What If This Whole PM Thing Is Really A Martial Arts Movie?

 

Before you reject the question in the title as self-evidently absurd, consider the basic structure of your garden-variety martial arts movie:

• The protagonist, a young, up-and-coming martial artist, coming off a start-the-movie victory, is noticed by some large, mysterious organization comprised of other martial artists.
• This noticing invariably involves some invitation to a different place, where the protagonist’s skills are put to the test.
• A higher authority of some kind – usually a police or government intelligence agency – reveals their presence within the large, mysterious organization to the protagonist, claiming that they are there as part of an investigation into some nefarious activities.
• This higher authority is convinced that the nefarious activity is happening within the large, mysterious organization, but don’t know if it is being orchestrated by the leader of the organization, or if he’s even aware of it.
• As the protagonist participates in the test/competition, he becomes aware that some behind-the-scenes conniving is occurring that is aimed at preventing him from attaining the stated goal of the original invitation.
• Nevertheless, the protagonist overcomes the conspirators, and discovers that the leader of the overall organization is, indeed, involved in the nefarious activities, up to his eyeballs.
• Here, these movies typically go in one of two directions: either the protagonist overcomes the leader in one-on-one combat (Enter the Dragon), or else overcomes all of the other members of the organization except for the leader, and quits the scene in disgust (Dirty Harry, which, technically, isn’t a martial arts movie per se, but stay with me).

Now compare and contrast this story arc with that of the typical young, talented Project Manager:

• After having successfully bid and managed a smaller project, and/or attained a PMP® certification, or some other notable accomplishment, a young up-and-coming manager is noticed by her organization’s superiors.
• This manager is moved over to a larger existing project, ostensively to help it out of some difficulty.
• At least one extant member of the managerial staff is a widely-recognized or well-respected expert in some aspect of project management, and informs the new PM that some nefarious business practices have crept into the technical approach used in the larger project.
• This expert knows that the nefarious practice is occurring, and is probably the proximate cause of the project’s difficulties, but is unsure if the senior manager is ignorant of the practice, or is actively promoting it.
• As the new PM adds improvements to the baselining and the cost/schedule performance measurement systems, she becomes aware that the organization’s accountants believe that they should be the source and residence of such information, and begin to delay or even defy their roles in setting up those systems.
• Nevertheless, the new PM succeeds in delivering the sorely missed cost/schedule performance reports, which clearly indicate the specific parts of the project’s Work Breakdown Structure responsible for the overruns and delays.
• Here is where the career story arc can take one of two directions: either the poorly-performing managers are finally exposed and reassigned, or else they are exposed and stay in place, due to the senior management team’s direct intervention on their behalf, at which point the new PM despairs of succeeding in an organization that has abandoned a meritocracy, and seeks employment elsewhere.

This story arc is one I have encountered many times in my PM career, and I suspect it does not strike many of my readers as alien, even as it mirrors the typical martial arts move plot structure. And if the story is the same, with only settings, characters, and types of actions that push the plot forward differing, then perhaps we PM-types should be on the lookout for movie cameras hidden in our work areas.

Also, I hereby claim ownership of the rights to any action figures based on my character.