My current work lives here: Oddball Empire - Rock on.
For two years there is a conversation in the comments of The Project Shrink that pops up once in a while. It’s one of my favorites.
Why do we do what we do? Are our industry’s best practices really that, or do we merely say they are because as a PM we are expected to say so?
As Will writes in the comments:
“There’s a saying … fish discover water last … which alludes to the fact that fish can’t see the water because they are so heavily immersed in it. We have accepted tools like the Gantt chart because we hope that whoever invented them figured out how to make them work and help us deliver the project – and they are popular… (eg ms project) BECAUSE they work. But what if all that (or most of it) is wrong? What if the Gantt chart is popular for other seasons?”
Jonathan Whitty from University of Southern Queensland creates fascinating articles and lectures around this theme.
Why not start with this mindshifting article, “The PM BOK Code“:
“… in order to socially survive in the organizational environment, individuals are driven to put on the performance of project manager as an actor would perform project scenes in the theatre of organizations.”
If you don’t want to read, here is a video presentation of the topic.
You can check out the comments here and here if you want to know more about this topic.
So, why is this important to know?
In communication we use our own assumptions, stereotypes and believes to interpret any message we receive. When we know more about our own mind, it gets easier to open our minds to other peoples intent of the message.
In the end it’s about effective communication.
Bas, Bas, Bas,
You remember me saying that Whitty has episodes 6 and 1, 2, and 3, up his sleeve somewhere? Well I’ve found them, and they are brilliant. It all (well most) makes sense.
K over at “Eight to Late” has made a great summary of Whitty’s paper called “21st century project management = open source body of knowledge”. I went back to Whitty’s University page and found a link to the actual talk. BUT, this morning I find another link to what appears to be an extended workshop version of the paper, or perhaps how you build up to the paper, and it’s like listening to episodes 1 to 6!
Here’s the link
http://www.usq.edu.au/users/whitty/PMOZ_Workshop/index.htm
The funny thing is, I wasn’t wrong when I likened it to star wars, because the way he puts it is like we are the rebellion (he calls it the revolution). What I get from this is that we have slowly (not our fault as we don’t know it’s happened over many years) given ourselves over to the dark side. We’ve let professional institutions decide what’s good for us, and we the people should take back the project management bodies of knowledge.
What strikes me is that so many tussles about the difference between projects and complex projects, when there is so much difference and variety amongst projects. Have a look at the different drawings the workshop people produced. There are loads of different types of projects, all needing different approaches, and we are only being sold (yes sold because we do pay) a few.
I thought these project management institutions were there to help us, but they are not. They are telling us we have problems and selling us their commodified fixes (books, courses, memberships – with the promise of making us better, and accreditations). Not only is the PMI marketing to us, the new complex pm institute is following the same model. But instead of focusing on the general market, the complex PM institute is grazing on the defence departments. So whitty’s call is for is all to wake up and see what’s going on (discover the water as we say and see what’s in it) and take charge of the PM body of knowledge for ourselves.
Brilliant!
Will
Bas and Will,
I want to thank Will first for the great links that added value to his first comment and enriched the value of Bas brilliant post. Not only familiarity killed the cat, but it also made other cats unable to see the real problem. That is why many organizations end up in failure for believing yesterday’s experience is extensible to the future.
I want to highlight another point that I am planning to publish around it soon. As Bas said, communication is the problem. I wish to add that it is also the rate of information flow. If we eat fast, we end up having digestion problems (including generating sounds of all kinds). Likewise; the communication of old information, which is based mostly on invalid assumptions, very rapidly compounds the problem. The information digestion problem coupled with its irrelevance is a cover for many consultants: they cause the problem and thrive on its consequences to give more consultations on new and emerging problems.
Hi Will,
Thanks for that awesome reference. Great catch! And I really love the way how Whitty frames his “cause”. Of course, I don’t agree on all accounts
Anyway. Awesome!
Cheers
Bas
Sure, all projects are unique. On the other hand they are like vehicles. There are small ones, and big ones, very big ones, huge ones, for off road, for sailing, flying, or going to the moon and beyond. They may be blue, red, green, black, silver, or what have you.
But they are still vehicles. Just as projects are.
And project management institutions? They are knowledge centers, consultants. And being consultants they tell you what you may or may not know already, and yes, charge you for it. They are there to help you, but not to do it for you.