Are You the Mechanic or the Contractor?

Over the past 10 years, Chris Cook has spent his career in the construction industry. He has a Bachelor's of Science in Industrial Technology Management with an emphasis in Building Construction Management and Master's of Science in Project Management. He is an accredited PMP. Follow more of Chris's insights at his blog EntrePMeur.

  Career Development   Consulting   New Practitioners  

I am currently nose deep into Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig. The title is misleading. It is not about motorcycle maintenance and teaching you the ability to perform your own. The motorcycle maintenance is used as a metaphor throughout the book to continue working on yourself. The trip the author discusses along the way can be viewed as your life. There are highs, lows, new friends, old friends, family and so on.

A main concept in the book is he performs his own maintenance while his friend hires all of the work out to a mechanic’s shop. Pirsig will try to explain simple techniques to help his friend become a better motorcycle owner. His friend’s eyes glaze over at the prospect of performing his own, so Pirsig refrains from mentioning it too much. The book tends to get spacey at times, and my eyes start to glaze over—similar to the friend character in the book.

This loss of interest got me thinking about project management and all of the different styles one can learn from. Some project managers like to be hands-on. They want to know every detail of every process to better understand the system on an intimate level. Like Pirsig, the system becomes the obsession, and any fine-tuning that takes place comes from the heart. Because the level of detail is in depth, the fine tuning along the way can save resources down the road. …

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