Good Wine Needs No Bush

February 18, 2008 - Luc Galoppin

This evening I was on the train with Bart. Most of the time we chat about wine but this time we were on to the subject of project management. Several interesting points came out of our discussion.

The consensus of our discussion is that there are too many people who think project management equals project planning in a complicated software tool such as Microsoft Project. Although we applaud the smart guys and girls who are able to produce those graphs and tables, our gut feeling tells that good project managers come to the surface when all of a sudden they need to switch over to plan B.

Good wine at Cabutto(picture taken at Cabutto last year, checking out the 2006 Barolo)

To summarize: you can’t tell the quality of a project manager from grades on his or her resume. "Business School X", "Phd Y", "PMP", "CMMI", "Prince2", "ITIL certified", etc. are sometimes warning signs for ‘overintellectualized’ personalities rather than hands-on project managers.

That being said, a good project manager needs no tag, just like good wine needs no bush!

  • Absolutely correct, Luc! There are too many cases we can all point to of a manager who details a meticulous plan only to have the plan fall apart when the first snag is hit. In my R&D organization, planning is a continuous process. Responding to shifts in market climate, adapting to sales priorities and re-evaluating the view of our product roadmap are de rigueur. However when properly managed, these activities do not equate to missed goals. It is the hallmark of well managed operation that it can respond to change AND achieve its goals reliably.

  • Absolutely correct, Luc! There are too many cases we can all point to of a manager who details a meticulous plan only to have the plan fall apart when the first snag is hit. In my R&D organization, planning is a continuous process. Responding to shifts in market climate, adapting to sales priorities and re-evaluating the view of our product roadmap are de rigueur. However when properly managed, these activities do not equate to missed goals. It is the hallmark of well managed operation that it can respond to change AND achieve its goals reliably.

  • I agree with you that certification does not make a good project manager as certification does not addresses the soft skills required for day to day successful project management. But a theoretical training in PM such as PRINCE2 for instance, really helped me feel better in my shoes as a project manager. Instead of just managing on a day to day basis with a bit of MS project here and there.

  • I agree with you that certification does not make a good project manager as certification does not addresses the soft skills required for day to day successful project management. But a theoretical training in PM such as PRINCE2 for instance, really helped me feel better in my shoes as a project manager. Instead of just managing on a day to day basis with a bit of MS project here and there.