Recently I came across some of the blog posts regards to Software Project management. It seems like Project Management is another project to Project Managers but so often they claim that they never able to do a accurate schedule or a budget, so the question arise − “Why do Project Management?”.
I’ve been working in Software Industry for the past 9 years and I have never seen a successful Project Manager although I’ve seen plenty of good technical people. I must admit that I have observed some of the successful projects are handled without a proper project plan, or should I say without a “Project Manager”. For a successful software project, the key factor is its technical people and I really don’t believe that’s anything to do with the Project plan or the Project Manager. How did Google products succeed ? Why did Windows Vista failed ? Was it because of the Project Managers or Project Plans? I doubt. In software, it’s a well known factor that the requirements change. Neither the Stake Holders nor the Project Managers are fully aware of the business requirement at the initial stage. So the next question − “What’s Agile ?”
Agile – one of the frequently used terms in the Project management these days. Agile is defined as to keep things simple and to move quicker. Two-thirds of the development time is wasted by the Project Managers for various meetings and requirement explanations. I strongly disagree the fact that every project needs a “Project Plan”, a simple plan would do for most of the projects. We need to understand the scale of the project while keeping the things simple. I don’t intend to talk about massive projects like in NASA or the other major companies, no doubt that they need Project Managers. But for 30-40 developer projects who would need to waste time & money just to create a larger scale project plan ?, A good technical leader is capable of doing the job. At last what matters is the outcome of the project, not how we manage the project. All my thoughts are based on the Software Development and this might not be true for other industries like Construction & Manufacture which are far more matured. Software development still on its way for a strong blue-print unlike Building construction, .
No offense meant to Project Managers, but comments are welcome − After all, Project Management is their Job.
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