Kevin Denials
http://www.softwareprojectmanagementcenter.com

But that is not only about “project management”. Project Management encourage to think well of the project for most people. Personally I consider myself in the top ones (because of my logic, etc.) when developing something. I may not be good to sell why it takes more time or why the task I attack are the most difficult one (and the one other don’t want to attack). But the reason my solution have very low functionnal problem (i.e. almost no bugs) is because I at less plan well the thing I have to do to make it perfect.

I am not that good at plan WHEN I will do it because I don’t practice myself enough probably to do this. But I am good to at less cover all the thing that need to be done to do a fully functionnal product (which is not what I can say of most people I have seen in IT, School, etc.–Thinking about all its needs– it just seems a skill they lack).

So if you put project management to good use, it forces you to think well about the problem you will attack. Break thing in small piece, make all those pieces interact well together.

That is why I talk about efficient project management (and not just throwing number, time and guess). That is not easy to do completely and people want them done completely (all task, all time, etc.). But if you ask that but cannot even broke thing in correct task, then your project management is flawed.

Anything you want to achieve, you gotta start from the base. The basic need to work in your project, your idea amd your project management. ;-)

[as you can see, I have not planned well the redaction of this text :D — but I hope you get a grasp of some idea I throw up there, they may sound confusing, but they might be very important for you in the long run.]

For those that say project management takes too long and is too costly, maybe have not practiced it often enough to see the benefit. You see the value most readily when you come up against a problem that should have easily been identified before it happened, or when your client starts to change your scope half way through your work, but the value is still there when you start out the project and it sets up the project for success from the start.

Even small projects benefit from Project Management principles. A 5 page website is a perfect example. Why do people think project management on such a project takes too long? Project management is about repitition! performing the same tasks over and over again on every project you do, ensures a greater level of success than those that are thrown together at the last moment. As this is the case, setup some project plans templates for a small, medium and large project. Determine which one fits a job and then modify it for its individual needs. Presto!!! a project that is easily planned, has taken very little time and utilises all of the project management principles - at very little cost during the planning cycle.

Sure you have to be a man and take the responsability. But there is time where people won’t accept the real answer and that can also influence a project’s quality. Of course that goes into managing client expectation skill ;-) I have got very good client and I have also faced people (at day job or as client) who wanted the time they expected as the result. No matter what the reality was. They just wanted “in 2 days” without knowing exactly what they wanted. Maybe it is in human nature too sometime. ;-)

But more I advance, more I recognize that what made my success in the past and what should make my success as of now, it is to do it right even if you explain that it is gonna cost more if you take the easy fast path, sometime you have to protect your own self in long term and expect that or at less you have to be very clear if you take shortcut.

I think the IT industry could learn a thing or two about project management from the offshore engineering industry.

- They don’t know what project management is

I think project management is very important - just because it shows the customer you’re thinking about the problem professionally. Obviousily you don’t spend ages doing p/management if the client is only wanting a 5-page website, but it is still important to do it — the more you do it, the easier it becomes.