Sunday, March 05, 2006

Fast and Furious...

Whenever I put a project plan in place, what I worry about the most is, when will it get started! In most cases, there are so many stakeholders...and the 'what do you think's ' keep circulating through emails... and take most of the time of the project. In most cases, the project doesn't start atleast two weeks, after the plan was written.

The best way to get started a project is by organizing a meeting. (Will write later on "why I hate meetings")

Call all the stakeholders, discuss the issue, if a consensus is not met, you take the final decision. Assign tasks, give deadlines, decide deliverables and you are done. The project starts there ! Later, you come back, write minutes of meeting, put it in any project management template and circulate to whoever you may want to.

This I call is the "Fast and Furious" way of starting a project. Don't loose the tempo - You really do not need a fore-play here!

Friday, March 03, 2006

How useful are Management Frameworks?

The usefulness of management frameworks depend entirely on the managers who use them. Be it the most generic 2x2 matrix or any complex analytical tool, they are as good or bad as the managers who will apply business sense to them.

However, these frameworks, definetely give a starting point to first, know what information is needed and second, to put these information in right perspective. This is half work, but the frameworks ensures that this part of the work is done correctly. The quality of information collected, and the analysis of the scenario thus built, is where the real test lies. And just having a 'winner' framework is not enough to have a 'winner' strategy.

Say, for example, your framework suggests, it will rain - so protect yourself. What do you do - stay at home, buy an umbrella, buy a car or get wet? The choice you make here, will have an impact on your work, life etc in different magnitude. Similarly, the choices you make, to protect your business from unforeseen situations, will have an impact on the future of your business. And likewise...for any business decision.

The bottom line here is that it is the choice/ the selection of inputs to frameworks that makes them great. Otherwise, frameworks remain to be the 'works of fame' of the great thinkers who created them first and JUST THAT.