Farewell to Black Sabbath

On the 4th February 2017 I will attend, with my daughter, the very last ever (well they promise it will be the last ever, ever, ever) Black Sabbath gig, nearly 50 years after it all started.

For those who are not of my era or who aren’t aficionados of heavy metal, here is the short history:

Black Sabbath are a heavy metal band from Birmingham, England, consisting originally of frontman Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and Bill Ward on drums. Like many bands over time they have gone through many personnel changes but three of the original members are back for this, The End. Simply put, they invented ‘heavy metal’ and produced four genre defining albums in 2 short years.

The response to these first two albums was instantaneous. ‘Black Sabbath’ reached Number Eight in Britain and exhibited staying power in America, staying in the charts for 65 weeks. ‘Paranoid’ repeated the feat, peaking at Number 12 in the U.S. and charting for 70 weeks; while reaching Number One in the U.K. in a 27 week run. Both albums were certified gold within a year of release.

https://www.blacksabbath.com/

Last year Black Sabbath, now with 75 million album sales behind them, announced international dates for their last ever tour, entitled 'The End'. The band have said ‘when this tour concludes, it will truly be the end. The end of one of most legendary bands in Rock ’n Roll history’.

And I will be there, at the end, 43 years since I first saw them play – London, Hammersmith, May 21st 1974 – (and yes that is a very sobering thought, and yes, I am getting old thank you kindly for noticing that). In fact, I was ten years younger when I first saw them on stage than my daughter will be when we see will both see them climb on to the stage this month, play no doubt all of their greatest hits and take a final bow and head off stage to … immortality, in a musical sense at least.

If you don’t agree with the ‘immortality’ thought, then you must at least give them the legacy of being both the first and also one of the best heavy metal bands that we have ever seen or heard from. You may not like the music, but no one can deny what they have achieved or how many other musicians they have influenced over the many years that they have been around.

After nearly 30 years in project management it is only natural, from time to time, to consider what legacy will I, and my fellow project managers, leave behind for the next generation of project managers? After all it has been the major part of my working life and a period of intense development of the ‘profession’.

Perhaps personally I can consider that my writings, including ‘The Lazy Project Manager’, can be one form of legacy, but in general how have the ‘Accidental Project Managers’ done?

Well I would argue ‘not bad’ should come back on the report; the growth in awareness of all things ‘project’ and the maturing of all of the professional communities, along with the focus on project skills and methods in most organisations is a pretty good place to be today. Plus, there is a vibrant wealth of knowledge out there (books, websites, blogs, podcasts, communities of practice, magazines such as ‘Project’ and so on) that project managers today can tap in to.

Yes, of course, 100% of projects are still not successful (and probably never will be) but project health is so much better these days in general and much of this is to do with the investment in project managers (training, support, certification etc) – the days of the ‘Non-Accidental Project Manager’ are definitely with us. The respect that organisations give project management is hugely increased from my early days, when it was barely even noticed or spoken about.

But there is much left to be done naturally; raising the standard of executive sponsorship, connecting business strategy to project based activity, making project management a default step on the path to the top, the ‘C level’, of an organisation etc.

But all in all I think we should be proud of our achievements and be confident that the generation of ‘Intentional Project Managers’ entering the project management world today have a great legacy to build from.

And personally? Well I’m no Ozzy Osborne (actually there are some photos somewhere that have me trying very much to look like him back in the 1970s) and I’m no Black Sabbath either, and I have sold nowhere near 75 million copies of The Lazy Project Manager, but I’m pretty happy with the success that I have achieved and love each and every connection I receive on LinkedIn or follower on Twitter. I respect and enjoy each of the 60,000 podcast subscribers out there in project management land, and I thrill with each presentation or keynote I get to deliver around the world.

And so, I have no plans as yet to start my own ‘The End’ tour but I salute one of my heroes, Black Sabbath, thanks guys for all of the music and all of the emotion over the years, I look forward to being a small part of the last ever, ever, ever Black Sabbath gig in Birmingham in a few days.

And when that time comes that I deliver my final presentation I can only hope that the audience feel a miniscule part of the appreciation that I, and my daughter, and all of the other members of the audience will feel when the final note is played and the cheers rise for the perhaps greatest heavy metal band ever.

Thank you.

Peter (still Paranoid after all these years)