Ancient discovery of agile PM from 2600BC?

In Dahshur, Egypt, you will find one of the most interesting of all of the (already interesting) pyramids. It's called the "Bent Pyramid", and it was built for a king named Sneferu (pictured below).


What's interesting about this particular pyramid is that its slope suddenly and dramatically changes from 52 degrees to a much lower slope of about 43 degrees, about halfway up the height of the pyramid.



Why?

What happened?

Two theories abound, both of which are definitely all about our profession and discipline.

Theory 1 says that there were collapses and problems (risk triggers and risk occurrences) that indicated the slope was too steep for the materials they were using so the design was changed on the fly to the softer slope.

Theory 2 says that the death of the pharaoh was more imminent than originally expected (schedule pull-up) and they needed to finish more quickly.

Either way, the project engineers were dealing with another pyramid of sorts, or at least a triangle - the ancient triple constraint. This has fallen from favor in the PMBOK(R) Guide, replaced on page 6 with a listing of Scope, Quality, Schedule, Budget, Resources, and Risk, but however you look at it, the project manager adapted and showed his or her agility with the change in slope midway through the project.

Today, much is being made of agile PM, mainly in the area of software development. To some PMs, agile seems like a pyramid scheme (sorry for that lame reference, but I simply had to do it); to others, it is the new way and the only way to do things.

The PMBOK(R) guide does not feature agile PM techniques per se - it does not even show up in the index. However some authors and speakers have done some excellent work on how agile PM can be linked to the PMBOK(R) Guide. Check out this site, from Michele Sliger of Sliger Consulting, it's loaded with some great presentations on the subject.

To me, and this posting, it's really just a reminder of how proud and ancient our job is. As evidenced here, we've been dealing with change requests for thousands and thousands of years.

Now for those of you who have been following ScopeCrepe from its ancient beginnings, you know this isn't my first posting about pyramids, nor will it be the last.

If the idea of pyramids intrigues you, you may want to go back to Akapalah Pyramids, now a classic, for sure, and read that one!

Looking past "The End of the Beginning"

As project managers we think (and often dream) about the end of our projects. And what is that end?

It's the successful turn up of a computer network. Or, it's the availability of a new service. Or, perhaps it's the readiness of a new bridge, a new building, a new drug, a new electric toothbrush.

Do you note a pattern here?

When we're done, something else, usually something bigger, is starting.

We often limit our thinking as project managers to the lifecycle of our project and don't think enough about the lifecycle of the product of our projects. For those of you who weren't paying attention, that's the "bigger thing" that is enabled by your project.

This concept reminded me (or perhaps it's the other way around) of a book and movie which I've always enjoyed. Both the book and movie share the title, "The Discovery of Heaven". Do yourself a favor and rent this film or read the book. It's by famed Dutch author Harry Mulisch, and it's not known so well in the USA but is throughout Europe. Here's the trailer.

From wikipedia, here is the synopsis of the book:

The Discovery of Heaven tells the story of an angel-like being, who is ordered to return to Heaven the stone tablets containing the ten commandments, given to Moses by God, which symbolise in the book the link between Heaven and Earth. The divine being, however, cannot himself travel to Earth, and on several occasions in the book resorts to influencing events. He affects the personal lives of three people (two men and one woman) in order that a child will be conceived. This child would then have an innate desire to seek out and return the Tablets.

The book consists of four parts (dubbed "The Beginning of the Beginning", "The End of the Beginning", "The Beginning of the End", and "The End of the End"). In between these four parts, the angel-like being discusses "The Plan" with his superior, who is supposedly an archangel.

The inspiration for the posting comes not from the religious theme of the book, but rather the way the book is organized:

• The Beginning of the Beginning
• The End of the Beginning
• The Beginning of the End
• The End of the End

Now back to project management and our way of thinking. We don't realize it when we plan our projects but we only work on the first two parts: The Beginning of the Beginning, where we Initiate and Plan the project, and The End of the Beginning, in which we execute, monitor and control, and close the project. We don't look ahead - often enough - to what happens in the "life and death" of the bridge, the building, the drug, the computer system - even the electric toothbrush.

And that brings me to Life Cycle Analysis, something my partner and I at EarthPM are asserting that we'd better start looking at as PMs - and not just for the very valid environmental reasons, but because it helps us understand the project, its product, and its products' customers more effectively.

I won't detail this here because it's something we'll be covering in our upcoming book, but I would like to reference you to the EPA (US Environmental Protection Agency) site that covers this. They provide an excellent set of PDF training on the subject.

Here's a link to the basic training page of the EPA. There's more, much more to be learned on this subject and we will be covering it in our upcoming book, but I wanted to share this with you here first. Learn more on EarthPM.com.

And go rent that movie!