VIABLE MINIMUM

AKA:    It’s who you are, and how you do it!.........not what you do or what you’ve done!                                                                                                        When things go wrong, it’s stressful for all involved – it can also be a lonely disempowering place for those who are reliant on, but not able to contribute to the resolution.  The buyers and the customers who have no choice, but to sit and wait.   Providing a great fix is rarely sufficient to restore harmony.   BUT!............................. “ it shouldn’t have gone wrong in the first place!!! ”   An old mentor of mine used to say “F*** the problem, fix the people” a sentiment that is as true today ...

       MVG - Minimum Viable Governance                F D =½C P A V 2       FACT:    Drag increases proportionately with the square of speed.         The same principle can be applied to drag in projects,   the more urgently something is needed the greater the impact of those items that cause drag.   To be clear any activity that is not directly associated with producing the goods is a drag.   I.e. if you didn’t do them, in theory, at least, the project would still deliver.   By far the biggest drag on a project is GOVERNANCE . i.e., record keeping, planning, monitoring, report writing, progress updating, change management, risk management and   ATTENDING MEETINGS .   In other-words nearly everything the project management team does and would have the wider project team do (that is not actually expending effort pro...

  .......It’s hard to remember that the original objective was to drain the swamp   (yes that is me……….and yes they are real life massive Alligators……………and yes they really are about 5 feet away)     AKA: THE IMPORTANCE OF DOCUMENTATION (and the Law of Sufficiency )   FACT:    Selective memory, confirmation bias and revisionism are common human traits from which stakeholders, sponsors and project teams are not immune. We also know that documentation is a drag.  Moreover, the time & resource spent documenting things, crossing the “T”s & dotting the “I”s, creates significant drag on a project.  There is a tendency therefore, to avoid writing stuff down and ignore the need to record key information and events and just get on with it (JFDI)…….After all, we all know what we’re doing?..............Don’t we?.   HUGE mistake!    It’s NOT AGILE – it’s incompetent.   FACT:    ...