Microsoft Eats the Dog Food
August 26th, 2002 by HalMicrosoft Eats the Dog Food
Lean Project Consulting welcomes MS to the table. In this September '02 Fast Company article MS shows off how they have made MS Project 2002 post-modern, or should I say lean. They offer four 'new' axioms for successful projects — all of course now supported by Project 2002. They are:
1. Expect the unexpected. We've been saying this for quite sometime. The world is uncertain and unknowable. Plan your projects that way.
2. Measure work done, not hours spent working. The lean approach using the Last Planner� system is to measure the 'percent of plan complete' on a week-to-week basis. Not only do you stay on-track with completions, but you have a basis for investigating and improving the variances to completing work as planned.
3. Don't crack the whip; share the work. The work, that is, of planning. Rather than doing the typical top-down plan to the gnat's ass, MS is now acknowledging that a better result will come from collaborating with the folks closest to the work.
4. If you want the right people, you have to know what you're looking for. Project success depends on having people who can do the job. So, MS now has resource descriptions rather than just individual's names.
What are they missing? Good question! Here's one list. More to come later.
.. Dependence and variability
.. Working on only that work that should, can, and will be done
.. Promising reliably
.. Leadership
Still, I can't wait to get my hands on Project '02!
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