Tag Program & Project Mgmt.

Entries 2 Total

IT Project Communication and the NASA Launch Process

Jan 25, ’10 3:03 PM

I’ve always been a space nut.  I was one of those nerdy kids in the 60’s-70’s who sent handwritten letters to NASA asking for mission photos, and actually received several back, which was quite a thrill. Do they still have the money to do that?  Probably not.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the importance of communication in large-scale IT programs, how prone to failure our programs/deployments are, and the lessons I had by listening in on the Ares 1-X launch last Fall.

While the great majority of people saw the few seconds of the actual launch on TV, I invested several hours listening to the live launch feed, which due to several factors (including a ship entering restricted waters) was pushed back multiple times and eventually took place the following day.

Why invest the time? I found myself intrigued by the communication process used between Mission Controllers* and the dozens of people on the line, each with their own accountabilities and at diverse locations around the globe. It immediately reminded me of many large-scale IT projects I have been a part of, and here’s what I took away from the experience:

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Effective IT Project Management: I Know It When I See It

Jun 8, ’09 11:51 AM

IT Project Management seems to be one of the more difficult, etherial roles to pin down and define – there are as many best practices and traits for success as there are people offering those opinions.

Certainly the PMO training, certifications and an understanding (and use) of standard PM methodologies are important, but in many cases there doesn’t seem to be a high correlation between formal training received and actual effectiveness on the ground. Many of my peers have commented on the large “standard deviation” in PM effectiveness on their own teams, and we’ve all heard the reports of 25% – 50% failure rates for IT projects, not a great statistic.

I‘ve had the good fortune to work with many excellent project managers over the years, but was never easily able to articulate those traits that separated out the really effective ones from the rest. I am thinking of a popular old quote from a 1964 Supreme Court case, in what was surely an uncomfortable day of trying to define what “obscenity” was (with pictures), Justice Potter Stewart said:

“I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced . . . [b]ut I know it when I see it “

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