Project management have mantras , slogans, quotes that everybody can live by. If you want to be organized and prepared you should look for your inspiration in project management. My favorite is the first quote. I remember failing an exam, the questions were all from past years. If I prepared correctly I would of passed. From that moment on my personal mantra was:
Fail to Prepare, Prepare to Fail
Benjamin Franklin
“It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see.”
Winston Churchill
“When we go into that new project, we believe in it all the way. We have confidence in our ability to do it right.”
Walt Disney
“The best way to get a project done faster is to start sooner.“
Jim Highsmith, Agile author
“People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going.”
Earl Nightingale, Motivational speaker
“If you have a choice of two things and can’t decide, take both.”
Gregory Corso, Poet
Plan, Plan, Plan
Project management is all about planning. We make plans about plans. It is very structured approach that has proven time and time again for large projects such as construction, civil and infrastructure. You can have a waterfall plan or agile plan depending on the project but you need a plan.
“A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.”
General George S. Patton
“If everything seems under control, you’re not going fast enough.”
Mario Andretti, World Champion Racing Driver
“To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.”
Leonard Bernstein
“Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”
Dwight Eisenhower
“Planning is everything. Plans are nothing.”
Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke
“Be prepared to cut your losses – Canceling bad projects early is success because you save time, money and resources that can be applied to better opportunities.”
Ian Spence and Kurt Bittner, Agile authors