Is project management more of a science or more of an art form?
The main problem of this article is to find out what is “science” or “art” has more influence on project management. First of all, it is necessary to mention that “science” is generally defined by replicable, learnable procedures that tend toward success while “art” is defined by the unpredictable, capable of being carried out by skilled practitioners but in ways that they are not always able to explain. Other words, ‘science” can be characterized as planning and “art” - influence of external factors. It is obvious, that planning plays essential role in project management. Before starting a project, a project team needs to develop step to step plan. According to Moira Alexander, “planning is vital to reducing project risks, which in turn increases the likelihood of a successful project” (Alexander, 2015).
This article is devoted to a very important issue to consider – the determination of project management success. Figure 1 illustrates the possible components of project success.
Figure 1. Components of project success by Goatham, 2016.
According to this table, success in project management can be measured by numerous criteria. The ideal situation will take place when all the components of success are observed.
Usually, project management process has five main phases:
1) project initiation;
2) project planning;
3) project execution;
4) project control;
5) project closeout.
It was mentioned above that one of the most important steps of a project success is planning. Careful and throughout planning is a “science” part of project success. “The project plan is derived in order to address the project requirements such as, requirements scope, budget and timelines” (Project Management Concepts). Moreover, planning scrutinizes all factors that may influence future project success and possible ways to avoid any obstacles to success. However, planning does not guarantee project success. Very often what we called “art” part comes into force. Thus, Chaos Knowledge Center that is specialized in IT project management announced that in 2012 the percentage of Successful project was only 39%. It means, that more than a half of all project did not respond to all the criteria of project success. At the same time, the percentage of Failed project is 18% which implies another 43% related to Challenged projects those “late, over budget, and/or with less than the required features and functions” (Standish Group, 2013) . From this statement one very important conclusion can be made: a project that does not become successful is not always fail. According to many different reasons, (in our article we call them “art”) a project may fail to meet all the mentioned for the success requirements. “Art” usually refers to leading, motivating, communicating aspects of project management. “Art” form is very difficult and sometimes even impossible to predict because such forms do not have certain criteria that should be followed. For example, the level of communication in a project team plays significant role for a project success. The way how relations are organized within a protect team will influence in positive or a negative way the implementation of a project plan and, as a result, future success of a project. In addition, such obstacles as force majors (wars, epidemics, strikes etc.) may influence the success of a project. When any of these situations occurs, a project team may have two ways out: to cut a project or to restructure it. Cutting a project is an extreme measure the necessity of which should be thoroughly evaluated. In most cases, cutting a project bring losses both to a customer and a performer. In order to avoid losses of funds the reconstruction of a project should be implied. Ron Ponce suggested four main steps determining whether the project recovery effort will succeed:
“Assess the situation.
Prepare the team for recovery.
Develop a game plan for recovery.
Execute the game plan” (Ponce, 2010).
These four steps aim to recover a project and change his status form Failed to Successful. This fact underlines that failure of a project is not always a bad thing as it creates new opportunities for further and even more innovative project development and implementation.
In conclusion I would like to say that project management and its success is a complex phenomenon that should be evaluated very carefully. Both constituents of project management “science” and “art” are interconnected and very important. It is impossible to eliminate one of them and archive main goals of a project. “Science” part plays more significant role on the initial stages of a project management process. Planning is impossible without it. At the same time, “art” forms influence execution project process when interpersonal communications have a tremendous impact on the final results. Thus, for archiving the best results a project manager should possess scientific skills in an artful manner. In means, that successful project manager should be able to evaluate all necessities for a project, set priorities and identify clear goals and ways to archive them. Moreover, he should know how to convey all the information to his team, how to motivate them and provide perfect working conditions. Science and art skills of a project manager will create a synergy effect that will bring benefit to a project success.
References
Goatham, R. (2016). What is Project Success? International Project Leadership Academy. Retrieved form http://calleam.com/WTPF/?p=3501
Alexander, M. (2015). Planning is key to project management success. CIO. Retrieved from http://www.cio.com/article/2932987/project-management/planning-is-key-to-project-management-success.html
Project Management Concept. Project Management Processes. Retrieved from https://www.tutorialspoint.com/management_concepts/project_management_processes.htm
Standish Group (2013). Chaos Manifesto. Retrieved from https://larlet.fr/static/david/stream/ChaosManifesto2013.pdf
Ponce, R. (2010). Project Management: 4 Steps to Get Flagging Projects Back on Track. CIO. Retrieved form http://www.cio.com/article/2417022/project-management/project-management--4-steps-to-get-flagging-projects-back-on-track.html
