There Can Be No Such Thing as a Project
August 14th, 2003 by Hal
So claims David Schmaltz in his book The Blind Men and the Elephant, Mastering Project Work. Those are words only a self-described heretic could utter. The key word is "thing". While we speak of projects as nouns, the experience of a project is much more like a verb.
I won't make this a book review. Instead, I'll just share a few moving passages. Perhaps that will get you to buy this book. Get extra copies to share with you boss and your project team mates.
He identifies six characteristics of project communities who become coherent:
- They are composed of acknowledged blind men.
- They share an indescribable elephant.
- They also share (or have shared) a frustrating experience.
- They show some patience in the face of their frustration — they stick with it.
- They make generous interpretations of others' perspectives.
- Some, although by no means all, also adopt a coherent organization structure; they circle up and focus upon a common point.
We could discuss each point as a posting. Instead, take a look at how he wraps this essay.
People create a common rhythm together, not unmanageable chaos. Project an alluring future, and people cohere. They might battle endlessly over differing theories about how to get there, like our blind men around their elephant, but it's there theologies that are in dispute, not their objectives. Their individual passion binds them to their commonality.
David Schmaltz goes on to claim that we know all we need to know to be good project team members. "We are each expert at being human." Let's bring that human-ness back to the center of our project work. Maybe then we will experience the thing…that wonder of projects.
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