Page 266 - Global Project Management Handbook

PROJECT CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS 13-3

(Cooke-Davies, 2002, p. 189). This observation echoes a similar theme postulated by
Lechler (1998), who put the message more plainly, stating, “When it comes to project
management, it’s the people that matter.” The PIP described here focuses more
on managerial factors than on purely behavioral issues, although there is no
question that research on project management continues to move in a behavioral
direction (Slevin and Pinto, 2004).

THE 10-FACTOR MODEL: THE
PROJECT-IMPLEMENTATION PROFILE

Project monitoring and control are difficult and often inexact processes. A number of dif-
ferent cues and a large amount of information are constantly confronting project man-
agers as they attempt to track their projects throughout the various implementation stages.
Further, the more complex the project, the more likely it is that project managers are
faced with making sense of the wide variety of technical, human, and budgetary issues
(or project critical factors) with which they must contend. As a result of the complexity
involved in project management and the demands on the project manager’s time, the proj-
ect management process has seen the rise and increasing acceptance and use of a wide
variety of tracking systems. These systems are both computer-driven and manual and are
intended to aid the project manager in keeping track of the myriad of variables that must
be accounted for to help ensure project success.
Well-established project monitoring aids have been in existence for some time.
Systems such as the project evaluation and review technique (PERT), Gantt charts, and
critical-path methodologies can be extremely useful in helping project managers untangle
the various project activities with which they must contend, including the careful tracking
of costs, schedules, performance of project subassemblies and subcontractors, and so
forth. However, project managers, in focusing on this minute level of detail, may be
drawn away from some important “larger picture” aspects of project management neces-
sary for success. In other words, overattention to the specific, tactical “firefighting” and
detailed management activities related to project management often prevents the project
manager from developing clear, periodic assessments of the overall project strategy. The
project manager must constantly ask such questions as

● Is this project solving the right problem?
● Will the project be used by the clients?
● Is top management truly supportive of this project?
● Are the client’s needs adequately understood?
● Is the basic project mission still on target?
● Does the company have the necessary project team personnel to succeed?
Questions of this sort emphasize another aspect of project management. Although the
project manager may possess numerous detailed reports that provide careful tracking of
the “hard” project numbers, there is another major component of project management
that should not be overlooked. The so-called soft side of project management involves
key behavioral variables that are crucial to project success. Issues for project success such
as quality of project team personnel, top-management support, and client acceptance are
as equally important as the harder technical detail management and must be attended to
by both project managers and upper management.
What has been needed is a project management tool to allow project managers to sort
through the information they receive, to more accurately and systematically monitor and