Problems can become opportunities when the right people come together.
Robert Redford, Actor and Entrepreneur
Managing by work projects is hot – blistering hot! The idea behind projectizing is to treat most work as integrated projects that can be completed on time and on budget while satisfying multiple stakeholders.
Traditional management hierarchies and functional silos still predominate organizations. However, projectizing work has been growing steadily, some would say exponentially, during the last several years. Why? People from different parts of the organization or country must work effectively and efficiently. As well, many people now work virtually.
Is there one right type of structure or organization for a company? No one knows what’s best. There’s a lot of speculation. Peter Drucker, the eminent management expert, said: “every organization in the developed countries will have to be designed for a specific task, time, and place.” In other words, work and organizations will be projectized along lines that reflect their purpose and function of what needs to be done.
See if the following makes sense? Life and work are more chaotic! More people want more things faster and better. This ‘work entropy’ results in the unraveling of our cherished principles, practices, understandings, energy, and commitment. Our usual response is to deal with a situation when it reaches a crisis stage and then we panic and jump. We transform processes, downsize people indiscriminately, or change organizational cultures. Fire fighting or crisis management doesn’t work over the long term.
Life Lesson Earned: Is there a better way to control our work and life in an increasingly complex, chaotic, entropic world? And, is there a simpler way to make sense and structure of our work and our lives so things get done on time? Yes, it’s through project management.