Forget P3. It's time for P4.

For a long time, I wanted to find an organisation that would let me be the C3PO - Chief Portfolio, Programme & Project Officer. Now, I’ve ditched that. Not only because the acronym doesn’t work anymore, but because a lack of focus on the most important P is really hurting our project delivery.

The 4th P is people

Sure, we manage Portfolios, Programmes and Projects, but we do it through People.

People are the most important ingredient in running projects. There are few that would disagree with this. So, why, don’t we have a people-based approach to the work that we do as Project Managers? Everything in our industry is about the output or the process - the risk log, the plan, the finances, the benefits, the assumptions, the decisions, the governance. Where do the people come in all of this?

What would a people-based approach to running projects look like?

A people-based approach to running projects

I don’t have the answer, it just feels intrinsically right that there’s more of a people focus in our delivery. That could take many forms

• Which people are going to be affected by the project? What do they want as a result - what delivery date works best for them; do they want a prototype or a big-bang delivery?

• Which people are going to be needed to deliver the project? What tools, resources, finances, practices, environment, do they need to deliver this project?

• What capacity do our people really have? What capacity do they really need?

• What do the people want to do? If we gave them the problem, an infinite budget, infinite time and infinite ability to solve this problem any way they wanted - what would they do?

The cynic thinks we already do this

I don’t think that’s true.

Of course, we ask the people who are delivering the project for estimates. But they estimate within the constraints of the current system. We ask the people who are delivering the project what resources they need, but they answer within the constraints of the current system. This isn’t a people-centric approach. This is a system-centric approach and people are having to work within the system. Would a people-centric approach get us a better quality outcome?

There’s evidence in the literature of self-managing organisations that a people-centric approach trumps all other approaches hands down. What might that look like if we applied it to project delivery?