The Universal Theory of Project Management

I’ve been professionally involved in some sort of project management now for almost 20 years. Before that, (like most people) I’ve led or been a part of “projects” of one sort or another for probably another 20 years, if you count school projects, plays that I’ve produced, or even events like my wedding, parties or vacations. At the risk of sounding immodest, I think I’m pretty good at managing projects, and I have some ideas about them. Lots of ideas! A few years ago, after experience with various project methodologies, I came up with a simple theory about the basics of good project management. I think this theory is applicable to just about every methodology, from agile to scrum to waterfall and kanban and everything else in between. Basically, boils down to this:

All successful projects, at a minimum, have these two things in common:

They have a list of things

People review the list of things regularly

I know that seems simple and probably obvious, but it’s actually kind of amazing how seldom a lot of project teams don’t actually do either of those two things. Obviously, there’s lots of other stuff to consider when planning and managing a project. But seriously, if you do nothing else on a project but those two things, I guarantee your project will be more successful than if you didn’t. That said, I will elaborate a bit on this theory for better clarity. One of the challenges I see with a lot of project management methodologies is that they tend to use a lot of confusing and bespoke jargon. So I’m going to describe this all in as plain language as possible to make it accessible and demonstrate how straightforward good project management really is.

A List of Things #

What is a list of things? In a project, it’s usually a list of things to be done. Could this be a list of risks? A list of issues? Sure! That said, a list of things to be done is probably the most important kind of list, and anything else is gravy. Again, just having this list of things puts you like 99% ahead of how many teams manage projects. But if you want to refine your list and make it really effective, there are a few things to consider.

Things Should Be Specific #

Things on your list should generally be descriptive enough that it’s obvious what needs to be done because things that are ambiguous tend to get stuck. For example, if you’re building a house, “Roof” might be a thing you want to put on your list to capture the task of building a roof. That’s a start. But “Build roof for the house” is probably a better name because it describes what needs to be done pretty definitively.

Things Should Be Granular #

Things on your list should be granular enough that you can cross them off regularly and get a sense of how well your project is moving along. In the above example, “Build roof for the house” might be fine as a Big Thing on your list. But if you really want to measure progress and coordinate well, you probably want to log a few smaller things related to it that you’d want to track (like “get shingles,” “install shingles,” “install flashing,”) etc. That said, you don’t want to get too granular with your tasks. If you start listing out tasks like “Get in car,” “Start car,” “Go to Home Depot,” “Pay for shingles,” etc., you’re probably getting to a point where maintaining your list is more effort than it’s worth. There’s no hard and fast rule as to how granular a task should be, (and different frameworks have opinions on this) but a project management instructor I once had summed it up pretty well as “a task should be as granular as it needs to be, but no more.” So it’s really a judgement call, as well as something that you’ll get right with trial and error over time.

Things Should Have Helpful Details #

There are a few details about the things on your list that will further remove ambiguity and help get them done. In my experience, the most important ones are usually:

Who is responsible for completing this thing?
When does this thing need to be done by? There’s a ton more detail you can add to tasks on your list, and it will really vary by team and project, but if nothing else, if you have those and nothing else, you’re ahead of the game. One other aspect I find helpful to have is a record of the discussion about a thing on the list. I’ll get more into this in Section 2 (“_ Reviewing the List Regularly_”).

The List Should Be Fungible #

Fungible is a fancy way of saying that something can be easily changed. With the list of things, one of the most aspects that should be fungible is the order in which your things are listed. It’s usually helpful to have the most important stuff at the top of your list, with stuff getting less important the further you go down. Over the course of a project, new things will come up, and you’ll need to figure out whether they go higher or lower than existing items. And some items might just drop off entirely or become more or less important than originally thought. There are a ton of different ways to maintain things your list. I have my opinions and preferences, but the way you track your list is going to come down to the needs of the project, the tools available to you or your organization, and the preferences and working style of people involved. Your list could be as simple as a piece of paper or a board of sticky notes, or as complex as powerful project management software. Often, spreadsheet applications (especially collaborative ones like Google Sheets) are perfectly fine as a starting point for simple projects.

Reviewing the List Regularly #

A list that’s written down and put in a drawer isn’t really going to help anyone manage a project. Conversely, just meeting regularly to discuss a project with no list won’t be very helpful either. The secret sauce is meeting with people on the project regularly, and reviewing things on the list. Like many other aspects, how regularly comes down to the needs of the project, and in some cases the project framework that’s being used, or even the working styles of the project team. But what about “reviewing the list?” What does that even mean? Reviewing the list can be done in many ways. Whatever way is used, I’ve found it’s best to be systematic about it by doing it the same way every time you review it. I often find the best way is to start with the most important thing on the list first and work your way down from there. With each item on the list, I generally find it’s helpful to ask a few questions of each thing:

How is this thing coming along?
If there’s a deadline, do we still think we’ll hit it?
Is there anything getting in the way of us doing this thing?
If so, what is it, and what’s to be done about it?
What’s next on the road to completing this thing?
Are we sure we even need to do this thing anymore?

Usually, if a list item is assigned to someone, the person running the project or meeting asks these questions to the person assigned, but a lot of them can also be asked of the group as well.

Why is This so Important? #

Meeting regularly to review items on a list, I’ve found, is extremely effective. One of the reasons I’ve found this to be true is that people on a project, like most humans, are busy and forgetful. Meeting to review the items serves, if nothing else, as a reminder to people of the things they need to do. Over time, knowing the review meeting is coming up, people will naturally want to try to finish their thing on the list so they can bring some good news to the meeting. The other reason is that often people can just get stuck trying to do the things they’re supposed to do. Of course, people can, and should be encouraged, to reach out for help between review meetings to help get the thing unstuck. But occasionally I’ve found that people may not even realize they are stuck on the task until they start talking about it, which is prompted by the review. And sometimes even just talking about where they are stuck will help them get unstuck. And if not, they have a group of people who can help think of ways to get the task unstuck, or even offer to lend a hand.

Recording the Review #

As I mentioned before, it’s usually helpful to have some sort of record of the conversation about a thing during the review. Because people are forgetful, this serves as a helpful reminder to the group about where they’re at with the thing. Maybe there was a reason why it was stuck that was uncovered last meeting. Having this recorded and referenced during the review meeting oftentimes avoids having to have that conversation again and jumping quickly to why it’s stuck and what to do about it. Recording the review is where tracking things as sticky notes on a board really falls down for me and why I don’t typically recommend it (along with many other reasons). But I know physical sticky notes can be a bit of an article of faith for some project practitioners, so if that’s what you’re comfortable with, go for it. But going with a more digital option might be a solve for you if you’re finding you’re rehashing the same conversation around list items over and over.

A Caveat #

If you’re a seasoned project practitioner, I’m sure you’ve been yelling at your screen reading this.

“But what about goals??! A project without a clear goal will never be successful! And you can’t have a successful project without good people!

To that, I would say: you’re right! Those are vital things and you should have them! But given that most people don’t even have a list and a way to regularly review the list, I still think it’s a good place to start. Once you start talking about things on a list, conversations about goals will naturally come up as it relates to things on the list (especially when you ask if you should really be doing this thing.) Also, setting a goal can and should also be a thing on your list! It will also become exceedingly obvious when you meet to review the list who is not pulling their weight on the project, especially if you are assigning things to people and tracking the conversation around the thing. This can be a helpful way to drive accountability with under-performers, or, worst case, prompt discussions about their role on the project team.

Wrapping Up #

So a list of things and a way to review them regularly. Is it really that simple? Well, yes, and no. As we’ve covered, there are numerous things to consider regarding what goes on the list and how you review it. But think about it like learning a new game, like chess. The rules to chess are relatively simple and quick to learn (as long you want to). But getting decent at, let alone mastering chess, takes years of practice, and usually some innate talent. Project management is similar. So if you’re considering improving your project management game, think about the list of things and a review of the list as your starting point, your basic rules of the game. Stick to it, refine and improve it, and make it your own!