project has ever finished on time, within
budget, to requirement - yours won't be the
first to.
• If you don't know how to do a task, start
it, then ten people who know less than you
will tell you how to do it.
• The user does not know what he wants until
he gets it. Then he knows what he does NOT
want.
11. Project Management Truths
• If you want to make God laugh have a definite
plan.
• If everything seems to be going well, you
obviously don't know what's going on.
• Projects happen in two ways: a) Planned and
then executed or b) Executed, stopped,
planned and then executed.
