12 Immutable Laws of Project Management

12 Immutable Laws

In 12 Immutable Laws of Project Management I share Michael S. Dobson’s 12 laws mentioned in his book, “Streetwise Project Management”.

*Buy the book Streetwise Project Management on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Streetwise-Project-Management-Processes-Achieve/dp/1580627706

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My Summary of the 12 Immutable Laws of Project Management

  1. No project will hit all of the triple constraints all the time
  2. Fuzzy objectives help avoid inaccuracy with cost (I don’t agree with this one)
  3. Harder to correct problems the longer we wait
  4. Every stakeholder understands the project differently
  5. Measurable benefits are real
  6. Part time PMs don’t have enough to do
  7. Poor planning make work 3x longer
  8. If going well, something is going wrong
  9. Teams don’t like reporting because it shows lack of progress
  10. The first 90% is fast…and stays there forever
  11. If project content changes, rate of change will exceed progress

*Yes, there are only 11 = 91.6% specs 🙂

There is a lot of truth in these 12 laws. What Dobson does so well is make realistic statements. I’ve often seen aspiring or newly certified PMPs make the assumption they know what should or will happen on a project. To me this is the fallacy of certification. It does not, or at the time of the writing of this episode in 2019 and earlier for the book in 2003, reflect what happens to projects when we interject environmental and people impacts.

I give kudos to PMI for the revamped 2020 version of the PMP exam. It seems to reflect a more realistic picture of projects and sets better expectations for Project Managers.

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