Projects Are About Humans. Deal With That!

Project Shrink Birthday Party



This week Project Shrink is a year old. Yah! During this year (and actually in the 5 years before) I am obsessed with this Project Management riddle:

Photography by kk+.

  • There is a large bucket of Project Management methods and techniques
  • We face a world of infinite complexity
  • A Project Manager only has one pair of eyes, one pair of ears, one large mouth and a small brain.
  • How are you going to pull the right rabbit out of the bucket to take on the project world?

My answer so far:

  • By having fabulous eyes and ears.
  • By reducing the size of your mouth.
  • By utilizing the full capacity of your brain.


The next couple of months I will be focusing this blog on

  • The use of models and metaphors.
  • Analyzing complex situations.
  • The use of visual aids.
  • How to change your basic assumptions.

I hope you stick around and help me out once in a while.

Related Posts
If you like this post then please subscribe to my full feed RSS. You can also subscribe by Email. Not sure how this works?

July 12th, 2008 | Category: Me-Myself-And-I |
How to get your own picture with your comment?

7 Comments so far

  1. Paul Ritchie July 12th, 2008 1:05 pm

    Hi Bas,
    First, thanks for linking to Crossderry so frequently…

    Second, IMO, one of the answers to the PM challenges you list is people development and management. Too many PMs — in my experience, at least — don't take enough advantage of the other eyes, ears, and mouths on their projects. They prefer to rely on their own wits to make decisions, resolve issues, etc. That model collapses in projects of any complexity or challenge.

    Best,
    Paul

  2. Craig July 13th, 2008 2:20 am

    Happy birthday Bas.

    A pleasure blogging with you :)

  3. Raven July 13th, 2008 4:23 pm

    Happy Blogday! You've done a lot over the past year Bas - can't wait to see what goodness the future will bring!

  4. Bas de Baar July 15th, 2008 2:37 pm

    @Paul: you're welcome… yes, i agree. i see the biggest challenge in convincing PMs that this works (how to change their mental model).

    @Craig: thanks, and same here!

    @Raven: thank you! I hope not to disappoint you ;)

  5. Hamman Samuel July 22nd, 2008 7:36 am

    Happy "blogday" :) I love this blog and all your articles on PM.

  6. anataba July 23rd, 2008 12:27 pm

    happy "blogday".

  7. Bas July 24th, 2008 11:15 am

    Hamman and Anataba: THANKS!! and thanks for reading!

Leave a reply