Twenty-One Project Management Implications of Wanting Things FAST

Saying You Want Something FAST Won’t Make It So
For all the desire to have projects or work processes move REALLY FAST, it seems, especially in
larger organizations, cultural forces work against projects moving FAST despite what project stakeholders expect.

The reason is a desire for FAST doesn’t mean anybody wants the related project management implications:

Rearranging what’s important
Saying what you’re going to do
Doing what you say
Working from a strong to-do list
Giving more effort
Focusing attention
Not depending on people who’ve never been dependable
Motivating /encouraging /cajoling / bribing people who have been dependable before to do even more
Anticipating project management roadblocks
Addressing potential project management roadblocks before they’re reached
Spending money wisely to eliminate other roadblocks
Sharing vital information that allows people to act
Being responsive
Making decisions to not pursue every possible idea
Handling trade-offs
Acting instead of delaying
Hitting deadlines
Speaking now or forever holding your peace
Ignoring “nice to have” opinions but getting all the “must have” opinions
Getting out of the way when you’re not critical
Caring more or caring less – whichever moves things along
FAST is easy to say. Its project management implications are hard (sometimes apparently impossible) to stomach inside an organization.