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Churchill: The Agile PM (Part 15)
Most people are very familiar with Winston Churchill but may not be familiar with his “agile” approach to project management and his skills as a PM in the summer of 1940. Part 14 looked at how Churchill personally communicated using both verbal and non-verbal communication to fight the mood of defeatism, build confidence and get buy-in into his plan. With an invasion imminent, this article discusses how he stiffened resolve, took the offense with decisive action and focused on the moral dimension of events. This was very pertinent to Churchill’s long-term strategy.
In today’s world, the PM is the principal representative of the project. In many projects, after the euphoria of the kickoff meeting there comes a point where reality sets in, and so does the enormity of the task. Confidence may start to wane and a wobble factor may creep in.
As pointed out in “Project Got the Blues?” by Doug DeCarlo, “confidence refers to a team member’s belief that by working together, we can actually succeed.” The role of the PM is to act courageously to shift the mood. “In the agile or extreme project management view of the world, the role of the project manager is to manage the projects emotional well-being.”
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"We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it - and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again, and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore." - Mark Twain |