After years of shared #NoProjects advocacy I finally for to meet Evan Leybourn exactly two years ago. Over lunch in a Melbourne cafe we talked #NoProjects and how we were both moving on. It may have been a little pre-emptive and some might call it arrogant but we felt #NoProjects was triumphant.
Two years on and projects are still with us, projects aren’t going away anytime soon but the ideas behind #NoProjects are mainstream. The leading thinkers in the software/agile/digital space generally support the thesis – certainly nobody is arguing the case for projects. Cutting edge teams don’t use projects. The language of projects remains (unfortunately) but the supremacy of the project model increasingly looks like a historical footnote.
Two years on from that lunch and it is clearer than ever that the (digital) world is moving away from projects. This was really brought home to me last week when I joined an unconference organized by the McKinsey consultancy. Nobody said “#NoProjects” but nobody was talking projects. Nobody was advocating more project managers or new project management approaches. The CTO of a bank came pretty close to saying “#NoProjects” but why bother? – not saying it meant it was accepted.
#NoProjects is in your face. #NoProjects is an invitation to start a flame war. #NoProjects is confrontation in itself. #NoProjects is very negative. #NoProjects doesn’t tell you what to do only what not to do.
Back in 2013 #NoProjects needed saying, Josh Arnold, Steve Smith and myself started Tweeting it to death – Evan came later. (I think it might have been Josh who first used the tag.)
As much as I’d like to take all the credit we were just the public face of #NoProjects. We were far from alone. Woody Zuill and Vasco Duarte started the #NoEstimates movement about the same time. While in my mind #NoProjects and #NoEstimates are different things many people see them as two sides of the same coin.
I’d first heard Mary Poppendieck talk candidly about problems with the project model over dinner at Agile on the Beach 2011. Many, many, other people were reaching the same conclusion. Once you start looking at the project model, especially in an agile environment, the problems are easy to see.
The logic against projects can be overwhelming but exposing it was a career threatening move. Even today being an open advocate for #NoProjects means there are jobs you cannot apply for. None of the original names will ever be considered for a project management job.
Look around you today: The Project Manager role is being replace by the Delivery Manager role.
SAFe is a #NoProject model.
Spotify is a #NoProject model.
Continuous Delivery is a #NoProject model.
And my own entry: Continuous Digital is certainly #NoProjects (it was written to tell you what to do instead of projects).
Sure masochists can add projects to SAFe, Spotify and CD but why? These models work well enough without projects.
Even Government departments suggest funding teams not projects.
Today, at every conference and event you will hear people say “Products over projects.” There is a realisation that products last, projects end – who wants to work in a business that plans to end?
Again, to be clear: I’m talking about the digital world, what we used to call software or IT. I don’t know about construction, transport, policing or whatever other discipline you might want to draw a parallel with. I’m sure, some projects will always exist. Somethings do end. Even I will end one day.
That the IT/software/digital world can do better than projects is now recognised. Other management models create more valuable outcomes.
One might say that #NoProjects is heading into retirement. As Josh said:
“The first rule of #NoProjects is not to talk about #NoProjects.”
So don’t wave the red flag of #NoProjects and rub peoples noses in it. For your own benefit understand where the project model goes wrong. Use that knowledge to watch for problems such as goal displacement, commitment escalation, imaginary triple lock contracts, undercutting quality, control through planning, value destruction, cost of delay ignorance, Diseconomies of Scale of course, and unlearn the project funding model.
(If you haven’t already check out my own Project Myopia or Evan’s #NoProjects book.)
Then, set a course for a better world: call it SAFe, Spotify, Products, Continuous Digital, Continuous Delivery or whatever you like. Aim to harness the power of early release, evolving design, requirements and learning. Retool your governance process and management models.
Use the carrot not the stick.
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