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Project Management Proverbs

It’s been quite a while since I’ve blogged. Work has been especially busy for the past month or so, and as my calendar gets squeezed from every direction the first thing to disappear from it is the time to post here.

That’s unfortunate, and I must get better at it.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I came across a post elsewhere about project management proverbs, and some of them are certainly worth sharing.

One in particular caught my eye because my boss Matt recently welcomed his new son Jude to the world. I know that toward the end of his wife’s pregnancy he was getting anxious, as I’m sure any expected father would, and they wanted the birth to be sooner rather than later.

It takes one woman nine months to have a baby. The project management proverb I read reminds us that, despite conventional project management wisdom, the same result cannot be achieved in one month simply by impregnating nine women.

Other notable points:

  • The sooner you get behind schedule, the more time you have to make it up.
  • A badly planned project will take three times longer than expected. A well planned project only twice as long as expected.
  • The person who says it will take the longest and cost the most is the only one with a clue how to do the job.
  • If you’re six months late on a milestone due next week but nevertheless really believe you can make it, you’re a project manager.

More here!