Project Management GAPs occur when strategic and tactical requirements are not synchronized and in balance.

When I worked at Zinsser, we had what we called the “job jar”. It was a loosely maintained list of ideas, issues, to-dos, and projects. From the list, the President would set priorities and assign tasks to individuals to complete. It functioned at the tactical level but left a GAP with the strategic plans.

The Just-Do-It Gap -“Don’t overthink it”

More recently, I have worked with the EOS (The Entrepreneurial Operating System), which provides techniques for managing strategic initiatives but, in my opinion, leaves a GAP between the strategic goal (Rock) and the practical, tactical project management required to get things done.

The EOS Gap – “Stay out of the weeds”

There are many Project Management programs available. The classic, more linear models like Management By Objectives (MBO) have largely been replaced by more flexible methods such as Agile, Scrum, and Kanban.

All models can fail for similar reasons:

• Incomplete or inaccurate Project Definitions
• Lack of executive support and poor project management
• Unrealistic timelines