Project Management Battlefield
Project Management Battlefield
Sun Tzu's wisdom on project management
A Fresh Perspective
PMBOK® and The Art of War
Beyond PMBOK®
Develop a unique perspective on the aspects of programs and projects in the context of your environment.
Develop an understnading how the lessons of The Art of War are similar with the intent behind PMBOK®
Develop a perspective to balance he conflicting needs and interests, need to contain the resulting organizational power games and communication challenges.
Sun Tzu says that “Our own flags should be substituted for those of the enemy and their chariots mingled and used in conjunction with ours. The captured soldiers should be kindly treated and kept“.
Project manager hears, “Learn to make success pay for itself. Use successes to augment the project execution capabilities. Do the same for lessons learned, knowledge bases, reusable components, and materials, etc.“
Sun Tzu says that “In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns”.
Project manager hears, “Avoid long and expensive projects. Define smaller projects instead”.
Sun Tzu says that “There are no more than five cardinal tastes (sour, acrid, salt, sweet, bitter), yet combinations of them yield more flavours than can ever be tasted“.
Project manager hears, “The project’s limited resources can be mixed, combined and rearranged to come up with better ways to get the work done within the constraints”.
Sun Tzu says that “Fighting with a large army under your command is nowise different from fighting with a small one: it is merely a question of instituting signs and signals”.
Project manager hears, “The project manager must understand the organizational structures and choose the appropriate method of managing the team. Different structures require that you approach them differently and institute different processes and procedures to govern the project. Projects of all sizes and magnitudes can be managed with ease provided appropriate processes, tools and communication mechanisms are deployed”.
Sun Tzu says that “In battle, there are no more than two methods of attack—the direct and the indirect; yet these two in combination give rise to an endless series of maneuvers”.
Project manager hears, “When dealing with projects, rely on standard and innovative methods. The combination of these two gives you many options to choose from, and you never run out of options“.