Musings on project management: About the PM's Mission

Thursday, July 11, 2013

About the PM's Mission

Ever tried to write a mission statement for the project manager (not project management, per se)? I have. Here's what I came up with:

The project manager’s mission is to manage assigned resources to deliver the value expected, taking measured risks to do so

Why do I like that way of putting it? Because:

It's got input, output, and risk all tied in
It's not about scope, it's about value
You can't do projects if you have no appetite or tolerance for risk
It works in the private sector, but it also works for public sector and non-profit or NGO sectors

And, you can link the mission with what I think of as the project equation:

Project value is equal to, or greater than resources committed to the defined scope and risks taken to achieve favorable accomplishments

I like that "equation" idea because it segues nicely into this idea:

The cost of the project is not it's value; it's value is what difference it makes to the enterprise, either on the balance sheet or the mission scorecard.

Mission and value... that's the whole package!