Sun Zi said: If one is not thoroughly aware of the evils of war, he cannot thoroughly understand the benefits

孫子曰：故不盡知用兵之害者，則不能盡知用兵之利也。

Sun Zi said:
If one is not thoroughly aware of the evils of war, he cannot thoroughly understand the benefit or the successful way of carrying out a war.

Parallel to Project Management
When deciding to work on a project, we need to fully understand the risks associated with the project. If one does not properly assess the risks, he cannot evaluate fully the benefits associated with the project. For example, a project may be very desirable if we just consider the benefits alone. However, if it carries a lot of risks that cannot be properly mitigated or eliminated, to the point that there is a slim chance of success considering all these risks, then the ultimate benefit from the project will becomes doubtful. It may then not be wise to proceed with the project.

Therefore proper risk assessment is an important aspect of successful project management.

Sun Zi said: When waging war, we see wise commanders preferring to use simple methods to seek quick victory

孫子曰：兵聞拙速，未睹巧之久也。

Sun Zi said:
When waging war, we see wise commanders preferring to use simple methods to seek quick victory, but we seldom see wise commanders trying to use sophisticated methods to engage in a long war.


Parallel to Project Management
When working on projects, wise leaders and project managers prefer to seek quick “victory” by keeping scope small and working on smaller projects, rather than attempt to address a big all-encompassing scope via a large project. When faced with a large problem encompassing a large scope, it is usually possible and preferred to use a program management approach to break up the problem into many smaller-sized projects.

Sun Zi said: If one makes a thorough analysis and reveals a high chance of winning, he will win.

孫子曰：多算勝，少算不勝，而況無算乎！吾以此觀之，勝負見矣。

Sun Zi said:
If one makes a thorough analysis and reveals a high chance of winning, he will win. If he does not make a good analysis or his analysis reveals a low chance of winning, he will likely lose. What is more to say about one who does not make any analysis or his analysis reveals no chance of victory?
Based on these observations, we can foretell the winning party.

Parallel to Project Management
This section reinforces the importance of performing an appropriate analysis before starting the actual project. If the analysis suggests that the project is still feasible, then if we manage the project well, there is a high chance that we will make the project successful and derive the intended benefits. If on the other hand, we find the project too risky or infeasible, there is no point continuing the project since it will usually turn out to be true as we proceed. But what can we say if no such analysis is performed before the project is started?

Based on observing how an organization and the project manager starts a project and whether or not they perform an analysis prior to starting the project, we can judge whether they are good at managing projects and likely to succeed most of the time or not.