Project Ice Berg

What’s common between Software Projects and Icebergs? In both of them visible part is only 10% to 20% , remaining 80% to 90% is submerged/invisible. What moves Icebergs? On the surface it might look like wind is blowing in one direction, but the iceberg is moving in another direction. That’s because iceberg moves not because of visible wind, but because of invisible currents in the ocean. 90% invisible part of the iceberg which is submerged in the ocean gets propelled by the water currents. What makes software projects succeed? Traditional approach is to focus on hard aspects like planning and tracking parameters like effort, schedule, defects and so on. But in reality these are lagging indicators, after-effects; there is nothing much that can be done after the effort has been spent, schedule has slipped or defect has occurred. What are the root causes for these outcomes in software projects? Isn’t it the soft aspects like experience of the team, team spirit in the project, collaboration &  communication within the team &  with Customers, shared vision, motivation …? These are the leading indicators.   These are the causes and hard measures are the effects. Hard aspects are more measurable where as soft aspects are less amenable to measurement; They need to be ‘sensed’ by the managers.  The hard aspects in the project, the science of project management, are like tip of the iceberg; Soft aspects, the art of project management,  are like the invisible under-currents which make a project succeed or fail.   Project Managers and senior leaders who understand the project iceberg and pay conscious effort to ‘sense’ & manage the soft aspects in the project, will be more successful.  How is your project iceberg  looking like? How much of your project iceberg are you able to ‘see’?