I bet most people who have worked on projects have heard or thought of some versions of the following sentences:
“I understand what we are doing, but no earthly idea why.”
“I am more confused than a termite on a yoyo.”
“The processes for this project are more screwed up than a pile of coat hangers.”
“Why do I end up doing most of the work? What are these other numbnuts doing?”
“I am running around like a chicken with its head cut off.”
“I am not sayin’ nothin’. If it goes wrong, it will be my head on the chopping block.”
“You can’t trust any of these guys in my project. They won’t hesitate to throw you under the bus.”
These thoughts may arise from the chaotic cauldron of emotions and feelings during a project; however, they are not uncommon. I am the co-founder of a company that builds indoor cellular networks. Over the last 20 years, we have worked on more than 5,000 projects, and I have heard all these lines or some variations of them.
There are some common themes to these statements. And most of the disparaging remarks orbit around these common themes.
- Lack of clarity in purpose, process, and project plans
- Overburdened and under-resourced
- Lack of psychological safety or sense of control
- Lack of team cohesion
- Lack of pride and inspiration
If you are in a project that has these elements, you will be irritated and stressed most of the time. This is not the experience you want to have.
Traditional project management framework does not incorporate human experience as an integral part. The famous iron triangle of project management, balancing cost, speed, and quality, are at the core of managing projects – human experience be damned.
I believe it’s about time we engineer human-centered project management. What does it even mean? In addition to having projects completed on time and within budget, you want your project team to be inspired and motivated to tackle the next challenge and ready for the next battle – curious, enthusiastic, and fearless.
Through a series of blog posts on this website, I will research, explore and propose a framework to show how to codify experience in project management and how we can reach the layer of inspiration.
Credit: Photo by Bethany Legg on Unsplash
