Comic Chinese Style Project Management

Chapter 2 Introduction
0.1 What kind of project is successful?
Let's talk about a basic topic first: what kind of project is successful?

This problem has nothing to do with the project "acceptance". In the Chinese market, if your project cannot even pass the acceptance, I suggest you change your career.However, when the project is finished, to what extent, you can say to yourself in your heart, "Wow, this project is really successful!"

What is the criterion of success, profitability?Customer satisfaction?Achieved the set goal? ...

Let's first look at a "theoretical" success criterion (I emphasize that it is theoretical). The picture below is called the "Iron Triangle" of project management. Once the progress requirements are completed, the project should be considered a success, at least you don't have to worry about the boss scolding you.

But is this really the case?
How many projects can be completed in strict accordance with the plan in terms of cost, progress, and goals?If costs are substantially overrun, is the project necessarily a failure?

The answer is obviously not necessarily. Many projects are still very successful even if they are over budget and delayed, because it achieves the "business goals" of the enterprise.

When a project manager starts a project, no matter what the customer says, how the requirements document is written, or even how the contract is signed, you must think very clearly about one thing, that is why the customer (boss) wants to Pay to do it?

Project managers must learn to think about problems from a "business" perspective, not just technical implementation.

Cost overruns, but expanded into new markets;

Schedule delays but new business opportunities for the company...

For a truly successful project, what matters is not what you want me to do, but "why you do it"!
0.2 The success of the project must be "reproducible"
The same thing can be completed in 5 days for a "technical expert", but for ordinary technicians, it takes 10 days to complete it through standard processes and methods.Which of these two approaches is more valuable to the enterprise?

A lot of people don't like to follow a process.Indeed, the improvement of efficiency is often not brought by the process, and the personal ability of technicians is sometimes more important.So why is process still needed?
The value of the process lies in the "reproducibility" of the results, or the controllability.

Work done by people is often very risky, because people are the most prone to problems.At the same time, for the enterprise management, if there is only one project running, all the details are under control, and no process is required at all.However, if there are a large number of projects going on at the same time, it is impossible to have an accurate grasp of every detail and everyone's ability.At this time, a mature mechanism and process is the safest and most reliable.

For project managers (especially those in large companies), it is often a matter of getting used to working in a process.Yes, you can do better, but that's not how companies do things.What you have to learn is to promote projects in a series of processes and management frameworks to improve efficiency.

For large companies, the value of experienced people is limited.Those who can turn experience into a process that enables others to achieve specific goals are the most valuable.

Case
From the perspective of management, is there any value in "empty city planning"?
In a certain sense, the value is very limited, because something too wonderful cannot be replicated. If no one can do it a second time, what is its value to others?

For project management, the so-called pursuit of success is not 100 points, but 80 points that can be replicated.

0.3 In the face of serious technical problems, what should you do

After receiving an emergency call, you rush to the user site.After a preliminary analysis, you are shocked: it can be determined that this is a major mistake in the scheme design stage, and now it has been exposed, causing all work in the project to stop.

At this moment, as a project manager, what are you going to do right away?
What did you think of?
· Organize technicians to discuss and analyze technical issues?Excellent, this is work that has to be done.

· Looking for a possible solution, or even an alternative to the entire technical architecture?Yes, this is also necessary.

· Find more experienced experts, seek external help?Yes, this is also very, very important.

what else?
If you are a technical expert or chief engineer, these should be enough, but as a project manager, what are the more important jobs?
Please think for 1 minute and turn to the next page

As a project manager, you are a "manager," even if it's a little weak at times.

As a manager, what are the things you should focus on?There are at least a few things you should be very clear about:
Evaluate professionally, communicate effectively, and execute effectively.

Let me talk about evaluation first. How does such a question affect the project plan?Will progress be delayed?How much could the cost be overrun?Are important milestone nodes (such as mid-term acceptance, leadership inspection, etc...) affected?What impact will it have on customers, subcontractors, and partners? ...

The purpose of assessment is to communicate effectively.For example: How would you report this to your boss?
"Boss, I'm sorry, something went wrong..."

Hehe, your boss may not save you.He wants you to tell him:
What happened, why did it happen, what impact did it have, what do you plan to do, what is your plan, what are you doing, what resources do you need, and most importantly, what do you want him to do for you .

As a project manager, don't get bogged down in a ton of details.Even if you are an expert and have to deal with technical issues, the role of project manager requires you to jump out of these issues and control the project from the aspects of business, management, team, project planning, and resource coordination.

You have to make sure that every detail is done by someone, but it must not be done by you.

(End of this chapter)