The Art and Science of Project Management

[reposted from my yahoo 360 blog 12/6/05]

More often than not, people consider Project Management as either one or the other. The truth is, Project Management is a combination of both. The tendency for you to sway on one side defines how you approach Project Management.

From an Artistic perspective, Project Management involves the ability to deal with people, influencing them, and negotiating with stakeholders. It also involves the uncanny ability to determine when risks are worth taking. Your "gut" feel and intuition are artforms in themselves... and that these cannot be contained by logic and reasoning.

From a Scientific perspective, Project Management deals with Earned Value Management, Critical Path Management, Quantitative Risks Analysis, and other PM work that deal with numbers and statistics.

What's the best mix, you may ask? Actually, it would be dependent on the needs of the situation. (Knowing the proper ratio in itself is an artistic attribute.) But then one thing's for sure... you have to have both to be a good Project Manager.

I intended to put up this blog in order for me to share what i've learned as a Project Manager - from both the artistic side as well as the scientific side. I believe that by helping promote the Project Management discipline - i can help raise the bar of Project success - not only in my Projects, but of others as well. A lot of times, failure is brought about by lack of knowledge. As as my favorite cartoon movie would say, "Knowing is half the battle!"

Yo Joe(y)!