When is a project a project?
I have commented previously that in their constant search for innovation our clients need to move from an initial seed idea through to debate, momentum gathering and onto true collaboration with relevant and identified stakeholders – but then eventually onwards to actual execution.
After all if you don’t execute what was the point of the collaboration?
Gates must be crossed as we are now shifting into execution mode from the agreed objectives resulting from the collaboration phase. Claromentis offers all of the required applications in a single information framework.
It is tempting to then define a project just as “something that needs execution”. This sits comfortably with the sharply defined atomic resolution down to task bases management - Gantt charts, Rag reports and everything else that a normal project management software solution would provide.
After all, if I have a project assigned to me I am being made responsible for execution against some budgeted and time bound statement of work – and that involves task management, deadlines, resources and budgets. All the kinds of things that mainstream project management software provides.
But it does seem to me that with Claromentis project manager we are beginning to see a new trend, just because of all of the surrounding information and collaboration tools that exist in the framework that Claromentis provides.
So if we look at a basic project within Claromentis Project Manager, we see that access is provided to permission based forums, version controlled document management, links, attachments and notes – so that even as execution takes over we are encouraged, and have the necessary tools - to continue to collaborate.
A well defined project needs a goal – and from that comes the task based culture of idea execution. However by surrounding stakeholders with access to collaboration tools throughout the continuous process of project delivery we are recognising the demands of the real world to continue to innovate throughout the idea life cycle.
If executed properly and with the right tools this means that changes in scope can be seen for what they might be – learning experiences that impact the project goal - rather than as we too often think of them – as the inevitable expression of change requests due to poor specifications.
We welcome these trends – collaboration is innovative, execution demands a different goal and associated mindset. By providing a unified set of tools Claromentis offers the continued re-evaluation of whether a particular project should even be a project and softens the hard boundary between collaboration and execution – enabling feedback loops that make a real difference to the delivery of projects in these fast moving times.
