Many legacy organizations manage modern projects using similar methods as described in the ground breaking, turn of the century book “The Principles of Scientific Management” …which century do you ask? 20th…this book was first published in 1901! The author, Fredric Winslow Taylor was indeed cutting edge back then. Taylor advocated for many things, including a “systems” approach to manufacturing and one of his principles was
This idea was quickly turned into a strict, top down, type of management where the workers were instructed to work, and the managers were intended to think. Many organizations have embraced new ways of thinking like TQM or Agile, but it is hard to change a century of thinking. Which is why modern projects like creating analytic products continue to struggle. Over the years, there have been many more attempts to re-think management styles. Edward Deming and his philosophy around TQL was revolutionary and lead (in my opinion) to the creation of the “Japanese Economic Giant”. Others include Fred Brooks, who, in 1975 wrote a project management/ software engineering book titled “The Mythical Man-Month“. One of the key take aways from Brooks book is what is called “Brooks Law”.
In essence, Brooks documented that when a project is complex or requires very specialized skills, simply “adding people” will not work. It is important to note that Brooks was not delineating between “skilled” or “unskilled” work, rather, the work that can be easily divided or shared and worked upon simultaneously. For example, if it takes one person 5 days to stack fire wood, 5 people should be able to complete the same task in one day. Conversely, the logic fails when one must develop the SQL around determining the readmit rate of patients with covid and a BMI over 25. The former task is easily divided with clear task distinction and outcomes, the later does not have clear “work borders” and cannot be worked on simultaneously by multiple resources. Brooks argues that for each additional person, time must be spent “ramping up” (i.e. explaining the why’s, the how’s, the when’s, the who’s, etc…). It is because of the new person; new lines of communication must be created which will inevitably result in a communication “explosion” thus slowing things down for everyone in the project.
I get it…we can’t go back and change what happened, we can only deal with what we have today. The only thing the organization can do is to call a “time out” and evaluate the “current state”. Then, to reset the expectations and the timelines based accurate information from the person doing the work. Once the project is completed, the people involved get to make a choice….follow the guidance of Deming or The Agile Manifesto…or Fredrick Taylor…Choose wisely
Interesting read