I interviewed cardiologists who believe we are so darn close to virtually eliminating heart disease. And, the truth is, it doesn’t involve spending any more money, investing in any more research or creating anymore tests. Rather, it will take a strict implementation of what we already know about diet and nutrition. It will also take brave champions to navigate through the clutter of confusing counsel, special interests and shoddy science. http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/25/becoming-heart-attack-proof/

Wow. The above can easily be said for managing a successful project. We know everything we need to know (or at least enough), and if we just apply it, we will be successful, even without fancy new project management tools.

Last year, Capers Jones in an article entitled “Get The Quality Right” echoed similar sentiments about software projects:

“We’ve known the basics for years but need to apply them.” Capers Jones, Information Week, June 28, 2010

I’ve mentioned from personal experience how, for over 30 years, we’ve assisted organizations and teams in transitioning from late and low-quality projects to on-time and high-quality projects. In just about all those cases, we simply looked at what we were already doing and eliminated some of the more heinous management practices, which then allowed us to do the good stuff we already knew how to do. This was regardless of the management methodology or technology used.

See The Perfect Project Management Methodology

Yes, with different approaches, a team or organization might have been able to deliver faster or be more innovative or more productive. But that is a distinction between doing well and doing very well. Too often, instead, our distinction is between failing and just barely scraping by. Do well what we already know how to do and we’ll have successful projects, and that is a great project management tool.

Do you believe we know enough to produce consistently successful projects?