Today, project managers turn up on IT projects and say they can apply the same tried and tested techniques used to produce the last 15 widgets made on the production line to a complex project involving the equivalent of millions of components never integrated before, and produce it on budget, on time, to quality and scope.

They often also claim to be able to do this without needing to know more than how to spell, let alone understand, the descriptions they record in “The Plan”. The years of experience gathered by the technical people who make the project work is simply not relevant to success.

So Mr Angry, I like what you say, but I disagree with you about “pure Project Managers”. IMHO they sell very expensive snake oil to CEOs and dump large amounts of smelly stuff on people who actually know something about technical stuff and the business.

Planning is required. Anyone with half a brain knows that without needing to think about it. But “Project Managers” are needed only those who already have a hole where their compassion and humanity should be.

The result is often either nervous breakdown amongst techies, project failure or a combination of both. But somehow the rate of that never seems to be recorded.

Good work