Hope Management

The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) outlines 10 Knowledge areas that tell us how project management could be conducted. In my IT Project Management class we cover all ten areas, but with most emphasis on Scope/Time/Cost/Quality as it is just a five credit module. As you can see from the diagram below, "Hope Management" is not one of the 10 areas:

Source: Introduction it IT Project Management (Schwalbe, 2018)

Too often, Project Managers and other managers engaged in project management activity, hope that things will work out. The old adage: "Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail" has always been true when it comes to managing projects of any type. When team members are involved in projects that are badly planned - motivation takes a knock, and quality falls. Even a short project needs a plan! If you need something done quickly, don't give it to a busy person. Allocate the appropriate time and resources, learn from mistakes, and quit hoping that things will work out.

In a Blog post from 2012, the Value Transformation web site pleads with Project Managers to "move away from project management activities based upon hope", to stop "making up, dates and duration with little knowledge and hoping things will work out". Worse again is repeating the mistakes of the past and doing exactly the same thing again! There's nothing more that can demotivate team members than poor project management practices. Students interested in a career in Project Management should take note (as should all Project Managers).