Hadrian’s Wall stands as a monument to the battle between process and freedom. Built by the Romans in northern Britain between 122 and 130 A.D., the 74-mile barrier marked the final frontier of the vast and powerful Roman Empire. On one side stood law and order. On the other, men painted themselves blue, screamed like banshees and went all but berserk in their fight to remain free.
Likewise, process- and quality- focused methods like the Capability Maturity Model and ISO 9000 impose law and order within an organization. Studies have shown that the consistent use of processes increases repeatability, productivity and quality while decreasing project delivery time. But these same processes can appear as a wall to the business people who are pressured to get their ideas to market. The project team ends up on the battle line between the program management office (PMO) enforcing the procedures and the business people seeking to retain their freedom.
I have seen project managers burn out striving to please both groups. Here are some practical ideas to keep process from driving everyone berserk…
Read more at:
http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/management/project/story/0,10801,108316,00.html