Planning Versus Execution

When the term project management is mentioned, the image that most often pops to mind is that of the Gantt chart, also known as the project timeline or schedule. From an academic perspective, we know that project management encompasses the end-to-end project lifecycle. Yet in practical application, there's a strong emphasis on the planning stage, perhaps at the expense of other important process areas. This is partially due to the focus on planning by the affordable project management software applications, as well as the proven track record of solid planning over the past decades. However, as project and business environments become more dynamic, the effective planning horizon becomes shorter. If we insist on holding fast to our planning-focused approach to project management and do not recognize the shifting horizon, we will be setting ourselves up for failure and frustration.

In the agile environment, the PM emphasis is moved from planning to execution. It is during project execution that crucial decisions are made that determine success or failure of the project. This is not to say that the areas of project definition and planning will be ignored, just that their focus will shift to supporting decisions during project execution rather than making them all up-front.