Compass: State of the Art of Project Management
March 16th, 2004 by HalDavid Schmaltz is in great form in the latest issue of Compass Newsletter. He uses the metaphor of the performing artist to examine the state of the art of project management.
I have to admit that it took me two reads to appreciate David's message. I'm not a thespian, theatre buff, nor art aficionado. The metaphor was overworked for me. However, David puts it succinctly:
The state of any art has never been defined by that art's business.
While art these days needs to be supported commercially, the quality of the art is not synonymous with the commercial returns. Extrapolating, just because a project or project methodology produces commercial value doesn't mean that the way we do those projects produces the value that we intend.
I was surprised to find these comments tucked at the end of the article:
Those who have chided us for avoiding involvement with the XP, Agile, and Lean movements expected us to hop onto one or another of those bandwagons. Our question was and always has been, ?What will people do once they take to these stages?? We find players performing in remarkably similar ways, whether the stage holds a waterfall, a spiral, or a high school production of the land-rush scene from Oklahoma!
But reflecting, David has his own idea of methodology and ideology. To put words in his mouth, 'Projects are personal. People already always have what they need to deliver project results. Just let them be human.' [David, how did I do?]
David Schmaltz is one smart guy. He's backed up by business partner Amy Schwab who proves the rule two are smarter than one. Read this issue of Compass and get yourself on their subscription list. And if you haven't done so already read his book The Blind Men and the Elephant, Mastering Project Work.
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March 17th, 2004 at 10:46 pm
Hal:
First, thanks for the unsolicited promotion! Very much appreciated. Second, I think that whatever you got from the newsletter works well for me. My intention, cloaked in several interweaving metaphors, was that the state of the art depends more upon the state of the artist and not the state of the script, theater, or director. I see so many PMs knocking their heads against the wall created by inept performers. There’s much more than remembering lines to fulfilling a project role. Doing what the director orders might even be beside the point. Great directors depend upon their actors to interpret well. That’s where the spark comes from in memorable performances.
And that we attend little to the personal responsibilities required to create memorable performances. We teach technique but don’t attend much to developing the artist that must interpret whateven they start out with to contribute to a coherent outcome.
david
March 18th, 2004 at 4:12 pm
David, Hal,
I have thought along these same lines; I think several months ago I posted on planner2planner yahoo forum how we were viewing a project similar to a theatrical production, as a means to highlight what is different.
David, I’ll diasgree, respectfully, to a point. In construction, the state of the script is awful. It was developed based on an accounting objective. The players are selected not by a casting professional, but by another player based on price. The players do not rehearse; they figure out costumes, set and script concurrent with their delivery to the customer.
Now to me, the essence of a play is what arises as a whole from all these parts (script, players, set and costume). That’s the synergy concept.
In construction, we haven’t learned to even define what it is that arises as a whole. Using the play metaphor, the customer comes to mind. Yes, it is simply perceived value. Or is it?
To me the rehearsal needs to happen. In construction, that means we have to plan with execution in mind. No Architect does that for us. Then at this point, your comments I feel are of greater importance.
March 18th, 2004 at 4:59 pm
Yes, improv is the norm. And we do have players who are good at it. Value received is spotty. Why? Because in construction, we disassemble our team for each performance and begin again anew. We lose the synergy that could be nurtured by the continuity that is the norm for a serial production.
We are very green at the performing Lean. Our first experience is an eye opener. We scrubbed our script, we’ve pushed for some coordination, people are giddy and gleeful, morale is high, we’re ahead of schedule. We’ll never look back.
Now this is the setting to work with people with regard to their performance!