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The Art of War

Sun Tzu was an ancient Chinese military general and philosopher who wrote the influential book The Art of War over 2,000 years ago. The document discusses how Sun Tzu's strategic principles can be applied to project management. Specifically, it outlines 13 of Sun Tzu's strategies and how leadership, decision making, team building, and optimizing limited resources are important to accomplishing goals. It emphasizes the importance of planning, knowing your team and the factors that could lead to failure, and establishing clear authority and loyalty within the team.

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327 views15 pages

The Art of War

Sun Tzu was an ancient Chinese military general and philosopher who wrote the influential book The Art of War over 2,000 years ago. The document discusses how Sun Tzu's strategic principles can be applied to project management. Specifically, it outlines 13 of Sun Tzu's strategies and how leadership, decision making, team building, and optimizing limited resources are important to accomplishing goals. It emphasizes the importance of planning, knowing your team and the factors that could lead to failure, and establishing clear authority and loyalty within the team.

Uploaded by

sanazh
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Author : Sun Tzu

MOHAMED ALSHAMMARI CVE 5074 / 2013 04/10/2013

Who is Sun Tzu ?


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He was one of them most popular ancient Chinese military general , strategist and philosopher. Sun Tzu wrote The Art of War over two thousand years ago and is one of the oldest, most significant military strategy books in history. Today, the lessons from Sun Tzu are applied to war, business and leadership as well with the ideals of character, morals and strategy being relevant in each.

13 strategies
1) Laying Plans 2) Waging War 3) Attack by Stratagem 4) Tactical Dispositions 5) Use of Energy 6) Weak Points and Strong 7) Maneuvering an Army 8) Variation of Tactics 9) The Army on the March 10) Classification of Terrain 11) The Nine Situations 12) Attack by Fire 13) Use of Spies

How we can apply Sun Tzu's strategies in Project Management ?


Leadership Management Skills Decision Making Team Building Optimization Application of limited resource to accomplish a specific goal

Vital importance to the state


Sun Tzu said The art of war is of vital importance to the State Sun Tzu(1-1) It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected Sun Tzu(1-2) Often a project is of vital importance and can be a matter of survival to the organization. Project and proper project management must be taken seriously

Five Constant Factors


The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account. These are: (1) The Moral Law; (2) Heaven; (3) Earth; (4) The Commander; (5) Method and discipline. Moral Law : causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler. Causes the team to be in complete agreement with their leader. Heaven: signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons. Weather , organizational climate that surrounds the project. Earth : comprises distances, great and small; danger and security. Land we have to go through, Project location is bad or good

Commander : stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, courage and strictness. Virtues of a true leader and quality of leadership. Methods and Discipline : to be understood the marshaling of the army in its proper subdivisions Implies proper planning, organization, process, and communication

Sun Tzu's Diagrams

Many Calculations
Now the general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. Thus do many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat: how much more no calculation at all! It is by attention to this point that I can foresee who is likely to win or lose
Sun Tzu(1-26)

The PM who plans the project correctly will succeed, while the PM that just jumps into the project will surly have many difficulties.

Victory, Not Lengthy Campaigns


cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays Sun
Tzu(2-5)

In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns Sun Tzu(2-19)
Delayed project will be out of budget, people will be tired and will loose their strength. Avoid long projects; divide them into sub projects. Allow the team to achieve partial victories, and client to see advance

Know Enemy and yourself If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat, If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle Sun Tzu(3-18)
Knowing yourself means knowing your teams strengths and weaknesses. Knowing your enemy means knowing every factor that could lead you to a project failure.

The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemySun Tzu(4-1)

Readiness

What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease Sun Tzu(4-11)

Establish winning conditions before you start your project. Understand the clients requirements. Have the right people on your team. Deal with time constraints.

Authority

orders are not clear and distinct, when there are no fixes duties assigned to officers and men, and the ranks are formed in a slovenly haphazard manner, the result is utter disorganization
Sun Tzu(10-18)

When the general is weak and without authority; when his

Without your teams respect you have no real authority over them.

Loyalty
Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look upon them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death Sun Tzu(10-25) By Fair & Motivation you will Build Loyalty Try to understand what motivates each individual member of your team. Be fair, and use the same rewards for everyone when recognizing good performance Encourage people to set their goals high.

Think

conclusion

The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim Sun Tzu(5-13)

Thanks

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