Chapter 6. International PM Initiation and Planning Tools Available to Purchase

The quote that opens this chapter is something that I have used for many years as a motivational tool to keep all work that I perform simple. The acronym KISS for keep-it-simple-stupid is another way of saying that less complicated devices, plans, and projects are more likely to succeed. Another quote that I have always liked was by Einstein “Make things as simple as possible, but no simpler.” [2] In the interest of leaving past behaviors behind, individuals must challenge themselves to remove any task or specific responsibility from the project if it does not serve a useful purpose or elimination would have limited detrimental impact on the outcome. In these cases, there could be a variety of reasons why the unnecessary task remained. Many of times the root is a behavior, habit or tradition that also must be far more diligently weeded out. Any time somebody states “because that’s the way we’ve always done it” a caution flag should go up to indicate that thorough review is in order.