There are 2 ways to learn how to cook. The easy and quick way and the hard and long way.
Let’s start with the easy path…
The easy way is quite simple and all of us have used it at one time or another: go to Google, type
“Veal Parmigiana recipe” in the search engine and Google will drop a gazillion recipes from
websites all claiming to have found the best recipe for veal parmigiana, all rated 4.5 stars and
above.
You click on one of the links and voilà! Simply follow the instructions, step-by-step and you are
guaranteed the perfectissimo veal parmigiana.
Sinple, easy, works every time… if you follow the instructions.
But what if one of your guests is allergic to eggs? How will you get the bread crumbs to stick to
the veal cutlets without using eggs? Or what about if someone has coeliac disease and bread
crumbs are not an option? I promise that if you follow the recipe step-by-step the only thing it
will guarantee is a disaster and a trip to the emergency room!
Now for the hard way…
Learning how to cook the long and hard way will have you understand the properties of various
ingredients used in cooking. You will start by also understanding what cooking, baking, frying,
boiling do to the chemical components in foods. Why do we brown meat before we braise it?
Why sauté onions in olive oil or butter when making soup? What is it about eggs and bread
crumbs that make them perfect for veal parmigiana?
Once you master the techniques and the ingredients, then following, adjusting or adapting any
recipe is child’s play. Well almost. As a matter of fact, the beauty of it is that you can start
making your own creations and recipes.
Project Management training works in very much the same way.
Yes, there are pre-built recipes and yes these can be tailored to suit specific needs. Prince2,
Macroscope, Scrum, Safe, XP, DevOps are all such recipes one can research, download or
otherwise acquire but they often fail to work out-of-the box. In project management as in
cooking, the difference between an ordinary cook and a great chef is how well one masters the
ingredients, the techniques, the tools and knows how to combine them in the best of ways to
create something unique and delicious under given circumstances.
Our approach at PMC to project management training has very much been along those lines.
Each problem we face has one or many solutions. Your projects have a nasty habit of not
finishing on time? Critical Path, Timeboxing and Kanban can each help you get better results.
You lack the authority to drive your team? Create a well-designed project charter and have it
signed off by your sponsor. Worried that your project is high risk? Consider iterative and
incremental deliveries. And make sure all the pieces fit together and complement each other
otherwise the result might leave a bad taste in your mouth.
Learn how to manage projects not by simply following a recipe but by mastering the ingredients
and the techniques and you will be on your way to better and faster projects.
