Imagine a large heavy ball-shaped stone, thundering after the poorly equipt Dr Jones along a long, dark tunnel.  He's running away frantically, tripping over roots, nearly poisoned by darts and not quite decapitated.  He finally makes it out, only to find his arch rival and a group of Pigmy's with weapons drawn.

Now consider the ball is the project; large and unwieldy.  Its set on its course from the outset and difficult to redirect.

Indiana Jones is the Project Manager racing around, trying not to get flattened but although he's giving it his best effort, his success is more luck than judgment.

Projects are very much like the heavy stone ball, albeit rarely in appearance.  They tend to be difficult to maneuver quickly and time rarely allows for slowing the ball to a stop and resetting its path. 

The successful project manager has to be the one who is not running around frantically, not least because there is little immediate impact the PM can have on the overall direction of the project.  The PMs best chance of a successful outcome is to carefully observe the trajectory of the ball and its speed and ensure the path in front is clear of diverting obstacles. 

There's 3 problems with this approach: firstly it assumes an appropriate amount of time set aside to plan the start of the project, secondly there's a danger you could look as though you're doing nothing as you inspect and observe the largely successful fruit of your initial labour and thirdly you have put in place the necessary systems and processes to give you an accurate report of the health of your project.

Programme Office Toolkit can help provide the PM with accurate, clear and appropriate information with regard the health of your many projects but as Ron Rosenhead pointed out, "It's people who deliver projects", however it's people with perfect communications who deliver successful projects.  Every member of the project team has a different field of view and sphere of influence.  Combined they paint the larger picture.  With this information regarding future bumps, swerves and barriers the project ball can be strategically nudged in plenty of time to successfully maneuver the inevitable obstacles with focused effort.