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Someone Else’s Goals
David Schmaltz is a project manager in Takoma Park, Maryland.
What do I want? What have I got? What will I settle for? In part two of our Developing Project Community series, the author makes the case that answering these questions encourages an enlightened self-interest among all project participants, and, in doing so, actually deflates the divisiveness and competitiveness that so often sabotages teams.
In part one of this series, “The Good, Er, Old Days,” I recounted how projects were mustered before the practice of “project community” began taking root. Observing that some have mistaken project community for a buzzword meaning nothing different than project team, I introduced a finer distinction. In this second installment, I consider the importance of enlightened self-interest.
“No one is apathetic, except in pursuit of someone else’s goals.”
If projects were simply logistical task series, project team might acknowledge the interactions involved in completing those tasks. If projects were just about delivering a set of requirements to someone else, team might well describe those doing the delivering. But projects are not so much comprised of tasks and requirements as they are composed of human relationships. Focusing exclusively on tasks and requirements can shackle those trying to create successful projects.
Sure, we complete tasks. Of course we fulfill requirements. …
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