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Rick Valerga’s latest book, Projectegrity, uses integrity to make your project great, continues the ideas he discussed in The Cure for The Common Project. Projectegrity refers to integrity in a project environment. It describes what it is, how it is achieved and what you can do about it. Although it is not easy to define, it is easy to grasp.
Valerga’s thinking is based on the idea that, while we all have beliefs and values and (hopefully) hold our ethical standards high, sometimes we make compromises in the hustle and bustle of project work. Projects fail when we compromise our integrity.
He says that integrity is being truthful at all time, avoiding deception and acting ethically in every occasion, especially when no one is looking.
Valerga discusses five practices of integrity
Ownership
Perspective
Expectation management
Alignment
Engagement
Cure covered expectations management and ownership, and these are the most important themes. These themes are what managers can do to ensure projects succeed. The most important internal change you can make is to take ownership of the project’s outcomes and activities. Assuming ownership means that you are responsible for your contribution. Expectation management is the most important external change: it is about making sure that all project stakeholders understand the implications.
Pictofigo images are used in the book’s illustrations. These Pictofigo images are similar to those Derek Huether uses on Zombie Project Management. Pictofigo is quickly becoming the most popular source for project management images. They have been a great help in my presentations.
Valerga writes that project managers can provide the best value by representing the “whole project perspective”. This means you must view the project from the perspective all stakeholders and adopt an “interested investor” mentality. This allows you to see the whole picture, including the meanings of the project to customers, team members and sponsors.
There are some overlaps between Cure and it. Cure also explains how Cure can help you make meetings more efficient by announcing the dollar cost of each meeting at the end. Cure and Projectegrity both discuss the idea of having an elevator pitch for your project.
Valerga does however present some new ideas in Projectegrity. He discusses how financial models can be used to help evaluate trade-offs when the iron triangle of triple constraint doesn’t balance. This concept was new to me and will appeal to Projectegrity’s proposed audience, people involved in projects but not project managers.
Projectegrity is a great book for team members and executives who don’t want to be too project-oriented. It is written in a clear and simple style, with examples and anecdotes. If you are a project manager, however, you might prefer The Cure for Common Project.
You can read my interview with Rick Valerga right here.
Amazon.com (Kindle):
