Project Management 101

Lesson 6: Managing Your Project: Part 2

The Imaginary Project Manager: Part 6

Sometimes in our travels as Project Managers, we might come across a phrase that is, apparently, supposed to convey some sense of urgency to a situation. Unfortunately, that phrase is: mission critical.

I imagine the popularity of this term was born by the guard of executives today who, while growing up, viewed footage of NASA mission controllers and thought: that looks like something I need to do with my life.

Possibly, many people were drawn into the aerospace field simply because the words mission and critical, when put together, really implied something that was important; and managing any aspect of spaceflight doubtless is.

However, the masses of people that did not exceed NASA's recruiting requirements focused on other pursuits, yet brought with them the image of being in Mission Control in Houston, and informing everyone that what was happening was in fact mission critical. As a result of this vague childhood dementia, the term has founds it way into all kinds of professional environments, including project management.

Oh well. Nothing's perfect.

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