Project e-Tip 032: Don’t Mistake Obligation for Commitment
August 11th, 2004 by Hal
There are plenty of ways breakdowns occur on projects. We don't need to add to them. One common problem is taking a short-cut to obligate others to take action rather than to secure reliable promises and freely given commitment.
 The Project Reformer's e-Tip of the Week |
| 032: Don't Mistake Obligation for Commitment |
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In this time of hyper-connectivity and simultaneous physical seperateness we see some extremely bad habits that create breakdowns, frustrations, and waste on our projects. One significant culprit is the emailed meeting request. We all know how it works, someone sends out a meeting request often at the last minute expecting that everyone that receives the request will show up at the meeting. With online calendars the meeting organizer can see that times are "free" and presumes that there will be no reason for saying no. Depending on the stature or rank of the meeting organizer people might understand that the only response is to accept the request or to just show up. There are two mistakes in this scenario. First, one person can not make a promise for another person. The most you can do is to promise to get a promise-yes or a promise-no. The other mistake is in assuming that an "opening" on a calendar grants you authority to commit that time. This is not a matter of the technology. Technology only allows us to do what we will do anyway. Projects are too often commitment-free zones. Take responsibility for activating a network of commitment rather than taking the seeming short-cut to obligate people. Nothing beats a group of people who are committed to complete tasks to the satisfaction of others on their team.
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©2004 Hal Macomber | weblog.halmacomber.com | e-Tip Archive | PDF | Submit Tip |
This week's e-Tip comes to us at the suggestion of reader Linda Raymond of Lockheed Martin. By now Linda is enjoying The Blind Men and the Elephant, Mastering Project Work, by David Schmaltz as a gift for proposing an e-Tip that I published. There are more books as gifts where that one came from. I'm giving UNSTUCK, by Yamashita and Spataro as gifts for the next three e-Tips that I publish. Get yours!
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