It’s hard to decide where projects end and processes begin – or the other way around. At what point is building a motorway bridge just a process because you’ve done loads of bridges before? Each one is a bit different, but basically the same. What about running a training course – they vary and they need planning, but they are all similar. And moving house – the first time it’s a project but after a few it becomes a process. And at the other end, processes like making large machines could be thought of as a project every time – …or are they?
The answer is that if your PM process is simple and quick then it doesn’t matter. You’d want to think twice before invoking PRINCE2 (I love the word evoke, it sounds as if you are summoning the devil, which in a way you are with Prince2!) but if your PM process is a quick post-it note meeting and then a quick excel Gantt chart then why wouldn’t you use it on even a small project?
So at the “process” end I think Agile is great for communication as you evolve your product, especially if your project is more of a process than a project – and particularly if it’s an IT project where you can go back and change things relatively easily. But I think even Agile advocates would agree that Agile runs out of steam when you’re doing bigger projects with fixed finish dates and outcomes and budgets.
And at the Big Project end PRINCE2 is an option for very large projects only, and even then it’s a lot of paperwork but if you need traceability and control then it’s a possibility.
In the middle we have PMI/PMP/APM/PMBoK (whatever you want to call it!) which is great for things that are definitely projects, and a simpler variation of that, my reduced PMBoK or PMBoK lite, can go right from pretty large projects down to really small projects, things that are really just “difficult processes” or processes with variations, because it’s quick and easy enough to still be worth doing for them. The time spent planning has to be small enough to pay back even on a small project.
So here’s my diagram of everything:
Comments?
PS – the above diagram is from my upcoming book!
Tom Connolly says
Like all your articles Chris – makes a lot of sense!