12 Rules for Project Management

Does Project Management have rules? Well, not really. But this set of Project Management rules is valuable guidance to all of us. So, take a look at my 12 rules for Project Management and let me know yours, in the comments below. We start with something that is not a rule, but a prediction: Failing to Plan is the same as Planning to Fail President Eisenhower said: ‘In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.’ He was riffing on an earlier quote from Helmuth von Moltke: 'No Plan Survives Contact with the Enemy' Here are my 12 Rules: 1. Save your Arguments about what a Project is for the Coffee Shop. Focus on the Characteristics of What Needs to be Done. 2. The One Thing a Project Manager Craves, above all else, is Control 3. Scoping is the Most Difficult Part of Project Management 4. You can Please all of your Stakeholders some of the Time, and Some of your Stakeholders all of the Time; but you Can’t Please All of your Stakeholders all of the Time 5. Projects would be Easy, if it weren’t for the People 6. Stakeholders will Determine the Success, or Not, of your Project 7. Milestones are your Best Friends 8. Shift Happens! Things Change 9. Fizzing bmbs will explode if you don’t deal with them 10. An Absentee Project Manager is a Contradiction in Terms 11. If it isn’t Right, it isn’t Finished (not: if it isn’t perfect…) 12. The Level of Attention to Details can often Make the Difference between Success and Failure Here's a link to where you can download our posters: https://onlinepmcourses.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/PM-Rules-Posters-v2.zip Please use the comments to tell me what Project Management rules you like to live by… Recommended Videos. Carefully curated video recommendations for you: - What do Good Project Managers do that Average PMs Don't? ... https://youtu.be/8mo-yhF0roY - How to Succeed in Project Management: 8 Skills to Cultivate ... https://youtu.be/JzLu5atJ88k - Just Sayin' - Simple Truths about Project Management ... https://youtu.be/q7oK_cyuNEg - Packing for the Future - What to Pack ... https://youtu.be/gwfRL2E0kbM - My Top 10 Project Management Concepts ... https://youtu.be/XbMCFimmyfc - The Key Deliverable of Your Project Plan ... https://youtu.be/BtpPJHTB060 For more great Project Management videos, please subscribe to this channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMZfp1_wquyegVY9SoER0Nw?sub_confirmation=1 For all our great Project Management articles and resources, please check out the OnlinePMCourses website: https://onlinepmcourses.com/ For basic Management Courses - free training hosted on YouTube, with 2 new management lessons a week, check out our sister channel, Management Courses: http://youtube.com/c/managementcourses For more of our Project Management videos in themed collections, join our Free Academy of Project Management: https://onlinepmcourses.com/free-academy-of-project-management/ #Project #ProjectManagement #ProjectRules