ASAP 2

In a previous post on this noxious abbreviation that pollutes business conversations, I decried the imprecision of its use.

I had another encounter with it today. The rational explanation for the fool hardiness didn't work, so I replied:

"OK, my 'possible'. I'll let you know when."

Kind of like the so-called 'reverse brief'; the document you give to a client when they don't know what they want (all quite legitimate in the world of the unknown). My rejoinder drove home the point that in a project where schedule sets the tempo of activity, dates have real meaning, measured in $ of value produced in NPV terms. Muck up my dates unpredictably and that will muck up your project returns unpredictably.

So, as a good PM, I'll let you know the date that is possible while maintaining the project tempo to produce the value you've hired me to produce.