ABSTRACT
This article explores how tensions between development as a business and development as an exercise in improvement force project managers to make difficult choices to balance contradictory interests. For example, having a robust M&E system means that more staff time and resources are devoted to measurement than implementation. On the other hand, a weak M&E system may lead to poor monitoring of activities and possibly a withdrawal of donor funding. Project managers must decide how much M&E is “enough.” Similar contradictions are explored in donor relations and fundraising, partnering, and organizational management structures.
