Adding Value: A Gentle Reminder

Sure, as a project manager / business leader, you:

• Completed the project in given time frame.
• Within the budget. With minimum schedule deviation.
• Utilized your resources optimally.
• Filled up all the required templates.
• Did retrospective. Celebrated completion.
• Shared statistical reports with the top management.

But did you:

• Think about “value” (remember 102%) you will deliver? Early in the project cycle?
• Set expectations of your team on what “value” means to you and to the customer?
• Glad you did that. But did you keep that in perspective constantly while executing?
• Critically evaluate “earned value” for the stakeholders?
• Track value delivered, when you tracked through the Gantt Chart?
• Make stakeholder’s world a bit better in any way?

A Gentle Reminder: It is easy to have a hard-nosed focus on scope, time and budgets (and they are important too) but when you don’t think/plan/understand how the project/initiatives adds value to your customer’s business (or what is customer’s definition of value), you fail to create a positive impact.

Adding value – that is what project management (and all our work as professionals) is all about. Isn’t it?

Have a wonderful Friday!

Bonus: If you are a project manager, reading “5 Goals Every Project Manager Should Aspire to Achieve” at CIO.com by Jason Westland would help. Check out #4 there!