孫子曰：夫未戰而廟算勝者，得算多也﹔未戰而廟算不勝者，得算少也。
Sun Zi said:
Before any battle, if an analysis to check the chances of success reveals a high chance of winning, it usually turns out to be true. If the analysis reveals a low chance of winning, there will be only slim chance of success in the actual battle.
Parallel to Project Management
Sun Zi’s Art of War advocates that one should not rush into battle without carefully analyzing the situation and checking the likelihood of winning first. Similarly in Project Management, one should not rush to work on a project without first going through some detailed analysis work to check the feasibility of the project.
At least two types of feasibility analysis should be conducted prior to starting work on the project. The first type is a study of the economic feasibility of the project. The next type of feasibility analysis should be to check on the technical feasibility of the project.
Assuming that after careful analysis we conclude that the project is still feasible and desirable, we also need to perform a high level analysis of some of the key risks that could jeopardise the feasibility of the project.
If after all these feasibility studies and risk analysis, we found that either the project is not feasible economically or technically, or it could entail too much risk that there is a slim chance of project success, then we should stop proceeding with the project.
As the Art of War mentions, if an analysis to check the chance of success reveals a low chance of winning, there will be only slim chance of success in the actual project. So why waste everyone’s time and resources?
Friday, December 26, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Sun Zi said: When our plans reveal an advantage, we should monitor and try to help create the right external conditions to facilitate its execution
孫子曰：計利以聽，乃為之勢，以佐其外。勢者，因利而制權也。
Sun Zi said:
When our plans reveal an advantage, we should monitor and try to help create the right external conditions to facilitate its execution. The exact conditions may not appear as planned, so we might have to adapt the plan based on a reassessment of advantage from the actual condition that arises.
Parallel to Project Management
After careful assessments at the start of the project, we end up with a project plan to guide the execution of the entire project. When making the plans, it is common to make some explicit or implicit assumptions under which our plans can be executed perfectly. But in reality, as we are executing the plans, some of these assumptions may not come true. At the same time, there could be many other conditions that happen during the project execution that makes it difficult to follow the plans entirely.
It is therefore necessary to constantly monitor the project execution against our plans. If possible, we should try to help make our assumptions in the plan come true. For example, if we assume in our plan that we will get additional financial resources at a certain time, we should continuously monitor this and assign someone to follow-up on this until the financial resources that we are expecting is safely received. Similarly, if we assume that a certain unfavourable event will not happen during the project, then we should try to do what is possible within our means to prevent it from happening or minimize its impact if it happens.
However, despite our best efforts to create the external conditions which facilitate our plan, there will be cases where things do not go as expected, and it is beyond our ability to rectify it. In this case, flexibility is needed to adapt the plan to the new conditions that arises as part of the project’s execution.
Sun Zi said:
When our plans reveal an advantage, we should monitor and try to help create the right external conditions to facilitate its execution. The exact conditions may not appear as planned, so we might have to adapt the plan based on a reassessment of advantage from the actual condition that arises.
Parallel to Project Management
After careful assessments at the start of the project, we end up with a project plan to guide the execution of the entire project. When making the plans, it is common to make some explicit or implicit assumptions under which our plans can be executed perfectly. But in reality, as we are executing the plans, some of these assumptions may not come true. At the same time, there could be many other conditions that happen during the project execution that makes it difficult to follow the plans entirely.
It is therefore necessary to constantly monitor the project execution against our plans. If possible, we should try to help make our assumptions in the plan come true. For example, if we assume in our plan that we will get additional financial resources at a certain time, we should continuously monitor this and assign someone to follow-up on this until the financial resources that we are expecting is safely received. Similarly, if we assume that a certain unfavourable event will not happen during the project, then we should try to do what is possible within our means to prevent it from happening or minimize its impact if it happens.
However, despite our best efforts to create the external conditions which facilitate our plan, there will be cases where things do not go as expected, and it is beyond our ability to rectify it. In this case, flexibility is needed to adapt the plan to the new conditions that arises as part of the project’s execution.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Sun Zi said: Generals that are willing to listen and execute based on our assessment and plans will help us achieve victory
孫子曰：將聽吾計，用之必勝，留之﹔將不聽吾計，用之必敗，去之。
Sun Zi said:
Generals that are willing to listen and execute based on our assessment and plans will help us achieve victory, we need to retain them; those that are unwilling to do so will lead us to failure. We should remove them.
Parallel to Project Management
In a project environment, it is critical for the project manager to have some key project members (his generals) that he can count on to support him all the time. He can make all his assessments and then come up with a good project plan to run the project, but he will need the help of his key members (generals) to help him execute the plans successfully. If the key members are supportive of his plans and are helping him execute his plans successfully, then he should try his best to retain these key members in the project team.
On the other hand, if he is unable to count on a particular member who is holding a key position within his team (a general), or this key member is not aligned to his plans, and do not want to execute according to his plans, then by keeping this member in the project, there is a good chance that your plans will not be executed well, and the project will fail eventually. It is therefore important that this person need to be removed from the project team as early as possible.
Sun Zi said:
Generals that are willing to listen and execute based on our assessment and plans will help us achieve victory, we need to retain them; those that are unwilling to do so will lead us to failure. We should remove them.
Parallel to Project Management
In a project environment, it is critical for the project manager to have some key project members (his generals) that he can count on to support him all the time. He can make all his assessments and then come up with a good project plan to run the project, but he will need the help of his key members (generals) to help him execute the plans successfully. If the key members are supportive of his plans and are helping him execute his plans successfully, then he should try his best to retain these key members in the project team.
On the other hand, if he is unable to count on a particular member who is holding a key position within his team (a general), or this key member is not aligned to his plans, and do not want to execute according to his plans, then by keeping this member in the project, there is a good chance that your plans will not be executed well, and the project will fail eventually. It is therefore important that this person need to be removed from the project team as early as possible.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Sun Zi said: Warfare is of vital importance to the Nation... Application to Project Management?
孫子曰：兵者，國之大事，死生之地，存亡之道，不可不察也
Sun Zi said:
Warfare is of vital importance to the Nation. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to survival or to destruction. It has to be examined carefully.
Parallel to Project Management
In many organizations today, projects are sometimes started casually by different people within the organizations for various reasons. In many cases, projects are started even when nobody is yet clear what end objectives the project should deliver. And because many people are unclear what the objectives of the project are, both to the organization and to themselves, they (including the senior management of the organization) do not treat the project with enough importance to give it the necessary support for it to succeed.
The enlightened management of an organization should realise that projects (or programs) should rightfully be regarded as an endeavour undertaken by the organization to help it achieve some strategic objectives. It should therefore be considered of vital importance to the organization. Whether the project succeeds or fails, it can either lead the organization forward (survival and even prosper) or backward (decline and even destruction in the long run). Thus projects have to be studied carefully before being launched.
If a project cannot be considered of vital importance to the organization, then it is probably not something that is worth doing, and perhaps should not even have been started.
Sun Zi said:
Warfare is of vital importance to the Nation. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to survival or to destruction. It has to be examined carefully.
Parallel to Project Management
In many organizations today, projects are sometimes started casually by different people within the organizations for various reasons. In many cases, projects are started even when nobody is yet clear what end objectives the project should deliver. And because many people are unclear what the objectives of the project are, both to the organization and to themselves, they (including the senior management of the organization) do not treat the project with enough importance to give it the necessary support for it to succeed.
The enlightened management of an organization should realise that projects (or programs) should rightfully be regarded as an endeavour undertaken by the organization to help it achieve some strategic objectives. It should therefore be considered of vital importance to the organization. Whether the project succeeds or fails, it can either lead the organization forward (survival and even prosper) or backward (decline and even destruction in the long run). Thus projects have to be studied carefully before being launched.
If a project cannot be considered of vital importance to the organization, then it is probably not something that is worth doing, and perhaps should not even have been started.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
What has Sun Zi's Art of War got to do with Project Management?
One may question: After all, Sun Zi's Art of War, despite being a remarkable achievement, was written about war and how to fight wars in ancient China more than 2000 years ago! There were no guns, no planes, no nuclear bombs, and certainly no internet. Many things that we take for granted in modern days are not available during that time when the book was written. We also do not fight war in the same way we fought in the past. So is the principle really still applicable to modern business management, and in particular, Project Management?
I believe it is applicable because there are many parallels between starting a project and starting a war. Just as a nation must sometimes engage in wars to protect itself to survive, or to attack others to expand, a business organization must similarly engage in strategic initiatives and projects to protect its competitive position or to expand its business. We also know that war is risky and consumes resources from the nation. Similarly, there are risks associated with every project, and every project must consume resources from the business organization embarking on the project, be it people, or money etc.
Thus managing a project could benefit from the insights from Sun Zi's Art of War, which is essentially how to manage warfare effectively.
I believe it is applicable because there are many parallels between starting a project and starting a war. Just as a nation must sometimes engage in wars to protect itself to survive, or to attack others to expand, a business organization must similarly engage in strategic initiatives and projects to protect its competitive position or to expand its business. We also know that war is risky and consumes resources from the nation. Similarly, there are risks associated with every project, and every project must consume resources from the business organization embarking on the project, be it people, or money etc.
Thus managing a project could benefit from the insights from Sun Zi's Art of War, which is essentially how to manage warfare effectively.
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