The Art of War - Chapter 1 - Part 3
From the Drunken PM Blog
by Dave Prior
Drunken Boxing for Project Managers
“The main feature of the drunkard boxing is to hide combative hits in drunkard-like, unsteady movements and actions so as to confuse the opponent. The secret of this style of boxing is maintaining a clear mind while giving a drunken appearance.”
Yeah... just like that… but with network diagrams and burndown charts… and a wee bit less vodka.
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Date
The Art of War - Chapter 1 - Part 3
After listing the five measures (see Chapter 1 - Part 2), Sun Tzu provides an explanation of each of the elements. Throughout the Art of War there are a number of places where Sun Tzu offers an explanation through the use of contrasts and by listing elements which, when grouped together, provide a more complete explanation of the point he is trying to make. If this seems a bit daunting, consider the way the none of the traditional elements that make up a true project plan (Charter, Risk Plan, Communications Plan, Project Schedule, etc.) provide as complete an explanation of what the project entails individually as they do when grouped together.
The Tao (The Way)
Sun Tzu explains The Tao (or The Way) as the thing that unites men with the mind
of the person leading them in an unwavering way, despite the threat of death. For a project, or an organization, this would extend beyond a mission or vision statement into how it plays out within the culture of those involved, either uniting them, or not.
Heaven (The Political Environment)
In defining Heaven and Earth, which I defined (in Chapter 1 - Part 2) as being akin to the Political Environment and the Organizational Structure, they are respectively explained as a balance of opposites and measures.
Heaven is
Yin and Yang,
Cold and Hot
The cycle of seasons
When applied to a political environment, the cyclical, dynamic but dependable state of the four changing seasons gives context to the listing of the opposites above. The political nature of an organization will always be in flux. There will always be opposing forces, but the dynamically shifting nature of that balance is something to be relied upon and carefully monitored. So, regardless of what type of political situation you face, you can always depend on the fact that change is coming and no matter how things are balanced today, they will be different tomorrow. Trust in the change, not in the state.
Earth (The Organizational Structure)
The organizational structure, or Earth, is defined in a list of actual measures:
... Height and depth,
Distance and proximity
Ease and Danger...
While it may be simpler to see, it is no less critical than the political environment/Heaven. Because it is less abstract, it can be examined in a more exact way, using more tangible metrics. However, Heaven and Earth are paired in the Art of War. The organizational structure and political environment can't be seen individually. They are a pair, and moreover, as part of the five measures, just two of the ways we experience that with which we are interacting.
Command (Leadership)
In explaining what he means by Leadership, or Command, Sun Tzu provides a list of ingredients. I have always worked under the assumption that these have been listed in a particular order based on the overall importance of each to organizational maturity (with Wisdom being prized above all and Severity as the lowest ranking critical value), but that may just be me. Either way, if you were to examine an organization and rate them along each of these points, you would be able to develop a fairly clear understanding of the overall value system and (arguably) maturity of that organization.
Wisdom
Integrity
Compassion
Courage
Severity
Discipline
Discipline is perhaps the easiest of the five measures for a project manager to understand. It is defined as...
Organization
Chain of command
Control of expenditure
This is a simple, concrete explanation.
Sun Tzu closes out this section of the chapter by saying that every leader is aware of the five measures, but there is a difference between being aware and truly understanding them.
He who grasps them wins
He who fails to grasp them loses
According to The Art of War, there are five vantage points from which you should be studying any organization/company/opportunity/opponent/insert name of thing you are facing that you are scared of or do not understand here. If you study the five measures for your situation to a point where you have true clarity on each of them, then by your very understanding of them, you will succeed. However, if you don't, by your very lack of understanding, will fail.
To use a simple analogy, assuming you have all five of your senses available to you, (because as Sun Tzu says, "Every commander is aware of these five fundamentals", you experience the world through taste, touch, smell, sight and sound, all together. If you had the ability to see, but started ignoring any visual input, how true would your understanding of the world be? How successful would you be in it? And perhaps more importantly, how safe would you be?
Quotes listed in this entry are taken from John Minford's Penguin Books Great Ideas translation "Sun Tzu The Art of War (Strike with Chaos)" published by Penguin books in 2006. The passage covered in this entry can be found on pages 2 and 3 of the book. If you'd like to purchase a copy, you can do so here.
Posted on: January 29, 2010 09:23 PM |
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Comments (2)
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Hans Robbers
Senior Director| Salesforce
Vlissingen, Netherlands
Very interesting article. There is something to keep in mind. Once in a while it is very good to exclude all your senses and focus on one only to get unbiassed information. By going around through your senses in isolation you might discover new insights which you would have missed if you kept listingin to all senses.
I have the same experiences by looking at the 5 aspects of Sun Tzu. Compare it with listing to a concert by a orchestra where you single out an instrument to admire its beauty
Any thoughts?
Dave Prior
Trainer/Consultant| LeadingAgile
New York, Ny, United States
Hi,
Thanks for the feedback.
So, with the cutting off of the senses you are trying to remove your own biases yes? Sort of the noise your receivers are adding to the signal? I think that is pretty important also. Being able to step back and be objective about everything is a critical part of a PMs decision making process.
The idea of listening to a single instrument in an orchestra is particularly interesting because there are people who, for whatever reason, are not able to separate the sounds and listen in that way. But I do agree with you that being able to focus and examine aspects of a project at a detailed level, is very important. Ideally, we are able to look at things in the context of everything else, and at an individual level.
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