Today Better Projects posted an intriguing article debunking the myth of “experienced project managers can deal more effectively with complex software projects”. They refer to a recent article in HBR magazine, “The Experience Trap”, that basically says that experienced project manager do not outperform less experienced PMs because they stopped learning.
Photography by Worak.
“…people form a hypothesis about a relationship between a cause and an effect…, [t]he problem is that the approach seems to be effective only in relatively simple environments, where cause-and-effect relationships are straightforward and easily discovered. In more complex environments, such as software projects, the learning cycle frequently breaks down” as quoted on CrossDerry.
There are a couple of approaches one can take to tackle this problem:
- Getting project managers to think and talk about why they do what they do
- Explaining and discussing with project managers which problems certain methods and techniques are trying to solve
- Train in “complex relationships between cause and effect” by providing different mental models and applying a systems view for analysis.
5 Comments
Hi, Bas
Thank you for mentioning my post at Better Projects.
I also want to thank you for providing such a wealth of information on this blog, specially regarding PM as a human and social practice.
There are many ways to improve our learning on project management. One of the most effective is reflect on our practice by reading great blogs like the Project Shrink.
Hi Rafael, thanks for your kind words… and you have yourself a new subscriber to the blog
I also read the Experience Trap article as well. Then went off on treasure hunt trying to understand what they were on about w.r.t. cognitive feedback.
Plenty to unpack there about continuing to develop skill and especially how to avoid diagnostic errors…
This conclusion is awful. Experienced project managers should CONTINUE to learn. I know many experienced project managers who basically give up:
-Go to basic courses just to earn PDUs to re-certify
-Stop reading articles
-Stop seeking out material that challenges them
Experienced project managers can and should continue to learn. They just need material that matches their skills, and they need a learning space where they can reflect, discuss, and contribute. Even better, they can start teaching others.
Master project managers do all these things. The top people in the field will never stop learning.
yeah i agree. especially for PMs, we work in changing environment per definition, so we should always learn new things.
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