PSI THRESHOLDS

Since the first edition of this book appeared, we have found out essentially three things about the PSI, as discussed in the following three sections.

Threshold for Steps 1 “5

A score of 40 gained from Steps 1 “5 appears to be a threshold. Initially, when a project starts it will score little, if anything, on the PSI scale. We expect this to happen.

Your priorities on the project then are to firm up the goal, what is to be delivered (Step 1), and the plan for delivering it (Steps 2 “5). You do this by going through those early project phases: requirements definition, analysis, various levels of design. If these are done properly, they will have the effect of raising the Step 1 score and this will in turn enable you to increase the scores from the other four steps. The score should eventually go above 40 as these various phases are completed.

If you cannot register a score above 40 it means that the goal is not sufficiently well worked out and agreed. Unless you take steps to firm up the goal in as much detail as possible, you should not go any further in the project. You should certainly not begin implementation-type activities. Your project will not succeed.

Threshold for Steps 1 “10

A score of 60 gained from Steps 1 “10 appears to be a threshold. Initially, when a project starts it will score little, if anything, on the PSI scale. We expect this to happen.

From then on, the low scores will always point you at your most important tasks . If you are a person who has difficulty prioritizing, then the low scores on each step will show you what your absolutely most important jobs are. If, at any given time, you are focusing on these, you are doing exactly the right things.

The Second Law of Project Management

Brooks (1987) cites Brook's Law: "Adding people to a late project makes it later." Note that this law involves two of our four parameters: delivery date and effort.

The relative balance of the two PSI thresholds described above implies that a much more general version of this law exists. I have called this law The Second Law of Project Management. It works like this:

• If you got a very high score out of Steps 6 “10, say you got 9 out of 10 for each step, a total score of 27, this would imply an extraordinary level of sensitivity in handling staff (Step 6), monitoring and control (Step 7) and reporting (Step 8).

• Now, if you get a low score out of Steps 1 “5, a score that is under the 40 threshold, then the extraordinary score from Steps 6 “10, added to the low score from Steps 1 “5, won't be enough to bring you over the 60 threshold.

Or to put it more bluntly:

Doing anything you like on a poorly planned project won't make the blindest bit of difference.

The Second Law of Project Management involves all four of our parameters and is, I believe, a more general law, of which Brook's Law is a particular instance or occurrence.