In Project Management, we have a number of sayings that hold true to form and others that are just funny, but true.  See, in our world, things don’t always go as planned (SURPRISE!), so it is our duty to warn others of things to watch out for as well as providing good advice.

I will begin with a well known saying.

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”

Now, let’s get into a couple of management insights.

“A verbal contract isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.”

OR

“What is not on paper has not been said” (My favorite)

As project managers, documentation is both a blessing and a curse, but if tasks and statements are not recorded and communicated to all involved, it is too easy for parties to deny.

“A little risk management saves a lot of fan cleaning”

We have all been here at some point.  Project Managers don’t really get to cut their chops on easy projects.  Something has to go wrong and the project manager needs to fix it the best they can with the resources they are given.

“If at first you don’t succeed, remove all evidence you ever tried”

Here you go, a project management reboot.  A nice to have, but really not practical to implement.

“When all is said and done, a lot more is said than done”

How true. We hear a lot of talk from management and project sponsors, but in many cases that is it.  It is part of our duty to make those words into actions.

“Good project management is not so much knowing what to do and when, as it is knowing what excuses to give and when.”

Yep. It depends on your target audience, of course.  This is more of the proper channel for delivering communications than anything else.

“For a project manager, only three things are certain. Death, taxes, and overruns”

Ok, I just found that one humorous.

“Overtime is a figment of the naive project manager’s imagination”

Unbelievably, many project managers feel they can control everything in their  project and overtime or resource over-utilization will not occur. Sadly, this is not the case for most projects, especially IT  projects.

“Never underestimate the ability of senior management to buy a bad idea and fail to buy a good idea.”

This is a reason project management exists.  Bad ideas based on “buzz” are handed down to be delivered.  We cannot say no, so we carry on and implement.  In the end, it’s not our money being spent to deliver the bad idea, however, it is ours to deliver.

“Warning: dates on the calendar are closer than they appear”

So true.  Some project managers get so wrapped up and focused on dates, they lose sight of the bigger picture.  Other project managers see the big picture but are so focused on that they lose sight of the upcoming dates.  Good project managers need to take a mixed approach, but also apply leadership to ensure all components are considered.

“Powerful project managers don’t solve problems, they get rid of them.”

Well, this is true unless the problem turns out to be your project sponsor.  Then, you are just screwed.  Time to carry on “business as usual”.  Other times, we can remove the obstacles through negotiation or in some cases, stepping around them.  This last step is usually not acceptable in corporate politics, but many times necessary.

related post

• Project management in a virtual organization
• Project Management and Agile-Scrum
• Project Management through the rear view mirror?