Kids’ Stuff

Michael Aucoin, D. Engr., PE, PMP is president of Leading Edge Management, LLC in College Station, Texas and author of Right-Brain Project Management: A Complementary Approach. He can be reached at [email protected].

  Agile  

When writing my book Right-Brain Project Management, I adapted a great concept by Dave Snowden to agile projects. Snowden is with Cognitive Edge in the United Kingdom, and helps organizations navigate through complex environments. He introduced the metaphor of the children’s birthday party.

I have three children, the oldest of which is 18. How does a conscientious parent (and now a PMP) plan for the first real birthday party of the first child, say when he or she is 4 years old? Of course, the parents create the perfect plan. The plan goes something like this.

• From 2:00 to 2:05 pm, the kids arrive. As they arrive, guests sit in the den. At 2:05, we start games.
• From 2:05 to 2:20, we have the first game, four square, and the kids take turns and follow the rules.
• From 2:20 to 2:30, the kids take turns striking a piñata. After the piñata breaks, they share the candy and clean up any debris.

I could continue with the rest of the plan, but you get the drift. The crazy thing is, we had the perfect plan, but the kids just wouldn’t follow it. The execution of the plan went south right around 2:01. A plan like this leads to nothing but frustration for everyone involved--the stressed-out parents and the kids.

Any group of 4-year olds is a complex, nearly out-of-control organism. In a similar manner, any group of adults is …

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