New white paper recommends revolutionary approach to measurement of projects

Leading project management company, Acando, has published a new white paper which challenges the current method of measurement within project management.

The white paper, ‘Don’t measure time and cost’, takes a critical look at the use of time and cost as metrics for judging the success of a project.

The latest white paper forms part of Acando’s ongoing mission to reduce and eventually eliminate project failure from project management. The firm, which has offices in the UK and 16 more overseas, hopes that the findings will spark change within the industry and make people question the traditional approach to measurement.

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The paper, produced by Acando’s Managing Director, Phil Jacklin, argues that time and cost are poor metrics to use, stating that they have no value as predictors of the future, only cover one side of the metric triangle and vary depending on who does the measuring.

An example is given of The International Space Station, which is widely considered as a successful project. In a recent seminar, only 1 of 200 people considered The International Space Station to be a ‘bad’ project. The initial budget for this project was $17bn. The actual spend was $30bn. The paper questions how budget can be a useful metric when, despite this overspend of $13bn The International Space Station is still widely accepted as a successful project*.

Phil Jacklin said: “The purpose of the metrics should be to evaluate if the project is being well managed and to create a level of prediction about how the rest of the project will unfold. Time and cost do not achieve this in any way at all. Having a variety of metrics, from all sides of the triangle, enforces good discipline to focus on the many aspects of the project, or focus across the project, rather than simply achieving excellence in one metric at the detriment of other parts of the project.”Acando’s white paper explor

es the use of economy, efficiency and effectiveness metrics and recommends that project managers seek to use a mix of success markers such as resources, productivity, quality, deliverables and risk.

Acando, which works across a range of industries within the project management arena and is known for challenging protocol in its bid to “stamp out project failure”, releases white papers quarterly, delivers key note speeches at industry events and is challenging project managers and CEOs to improve the performance of their own projects.

‘Don’t measure time and cost’, as well as previous white papers, is available to download at http://www.acando.com/uk.

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