What can dogs teach us about project management?

This is a longer article than usual. I’d like you to work with me here as I am taking you on a bit of a winding journey but, this will lead a serious project management issue eventually.?

?I have been thinking a lot about the on-going debate about how much well-established “technical” process and practice is required for successful project delivery. Consider the PMI’s PMBOK 6th and 7th Editions.? All up you have over 1,100 pages of pretty dense material .. all generally considered best practice. Given that both editions also recognise Agile, Waterfall and Hybrid, so today’s project managers have all the process and tools they need for successful delivery … right?

?This is where the dogs come in. Two dogs in fact.

?Our family has recently welcomed a new puppy – Monty – into our home. Our last wonderful dog – Max – gave us 15 years of joy and love so we had forgotten what it is like to “project manage” a puppy. Socks, missing shoes, clothing that is within reach, bits of garden rubbish (twigs, dry plants, small rocks, etc.) are all as interesting to Monty than the numerous “specialist” dog toys that he has. We had forgotten the fun of “zoomies” i.e. running madly in circles growling all the time. Monty is current a project that we would report as Amber previously Red but hopefully moving to Green ?

?A colleague, Garrin, told me about how his kids are involved in NAB’s AFL AusKick. Now, without hopefully offending you, I am a huge AFL fan (Carlton since 1976 .. don’t laugh please). Much like Soccer, I love how the game can shift so randomly so quickly. Positions flexing, intercepts, free kicks and so on bring almost a chaotic element to a game. So, AusKick gives kids the basic rules and skills required to play AFL (sort of like a small person’s PMI Body of Knowledge). However, as Gavin noted, his kids also play footy with their dog – a border collie – who gets the ball and does what border colllies do so well .. random and fast intense “zoomies” with the kids running after him to retrieve the ball. As an AusKick coach said to Garrin, playing with their dog is also really good training for his kids in handling the un-predictable flow of an AFL game.

?So what has this to do about project management? We are getting there but one more road to explore :-)

?Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety – a project challenge

?In the 1950’s and 1960’s there was a revolution in thinking about the behaviour of complex and open systems – called Cybernetics and General Systems Theory (worth checking Wikipedia if you are not familiar). For example, most folks now accept that our planet’s ecosystems are all somehow inter-connected .. the popular Butterfly Effect is an example of General Systems Theory.? One of the key new ideas was Ross Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety.

?Basically, variety is the number of different behaviours that a system or situation can exhibit.? Ashby stated “Only variety can control variety”. If you do not have as much variety as the system or situation you are trying to control has … you will lose control. Simple example, imagine driving a car on a road where there are no road rules such as keep to the right lane, etc (sort of Mad Max scenario). ?

?To manage or control a system or situation you can either (1) Increase your variety or behaviour options or (2) Restrict the variety or behaviour options of the system you are trying to manage. Back to dogs ..

?With Monty, who seems to have unlimited variety of behaviours, we are focussed on Option 2 – restrict Monty’s behaviours. Puppy Pre-school, Dog Training, judicious use of treats, teaching commands like Sit are all designed to train Monty to restrict his variety and be easier to manage. Occasionally, we’ll use Option 1 where both humans (me and Camille) can “outsmart” him i.e. try to out-manoeuvre him for example … not so successful. We’ll get him to Green soon ?

?Projects are complex systems with large variety.

?Every project is unique. It is not the similarity between projects that is the issue – our long-established Bodies of Knowledge and processes can handle those. It is the differencesbetween projects where a PMs ability to increase his or her variety becomes the challenge.

?All of you already understand the potential variety or different behaviours that projects can exhibit. One day you are Green and everything is going fine. Next day, your Sponsor leaves and a key stakeholder changes his requirements. You are now faced with a Red and a whole set of new and unexpected variety to manage.

?So, like all situations where you have to regain control, you have to face into Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety. Ideally, you can adopt both options.

?Option 1: Reduce the new variety in your project

?Using the proven project management processes such as Change Control, Risk Analysis, scheduling, resourcing, costing and so on, you can analyse the impact on the project of the changes (increased variety) and restrict the impact of the changes.

?You can use your established governance processes and seek endorsement of your new plan of action from your Sponsor and Steering Committee. You can also use your Change Management experts to help communicate impacts to your various stakeholder communities. ?The process controls some of the variety … but is that enough?

?Option 2: Increase your variety

?Recently, I was observing a Steering Committee for a major project that was in trouble. There were a number of Red risks that had not been resolved for a couple of reporting periods. One of the Steering Committee members asked the Program Director whether he needed any help. The Program Director responded “No, I am on top of this”. You all know how this all ended up .. badly.

?There has been a long-established, but rarely discussed, view that the ideal project manager is a sort of “alpha” figure able to figure out and control all the challenges that the variety of behaviours a project can exhibit will create. How many times have you heard the statement, especially from some sponsors, that the PM is responsible for benefits. I’ll get this misconception in later articles.

?The best project managers I have met, and I have met a lot, have the smarts, humility and skills to build relationships with their team members and stakeholders that enable an open and collaborative approach to facing project challenges.

?The great Gerry Weinberg once told me that most approaches to problem-solving miss the first and most essential step. Before you solve a problem, determine whose problem it is.

?If a stakeholder has changed their requirements or a new sponsor has been appointed for your project, great project managers do not see that as his or her problem to solve alone but rather a problem that the sponsor, stakeholder, other stakeholders and team members all share and must collaborate to solve together.

?If a stakeholder changes their requirements, it is not your problem alone unless you let it become yours alone. A changed requirements from one stakeholder will seriously impact your project … which will impact other stakeholders, your sponsor and your team as well as you .. everyone shares the problem and the impact of not solving it. If a new sponsor is appointed, that person will be facing a number of challenges, the least of which is getting across all that has happened in the project. That is not just the sponsor’s problem … you get where I am going here.

?Simply, increase your variety by using as many folks who are impacted by the challenge and have a stake in solving it to help you .. the more the better.

?One of my favourite Steve Job’s quotes is "It doesn't make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do."

?Why that quote resonates with me is that I have had the wonderful opportunity over my career to always be working with people who are smarter than me.? By understanding this, they have made me smarter .. I learnt to always ask for help and to be open to many different views .. better than mine. My variety increased as those folks will have far more options than I can generate.

?That is one of the best project management lessons I learnt. ?Asking for help and sharing a problem gets better results.

?As a PM, you are never alone unless you choose to be.