Software Project Health: An Epic Retold

An epic is retold. The actors are familiar, but the roles are different. Arjuna is tormented by doubts about his capability to deliver the Kurukshetra program in a competition against the Kauravas. Krishna coaches and mentors him, helping him overcome his self-doubt. To deliver his program, Arjuna aspires to ensure the sustained “health” of his projects as opposed to the Kauravas who are approaching the challenge ready to cut all corners for short-term success.

Arjuna and Krishna, with a focus on means and not just the ends, together evolve a project health framework for effective delivery, assurance of outcomes and robust products. This is the story of their fascinating journey of discovery interacting with project teams and stakeholders to develop new perspectives in managing projects. The end result is a comprehensive set of project Vital Signs and their manifestations and a 360-degree assessment approach – a framework for early warning to address the not-uncommon syndrome of projects being “in the pink of health till yesterday, but in Intensive Care today.”