Linguistic Action Perspective of Projects
April 27th, 2003 by HalBefore I get too far into these postings on the Linguistic Action Perspective, I think I should speak about my prejudice…
Dr. Flores taught me project management. Not for the first time. No. I learned to manage projects at Digital Equipment Corp. Dr. Flores re-taught me project management. To give you an idea of what it was like, imagine you are a golfer, or tennis player, or skier. You perform well, so well that others strive to beat you. Now you decide to start again as a beginner. Really! Imagine the breakdowns that would create. Now, exaggerate that. That was what it was like relearning project management.
I was already good at creating work breakdown structures. I could teach the critical path method. I did six major projects in a row on time and 'close' to the budget. (I was over as often as I was under.) Thirteen years ago, Flores turned it up-side down for me. How? By shifting attention from the mechanisms of project management to the conversations of project management.
Projects succeed (or fail) not by how well we manage the critical path, but by how well we care for the critical conversations.
Dr. Flores made these claims: (Some of these are from my recollection. Apologies for any misrepresentation.)
- Projects are always about human beings acting in cooperation with each other.
- People have moods which influence the direction and outcome of projects.
- The project is a promise to a customer.
- Team members individually and collectively own the promise of the project.
- Team members make promises to the project manager and to each other in fulfillment of the promise to the customer.
- Assessments of project progress allow for (re)direction of team member actions.
- Planning is the conversation that continues to unfold the project.
So, now you know my prejudice. I go into new project situations with my eyes on the linguistic aspects. Sure the sequence of work is important…really important, as is the constraint for the project. I've learned that even more important are the practices and systems for coordinating action along with the care given to the varying concerns of the project participants. Projects succeed (or fail) not by how well we manage the critical path, but by how well we care for the critical conversations.
Related Posts
- New Lens Available on Language-Action Perspective I received a thoughtful email from a reader over the weekend. (Thanks Doug!) It reminded me of a set of introductory...
- Mental Models for Project Management Donna Fitzgerald writes a regular column for Builder.com, The Nimble Project Manager. She has been writing a series abou...
- Here’s the Paper on Linguistic Action Theory Foundations of Lean Construction: Linguistic Action, by Hal Macomber and Gregory Howell, to be presented at the Internat...
- The Role of Management I've written in this weblog about the linguistic action perspective as it applies to projects. Greg Howell and I have a...
- Case Studies Highlight Importance of Managing Commitments Construction supply chains share many of the characteristics and problems of make-to-order (MTO) supply chains. Most ...
April 28th, 2003 at 5:11 pm
Hi Hal,
Within the continuous process industries (oil refining, petrochemical plants, etc.), turnaround maintenance projects are highly compressed, dynamic projects where the scope is only partially known at the outset. These projects are high pressure, around the clock operations. Industrial psychology plays a huge factor in determining the project team’s success or failure.
Project scheduling tools serve dual purposes of equal importance. They facilitate visibility of the plan and communication and cooperation among the participants. These projects are too large for individuals to remember all of the details and coordinate properly without a map. The schedule is a medium that enables the project team to communicate intelligently.
Secondly, project schedules provide management with the information they need (progress, earned value, forecasting) to effect (by adjusting resources and/or scope) the best possible outcome.
April 28th, 2003 at 9:11 pm
Bernard,
I agree with what you say. I don’t intend to imply a disregard for schedules. I worked on numerous planned shutdowns for maintenance. At one of North America’s leading power generators I aided the team in taking a litle more than 2 weeks off a planned 10-week shutdown. The financial benefit of that was in the millions. We used schedules as planning scenarios. While we made numerous innovations in the way we planned, the most significant changes we made were to the system and practices for assessing the condition of the equipment and maintenance plans and to the systems and practices of coordination.
May 7th, 2003 at 5:18 pm
David Schmaltz writes a lot about this model. And of course JerryWeinberg does as well. (Johanna knows them both well.)
http://www.projectcommunity.com/
July 8th, 2003 at 4:48 am
Topic: Additional Flores Fodder
Wonderful summary list of Flores’ on projects. That’s a keeper.
Flores’ language-action model has infiltrated some interesting places. I hadn’t seen it explicitly in the project management domain before, but of course, once you’re exposed to it nothing is immune. It’s been one thread of exploration & discussion off on the bookshelved wiki (www.bookshelved.org) in the last year or so.
The techniques in _Don’t Send a Resume_ map directly to the language-action model. (http://bookshelved.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?DontSendAResume)
The methods in _High Probability Selling _ again map. (http://bookshelved.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?HighProbabilitySelling)
Most interesting to me, several of us - strangers to each other except for interacting about books on bookshelved - decided to read Flores & Winograd’s _Understanding Computers and Cognition_ together, and discuss it on the Wiki. We had folks playing along from England, France, and the US that I know of.
We got a pretty good collective review of the book and the book’s ideas. I can’t imagine grappling with Flores’ point of view without companions along the way. The discussion is here: http://bookshelved.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?UnderstandingComputersAndCognition
From my limited exposure to language-action models, it’s become so ingrained that I wonder how I functioned at all without this point of view. It’s powerful stuff.
Thank you for spreading this model around.
April 8th, 2006 at 9:17 am
HALLELUJAH! You and your wonderful website have rejuvenated my passion for commeny and application on Dr. Flores’ wonderfully insightful L/AP model. I realize more and more everday– as I know you know — that, indeed, language is the source of all action. Your showing of how this applies to the field of Project Management is a great gift. Thanks so much, and please keep up the good work.
PS I was a founding member of Project Management Institute, with Russ Archibald, in Georgia in 1968. I soon came to the conclusion that it had become a relatively mechanical exercise, and dropped away. Your article has shown me a way back, to unite both of these professional loves of mine.
Best wishes.
Gary Blanchard, MPA 609 871-2024
April 10th, 2006 at 10:10 am
Hello Gary,
Thanks for your comments. I am writing a book on the project management from the language action perspective. It’s a slog for me while I travel and work, but it’s still fun. Look on this site for an announcement of the draft availability.
Hal