Why the Interest in Project Management Theory?

I'll start my comments on Koskela's and Howell's (K&H) paper The Underlying Theory of Project Management is Obsolete by addressing the interest in theory. Many of you may want something of more practical value. Although the engineers in the group may be quite comfortable with a discussion of theory. Why should we all be interested. Our interest is more than academic; it is quite practical.

We have been distracted by colleges and the PMI.

Let's start by considering that K&H might be right. If the theory in use is obsolete, then it would explain why we don't get the results we're after. Like 15th century navigators believing the world was flat or earlier astronomers who thought the sun revolved around the earth, there are anomalies of project performance that can't be explained. It is with the intent of explaining past behavior and predicting future behavior that we are interested in theory.

Readers of this weblog will note I often recommend adopting one behavior or another. I also criticize familiar behaviors as not effective. K&H's discussion of theory will allow you to participate in selecting practices for your project. Their paper also provides a jumping off point for developing a more encompassing theory.

We have been distracted by colleges and the PMI. We've been told if you want successful projects, then do those things recommended by the ANSI standard for project management. What is that standard? It is the PMI Body of Knowledge®, ANSI/PMI 99-001-2000. (Did you notice the designation of the registered trademark? Trying to refrain from cynical comments let me say might there be commercial interests involved?) We've been told to do more of what we've been doing. To get more people certified by PMI, to do a more comprehensive job of creating project schedules, and to always keep our CPM schedules up-to-date. It seems to me doing more of the same only benefits the status quo: the providers of software, training, and consulting. Yet we all know of projects where they are doing everything PMI recommends, and the project is still late, over budget, missing key functions, or all three. It is this anomaly that so interests K&H.

Let's all have a practical interest in theory so we can do a better job of selecting practices, so we have a basis for creating new practices, and so we can get the results we're after on our projects.

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