Project management is the art of the possible

"Politics is the art of the possible" is said to have declared Otto Von Bismarck in 1863 to an interviewer from the St. Petersburgische Zeitung.

I am nor an aphorisms fan neither a Bismarck admirer but in its apparent triviality this sentence hide two big truths.

• A pragmatic and wise politician distinguish between realities and desires, between opportunities and treaths, between possibilities and obligations. He or She has to know the environment in which  he or she operates.
• Planning and negotiations, if properly conducted under a correct knowledge and interpretation of the previous environmental factors, can always lead to success. Provided objectives are realistic.

In this respect I state that (also) project management is the art of the possible. 

A good project manager should be able tell a viable budget or schedule from what are just hopes. He or She should be able to tell reality from management desires and hopes and eventually reconcile the differences. Obviously he or she should absolutely not commit himself  or herself to what is a beyond belief schedule (or budget, scope, quality plan, ...). I think that in many cases, especially if a project manager has not been involved in the project chartering process, this could be one of the most tricky parts of project management. 

Opportunities and treaths are what we could call risks and they should be treated through appropriate project management techniques. They should be identified, evaluated, documented and periodically revised. Plans should be put in place to address them in case they happens, to mitigate or enhance their impact on the project.

Every wise project manager knows that penetrating and understanding the environment in which the project evolve is a basic step toward a successfull completion. Marketplace conditions, industry standards, competitors, processes, tools, management attitude, Sponsor support, budget constraints, knowledge bases,... are all factors that can help or  hamper the project manager's (and team's) efforts and options. So all this factors, all this possibilities and obligations has to be continuously kept in mind and mastered. 

Under these premises the project manager operates and leads the team, implementing valuable processes and applying techniques suitable for planning, negotiating, monitoring project status and controlling project flow.

Said that, I strongly believe that if there is even a remote possibility to conclude a project on time, on budget and with a certain degree of quality, proper project management combined with an insight into environmental factors and process assets can significantly exploit the possibilities of success.

Obviously no project manager can do magic. Some conditions (good chartering, strong business case, management commitment...) has to be put in place before project start. A good project manager knows how to make use of everything is around him but remember, project management is the art of the possible.

Quest' opera è distribuita con licenza Creative Commons Attribuzione - Non commerciale - Non opere derivate 3.0 Unported.