Context for Guiding Principles

In my second book I outline eight fundamental guiding principles for managing programs. I believe that they all need to be used to ensure successful delivery and that missing any one of them can cause challenges. Therefore, I created the chart below that shows all eight principles and what happens if one of them is missing

 

 

1. Without Diligence, there will be chaos since key deliverables (e.g. plans, risk logs, etc) will not be updated and therefore teams will be constantly reacting to problems
2. Without Attention to Detail the small things will be overlooked and therefore key implications will be missed
3. Not focusing on Simplicity will result in Complexity, which adds cost and risk to programs
4. Transparency is critical for managing programs and without it, they will be flying blind
5. Having Single Sources of Truth for program information is essential for managing key program content (scope, schedule, risks) and without it there will be a lack of understanding within the program and with stakeholders
6. Not having a Fact Based approach will result in the loss of credibility and confidence since there will be nothing to justify decisions, risks and actions
7. Without focusing on The Ships (leadership, stewardship and ownership) no one will be perceived as caring and therefore the team won’t either
8. Lastly, without a Customer Approach, teams will stay in their silos and not put too much work into meeting their customer’s expectations

 

So hopefully this simple chart shows the proper context for why it is critical to manage programs using all of the guiding principles.