The Ten Commitments
Posted on | April 1, 2010 | 5 Comments
There are at least 10 commitments I see a PM must have.
1) Thou shall have no other projects before this one – The project (or projects) you are working on is the most important one in the whole world. Seeing it this way will keep you focused and positive
2) Thou shall not make wrongful use of the name of the project – The project has to be clear to you, to the project team and the sponsors. It has to be known by everyone so that it is relevant
3) Observe the deadline and keep it holy – Deadlines will arrive faster than you think. Make sure the deadlines are well known and clearly communicated. If there is any slip, ensure it is justified and well communicated as well
4) Honor your boss and sponsors – If your project does well, you do well. If you do well, your boss does well. The sponsors will love you. At the end, it all comes back in the form of rewards (unless your boss is “one of those”)
5) Thou shall not murder (your project) – You must do everything possible for the project to be successful, it is your job
6) Thou shall not commit (project) adultery – You should have plenty enough with your own projects. If they are not the kind of projects you like to be assigned to then make it a priority to lobby for the ones you do but do not make yourself miserable by wanting another PM’s project or bad-mouthing another PM for how bad he or she is managing that project
7) Thou shall not steal (anybody’s ideas) – Share ideas. Elevate good ideas and support them but don’t make them yours; it is not moral and it is not ethical
8) Thou shall not bear false witness against your project team – You must support your project team especially after decisions have been made and agreed upon, even if the results are not good. After all, there must have been a good reason for why that decision was made
9) Thou shall not covet your fellow PM’s resources – You have your own project resources; if you need someone with specific skills who is working for another PM, make a formal request, don’t ask him or her to spend time on your project because, most likely, it can’t be done in relatively small time and/or it will affect the project he or she is already assigned to
10) Thou shall not covet anything that belongs to your project team – If the team accomplished an important milestone, let them know what a great job they performed. Even under your management the glory belongs to them
PMs have commitments too. Don’t you think so…? Well, I do.
No related articles.
(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading ...
Email This Article
Comments
5 Responses to “The Ten Commitments”
Leave a Reply
About
Expiriance.com, the worldwide leader in program and project management services, blog, resources, and news.
Subscribe to our feed
Follow Expiriance on Twitter
Search
Tags
Adaptive (2) Books (2) Clarity (2) Cost (4) Deadlines (2) Deliverables (5) Documentation (8) Estimating (2) Management (16) Mentoring (7) Methodologies (7) MS Project (5) Performance (5) PMBOK (2) PMI (5) PMO (3) PMP (7) Processes (9) Products (2) Project plan (4) Quality (4) Requirements (2) Resource leveling (2) Risk (2) Scheduling (2) Scope (6) Status (3) Teamwork (4) Techniques (15) Time (5) Tools (2) Training (7) WBS (2)
Random Articles
- Project Management: Art Or Science
- Is A PMP® A Better PM Than A Non-PMP?
- Why You Should Get Your PMP® Certification
- Adaptive Project Communication
- Project Manager Protection Program
News
More News >>Powered by Newsfeed Maker
Blogroll
- allPM - The project management homepage
- deGerencia - Management and business in hispanic America
- Erhard Seminars Training - Werner Erhard continues to develop methodologies that provide individuals and organizations with the means to design new contexts and paradigms
- Inspired Project Teams - Enduring wisdom and guided challenges to help project teams achieve their best
- Michael Greer's Project Management Resources - Project management articles, tools, links and more
- PMForum - Connecting the world of project management
- PMI - The Project Management Institute
- PMI South Florida Chapter - PMI South Florida Chapter
- ProjectSmart - Project management templates, articles, books and PRINCE2 training for managers
- Reforming Project Management - The magazine for the project age
- StartWright Resources - Remote IT project management
- The International Community For Project Managers - The international community for project managers
- The Project Management Center - The project management center
April 2nd, 2010 @ 9:11 am
Solid take-off on THE 10 Commandments…and it works for me. As I read each one, the truth rings out loudly & clearly. [Fellow PMs take notice!]
Good job. I look forward to more of your 'truth.'
April 4th, 2010 @ 7:10 pm
Hi Dude,
I really like what you post it in 10-comm´s way. Very clever. Nice.
Have a nice week end.
April 5th, 2010 @ 11:21 am
I like it. However, care must be made so that following the first commitment doesn't cause you to break later commitments. I know of one place that the PM's were so rigorous about there projects being top priority to the point where they routinely broke the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th commitments. Not a good thing for the company.
April 30th, 2010 @ 8:46 am
[...] *) From “The ten commitments” at http://www.Expiriance.com. Check out that blog post to find out what the other 9 are all [...]
June 6th, 2010 @ 1:43 am
I like it. However, care must be made so that following the first commitment doesn’t cause you to break later commitments. I know of one place that the PM’s were so rigorous about there projects being top priority to the point where they routinely broke the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th commitments. Not a good thing for the company.