Some time ago, I was head down in a project that merited attention. It was not lacking in technical foundation, it had a good client, good ideas and aims. There was just one limitation. The project had unexpectedly changed direction and the resistance was constantly increasing. While the journey ahead was still long, resources were being burned up and pressure was mounting.

A Frozen Metaphor

It felt like a desperate situation. Well laid plans had been stumped and we were now looking at a failure that had the potential to damage our company prospects. It reminded me of the situation of one of the most infamous arctic expeditions: The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Without wanting to give away the story of this incredible feat, or wanting to rob you of the visual experience of Kenneth Branagh trudging over endless snow drifts in the documentary dramatization, it is valuable to know that the head of this polar expedition failed to reach his proclaimed goal - to cross the Antarctic by ship - but succeeded in securing the survival of almost all of the men he was leading.

Faced with this projects state I took on board some of what I felt where the lessons of the Trans-Antarctic expedition. In our world of all-successful engineering projects and culture of perpetual youthful enthusiasm for the next big technology, reporting failure and difficulty is not appreciated.

After a long time of pondering what happened I am now writing this article both as a reflection of my own insights and maybe in the hope that it will help to inspire a different thinking about project management and teams that helps us appreciate again that we are deliberately and willingly venturing into difficulty and that we accept and respect the risk of failure.

Leadership is not Success

 Ernest Shackleton by all objective standards, is a failure. His expeditions made some progress and he received the accolade of knighthood. He tireless campaigned for his expedition goals, talked up a storm and borrowed money. But he faced the adversity of the wrong times, the storm of a world-war and the fiercest Arctic winter on record.

In the Trans-Antarctic expedition however, he lead his men on a journey through a frozen wasteland that had killed other explorers before. What started as a journey for fame very soon became a quest for survival after their expedition. And this is so similar to the way many projects still present themselves to us, so many years after Ed Yourdon's classic literary outpour.

Leadership is not success. Leadership is responsibility. In fact as Winston Churchill aptly put it:

The price of greatness is responsibility. 

Hurley's Burden

It was not just Shackleton that made the Expedition an outstanding example of mature conduct under stress. It is equally the behaviour of each of the men that were specialised and well-chosen to join. One that I hold in especially high esteem, and not just because he is a compatriot of mine, is Frank Hurley, the Expedition photographer.

In the days of the Expedition, a camera and the silver bromide plates used for the photographs were heavy and brittle. It is not the sort of thing you take if you just want to survive. Hurley took his Kodak Folding Vest Pocket Camera, 286 images in black and white and 18 Paget color plate screens when the Expedition was marooned and lugged them right up until the men were collected of a barren rock in the middle of the ocean.

The rationale he gave was simple: If they would be found dead, the pictures would document their way. There would be outcomes and results. There would be a valuable legacy. Given that Hurley was a man totally dedicated to the camera as his tool, it is clear that he believed it was going to literally convey a clearer picture of what happened, if no-one would survive.

I believe, we as engineers can take this as a positive example. What message should our data about the project convey after we are gone and if everything has gone wrong. What parts are worth accounting? What is the most striking and contrasting perspective?

Celebrate. You Cannot Take It With You.

When the Expedition's ship went down crushed by the ice, a large proportion of the provisions were saved. But it was impossible to take them. So there was a feast.

Shackleton also decided to celebrate christmas during the hard slog over the ice. The Journal in Ireland has the full story and the menu for that occasion, which included:

• Anchovies in Oil
• Jugged Hare 
• Turtle Soup
• Whitebait
• Mince Pies 
• Christmas Pudding
• Figs, Dates & Crystallised Fruit 
• Tea 
• Biscuits 
• Rum & Stout

and, according to the account, a Christmas pudding Shackleton had "hidden in his sock". In his words, the rationale for the relaxation was practical:

In the evening, everybody joined in a “sing-song”. Hussey had made a one-string violin on which, in the words of Worsley, he “discoursed quite painlessly”. The wind was increasing to a moderate south-easterly gale and no advance could be made, so we were able to settle down to the enjoyments of the evening.

I assume that there will be situations like these in every tense and dreadful project. For me, it is often just these situations that I remember in folklore, rather than the moment the object of the project was eventually delivered against the odds.

Authority Is a Matter of Balance

Shackleton knew that on their escape, once they would reach the shelf of the Antarctic ice, they would need to sail the open ocean. They would need boats. This meant hauling the boats over the ice. These boats were no dinghies. The James Caird was a sea-capable boat, and lugging such lumber over the ice in sub-zero temperatures was beyond hard work. No surprise there was disquiet about this.

Michael Smith gives a good account of McNish's mutiny which Shackleton overcame with a mixture of bribery and threats. He implied he could use deadly force, but wrapped that threat in the tone of legal correctness. Smith also explains how Shackleton was moved by his men to retrieve a boat they had left behind, and that he had originally thought he could do without.

For me, the lesson from this situation is that your approach to leadership, even if there is seemingly little perspective must still be attentive and balanced. You must still make decisions to the best of your ability. In Colin Powell's modern terms:

Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off.

Sail, Climb, and Do Not Give Up

In the end, Shackleton had to make a seagoing ship out of a life-boat, sail it through a storm and climb a mountain range without having any mountaineering experience. He did it, and he got help and retrieved the men he had left behind stranded on a rock. In his words

Difficulties are just things to overcome, after all.

Epilog

For those keen to know what happened to us on the way-back software project.

We survived. We delivered the software. The client was happy. The team remained intact and we did not loose a man from the project manager down.

There was a rumor in the coffee room thereafter that it was good to work with that project manager. He may be tough. And success is not even guaranteed. But we would have signed up again. Do not ask us why.