In my opinion one of the best blogs on the web is Better Projects by Craig Brown; closely followed by Impacted Nurses by Ian Miller. The content on both sites is quite different, but always entertaining and informative. I think Craig is about to be challenged by Pat Byrne's Knowing Projects . Pat has been threatening to enter the blogosphere for some time, so I am really pleased to see he has finally found the time.

His second entry is called "A Melody not a Hip=Hop (01) ". Now I suspect my son or daughter, who like rap and hip hop may not like his metaphor, but it resonates with me. Pat says hip hop is "blocky" - that is to say each musical phrase it is not connected in a smooth way. He says the same about two project methodologies - PRINCE2 and PMBOK. To quote Pat:

Some bits are done well and others not. There are some connections and some stand-alone parts. Some are musical and others not. It is just disjointed and un-finished. This is how I would represent rap/hip-hop if I was asked to illustrate it somehow. It is also how much of PMBOK and PRINCE2 appears to me. A generally disjointed, relatively unconnected set of activities and/or products. Whatever it is, I have difficulty seeing the tune and hearing the melody.

I agree and I would level this criticism to many management techniques - they are about the bars in isolation not the harmony. The whole always matters. You cannot describe the whole by describing its parts in isolation.

Regards, Graham