"A project is a problem scheduled for a solution." - J.M. Juran

I am frequently asked how I am able to balance the seemingly contradictory disciplines of idea/innovation management and project management.  After all, the whole concept of idea/innovation management is about loosening control on people's thoughts, ideas and problem solving ability, while project management is wrapping a certain amount of rigor around producing a carefully selected set of deliverables within an established schedule, budget and level of quality.  Right?

Well, sort of.  Actually, idea/innovation management is about setting in place repeatable and reliable processes that foster a culture and climate of problem identification, problem solving, new ideas, risk taking, fast failure and prototyping.  Through this culture/climate, and with engaged leadership and a sufficiency of resources, the most promising ideas are brought into reality.

And reality is where project management works best. 

The discipline of project management is nothing more than the set of tools and techniques designed to define what needs to be done...by when...at what cost.  Okay, okay...there is a lot more to it than that!  There are risk management strategies to consider.  Scope needs to be broken down into deliverables, which need to be broken down in to tasks, which need to be estimated and assigned.  Then there is the financial management of the project, along with tracking earned value.  Quality, resources, issues, performance, documentation, communications and a myriad of other process control mechanisms add to the complexity.

But, in the end, project management is about the orderly resolution of a problem.  Or...making an idea a reality.

And it is at this intersection, where the "fuzzy front end" of finding problems to solve and coming up with ideas meets the "serious back end" of moving the idea into a reality where a real problem is solved...hopefully to the benefit of someone!

I've included a presentation (below) that I gave a few years ago at the ProjectWorld/World Congress of Business Analysts that more visually describes this concept.  Enjoy!

Innovation & Project Management - Partners in Growth