Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Crafting a value statement


Value, like quality, is elusive to define "they" say. In the eye of the beholder, etc.

Fair enough

What do we think of this manifesto (*)?
"The purpose of professional management is to serve clients, shareholders, workers and employees, as well as societies, to harmonize the different interests of stakeholders"
Certainly "professional management" includes professional project management. And, by extension the purpose (read: value) of projects is not different from the purpose of those who manage them.

Not so fast!

Some would rebut this thesis this way:
"Accountability to everyone means accountability to no one"
Perhaps.
But some many years ago this overall issue was worked pretty hard; the outcome was the "Balanced Scorecard" which recognized that the interests of all parties did indeed need to be harmonized and provided a framework for accomplishing same.

However, lest we forget, the PMO gets measured by some, but not by all. And, say what you will, the measurers will be satisfied by the measurees before anyone else.

And that -- the interests of the measurers -- at the end of the day, is the value statement of the project.

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(*) Davos manifesto of 1973 for the World Economic Forum


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