Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

I attempt to get a million dollars by inventing a new three-letter acronym about project management.

TQM, Agile, Heavy – all nice words used to describe different types of project management. So, here goes, my three-letter acronym that summarizes my recommendation for project management:

TPM

That stands for Thoughtful Project Management.

What does this mean? (Now I get myself into trouble.) One word:

think

There, not much to it, is there? Before you start, think. Consider who will be doing what, and tailor your project to that.

For example, I have managed projects where I sat down with a few people on day one, told them what we wanted, and showed up again six months later to collect the product. The people knew the product, how to build it, and didn’t need any supervision. I have managed projects where I met twice a day with the team. They were attempting something new to them. The risk was high, the big lessons popped up every hour, and we were scrambling constantly.

Well, that’s it – TPM. Book publishers and conference chairs line up and start calling me for my speaking and writing 😉