Tony Collins has compiled a list of Project Management facts which might very well be the ‘Mythical Man-Month’ for the new era. It explains why so many IT projects fail so aptly that I had to reproduce it here:
Projects with realistic budgets and timetables don’t get approved
Activity in the early stages should be dedicated to finding the correct questions
The more desperate the situation the more optimistic the progress report
A user is somebody who rejects the system because it’s what he asked for
The difference between project success and failure is a good PR company
Nothing is impossible for the person who doesn’t have to do it
Every failing, overly ambitious project, has at its heart a series of successful small ones trying to escape
A freeze on change melts whenever heat is applied
There’s never enough time to do it right first time
You understood what I said, not what I meant
If you don’t know where you’re going, just talk about specifics
If at first you don’t succeed, rename the project
Everyone wants a strong project manager - until they get him
Only idiots own up to what they really know (thank you to President Nixon)
The worst project managers sleep at night
A failing project has benefits which are always spoken of in the future tense
Projects don’t fail in the end; they fail at conception
Visions are usually treatable
Overly ambitious projects can never fail if they have a beginning, middle and no end
In government we never punish error, only its disclosure
The most difficult way is, in the long run, the easiest
A realist is one who’s presciently disappointed in the future
I am pretty sure most of us can relate to these ;)
