Module 12 Closure
Q. This chapter provided a wealth of valuable information and I think I spent
considerable more time dissecting the text than usual. My question is, do smaller
firms have such elaborate controls in place? The majority of the projects I
have been fortunate to see or experience have the control processes under the
PM. Is this the rule or the exception? It seems counter productive to have the
PM in such a position.
A. Elaborate formal control systems are associated with larger firms that have
lots of experience with projects gone badly. Smaller firms have less elaborate
systems. Managers of small projects usually have a control system; it is just
not formal. In Module 1 I talked about how large projects can be carried out
without any project management, much less any project controls. But sooner or
later it blows up - projects run out of control. I should point out that even
those projects often have some financial controls. (The accountants want costs
charged to the project so they can depreciate them.) I am also painfully aware
of the opposite: rigid, formal, and repetitious project control reports and
procedures that were a waste of time because they were never used to make project
management decisions.
Q. The explanation of the three control processes was quite good and thorough.
I was especially surprised to see the authors point out and give attention to
the Post Control method. I didn't know that method was used in the civilian
market.
A. It depends on the project. I am most familiar with the cybernetic controls
system. Almost all civil works or industrial projects have a "feasibility
study," the conclusion of which results in the project be scrubbed, redesigned,
or budgeted. Often the "study" is a "project" and must be
managed as one.
Q. The muddiest part of this chapter was a comment made by the authors that
I hoped you would expand upon. The book gives a list of characteristics that
a good control system should possess. The fourth one reads: "The system
must operate in an ethical manner." Obviously, a PM should act ethically
in all he or she does, but I found it interesting that the author chose to mention
ethics here. What would constitute an unethical control system?
A. Any system that deliberately distorted information would be dishonest. That
would go for failing to notify the recipients if a "good" system was
distorting the data. Use of subterfuge to obtain information is not ethical,
i.e., management by spies. The next chapters will deal with auditing and other
methods of evaluation