Four key concepts for understanding project management

There are so many techniques and methods in project management that it's easy to lose track. Are there perhaps overarching or recurring concepts that help us to understand them?

Why do we need basic concepts?

With the terms I discuss below, I try better to explain elements used in different project approaches. I draw on the following approaches: PRINCE2, PMBOK/PMI, Lean/Scrum/Agile, Benefits Management (Ward, Daniel), Diamond Model (Shenhar, Dvir), Jobs to be done (Ulwick, Christensen), Capability-based planning (Alleman) and Design Thinking. All approaches have the common goal that they want to bring meaningful change into the world.

In order to improve the results of business and administration, we need to accomplish significant change, which is what projects serve to achieve. To do this, we need a solid understanding of what project work is really about.

I do not intend to derive an overarching method from this understanding. I want to discover the underlying, recurring concepts common to each project management approach. Each one deals with these concepts differently. In the following images, I try to link terms from these approaches with the fundamental concepts. My aim is to make it easier to understand what project management is. 

There will be some criticism, of course: Scrum is not a project management method, but rather a product development framework. Jobs to be done and design thinking cannot be lumped together with Scrum because they are used before a Scrum team builds something. Etc. In detail, this criticism is correct. In this article, I am looking for an overview that can perhaps also serve as a bridge between the different approaches.

After several iterations, I have concluded that most elements of the different project management approaches can be explained by four basic concepts:

• Uncertainty
• Value
• Planning
• Competence

There is no specific order in this list.

These four basic concepts not only provide a better understanding of the individual PM methods. They also show how project success can be increased:

• Uncertainty acts like a drift that takes us off course. We reach our goal faster if we either reduce uncertainty or react well to it. (This assumes, that the original plan was the right one. It may be, that we need to change plans if we learn something new.)
  
• If a project promises high value, everyone works well. The project does not starve.
• We reach our goal faster if we can plan and act well.
• We get good results when we have competent implementers in the team.

Let's take a closer look at these. 

Fig. 1: Four basic concepts for a better understanding of project work

Uncertainty can explain a lot

Recurring readers know my two rules for project management:

1. Project work means delivering results under uncertainty.
2. Projects are not approved, they are financed.

I still find Shenhar/Dvir's concept of uncertainty helpful./1/ They assume four types of uncertainty:

• Novelty: How well can customers say what they want?
• Technology: How well do the implementers know the things they want to use to solve the problem?
• Complexity of collaboration: How many parties are working together and do they understand each other well?
• Pace: How long can the implementers take to make an important decision before something bad happens?

Using Scrum as an example, almost all elements of Scrum can be derived from uncertainty.

Fig. 2: Scrum in one word: uncertainty

To reduce uncertainty, feedback is essential. We get feedback in the sprint review with the help of the increment, and we do this regularly in every sprint. The greater the uncertainty, the more frequently we need to get feedback.

In order for there to be an increment, we need the developers. We need sprint planning in which the sprint backlog is created so that it is clear which feedback is collected with the increment. This is based on the product owner's product backlog.

The Scrum Master role, the Daily Scrums and the Sprint Retrospective serve to initiate and improve this process.

In every professional project management approach, there are phases that are designed to receive feedback (and to contain uncertainty or reduce it to a manageable size).

• PRINCE2 works with phases.
• Stage-Gate formulates phases in which certain information is to be obtained.

I think uncertainty is a key concept. The next concept that comes to mind is value.

Value determines results, quality and financing

I like Ward and Daniel's derivation of value./2/ Value only occurs when users change something permanently. Permanent changes can be described, for example, by a concept of operations (ConOps), user journeys or scenarios.

Fig. 3: The value determines the results

To enable lasting results, we need an outcome. This can be new capabilities, specific products or other processes. Internal and external implementers deliver these things. For delivery, we need product descriptions and quality requirements. For external implementers, we also need contracts. Perhaps we also need an overview of all products.

Delivering the results costs money, time and attention. Investors or clients compare costs and value before they invest. But how do we get the value? For this we need plans.

Planning leads to learning and reacting

A special characteristic of project work is planning. If there is not a single plan, it is probably not a project.

Fig. 4: Planning always has action as its goal

A plan is a model of the future. A plan should help us to do something. The planning effort only makes sense if we constantly compare our plan with reality. I find Deming's PDSA cycle and Kolb's learning loop useful /3, 4/.

I like the PRINCE2 planning approach. There, tolerances are agreed for each planning object. Only when the tolerances are exceeded or undercut, an exception plan is created and action taken immediately./5/ Flyvbjerg always suggests an external view and working with known data (reference classes) for planning./6/

I like the ideas in Earned Value Management for measuring progress, as well as the simple burndown charts in Scrum.

Competence of the implementers

Without capable implementers, there are no results. This is where Kolb's learning loop comes into play again. But we can increase competencies even further: through regulated training and through the obligation to improve regularly.

Fig. 5: Competence is created through action

The culture of the environment plays an important role in the concept of competence. Is it psychologically safe to make mistakes? Does the management insist on regular improvements, etc.?

Readers are invited to develop and present even better basic concepts.

Literatur

• /1/ seeShenhar, Aaron J., and Dov Dvir. Reinventing Project Management: The Diamond Approach to Successful Growth & Innovation. 1st ed. Mcgraw-Hill Professional, 2007
• /2/ siehe Ward, John ; Daniel, Elizabeth: Benefits Management : How to Increase the Business Value of Your IT Projects. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2012.
• /3/ see Moen, Ronald, and Clifford Norman. "Evolution of the PDCA cycle." (2006). https://elfhs.ssru.ac.th/phusit_ph/pluginfile.php/48/block_html/content/Moen-Norman-2009%20PDCA.pdf
  
• /4/ see Kolb, David A. "Learning styles and disciplinary differences." The modern American college 1.January 1981 (1981): 232-235., https://learningfromexperience.com/research-library/learning-styles-and-disciplinary-differences/ 
• /5/ see Friedrich, Beate: PRINCE2(R) 7 Foundation Companion : All You Need in a Nutshell. Seattle: Amazon Digital Services LLC - Kdp, 2023. 
  
• /6/ see Flyvbjerg, Bent ; Gardner, Dan: How Big Things Get Done : The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between. New York: Crown, 2023.