The Project Turkey.

 

I am sitting in front of my inbox wondering why none of my US friends responds to email. I open up my RSS reader to read some blog posts, and there it is… a gazillion posts with "Thanksgiving" in the title or references to turkey in the text.

Ah. That's why.

I don't celebrate Thanksgiving. But I do know pictures of turkey, or movies with families celebrating, sitting together around a dinner table. It's the cooked bird that stands out for me.

I know. Stupid.

But it's a sign, a visible thing, a cue that triggers the entire Thanksgiving-association for me. An association I get from movies, pictures and stories.

The turkey is not Thanksgiving. But it's a signal.

If you don't like Thanksgiving for what ever reason, the bird functions as a barrier. If you looooove this holiday, it works like an attractor.

Havi Brooks has duck, called Selma. She also has a terrific blog called Fluent Self.

She explains about the duck:

“I have a duck. I am a biggified blah blah expert whose business partner is a duck.?People who get it and think it’s cool are totally in.?People who think it’s stupid, or suspect that she’s — ewwwwwwwwwww — some kind of marketing ploy, are out. But not because I have to ask them to leave or anything. They just self-select out. They don’t stick.?Having red-velvet-rope Selma around (and let’s be honest, I don’t do anything without her) turns out to be a great way to help people find their way in or out.”

The turkey and the duck (wow, they're all birds man!) are cues that are associated with a cultural context. Social cues.
All groups have culture. So all groups have these cues, or tokens. So in principle, your team has them.

A group culture can create a healthy boundary with the host organization. Something that emphasizes a commonality between the team members. It’s not a judgment about the larger organizations and its employees. A culture provides a common understanding, shared beliefs and having a culture ensures the group stays together in rough times and communicates effectively.

So. A project turkey.

It will keep the team together. And it will keep the larger organization out. At least, those that you don't want in.

Remember last time when I stated that Project Managers are also a social group? Do we also have our own birds?

Gantt charts? Excel? Forms? Templates? Uhm. Language?

These social cues emerge. They are most of the times not designed. But, you could.

What would happen if your project raised the Pirate Flag?

What would happen if you let the external auditor “walk the plank”?

What would happen if every night you raid the cafeteria and stole all the snacks?

You would certainly differentiate yourself from the larger organization!

Arr. Matey.

Or you could include in every post a certain word or phrase.

Shabba?
 

Bas de Baar is a writer who draws about people in transition. He loves to make visual maps and travel guides for the collaborators of our brave new world.