How I Keep A Holistic View On Projects.

 

Your project is part of a larger context. Longer journeys. Larger stories. And these stories shape your project more than you know. It’s like Star Wars. You can watch just episode IV. And enjoy it. But it starts really making sense when you watch the entire series.

Your project is an episode in two stories.

The Story Of You. The individuals that are involved in the project. An individual has an ambition and a reputation. And he has a role in your Big Adventure. When the project has finished, you have changed. You gained skills, knowledge, reputation, a new party hat.

The other narrative is The Story Of The Organization. An organization has a history and finds itself facing a challenge all of a sudden. An opportunity to take or a threat to conquer. It is the host of the project. And when the project is done, things have changed.

For those that are input-output oriented: a project is a transition. You have a before and after. An IST and SOLL. Traditionally we focus on the organizational level. And that's cool. It's important to talk with your team about this organizational journey.

By exploring the relationship of the project and this journey, you and your team create awareness around why you are doing things. Awareness beyond the normal “build this” specification. A sense of why you are doing what you are doing. This will help the team to make decisions that fulfill the organizations desires and be more in tune with its context.

Important stuff.

But we can forget the personal narrative which is also a transformational story. A before and after. Viewing what you do today in the context of a larger path will help you explore your relationship with the current project. Why do you do what you do? Why do you want to do things in the first place? The Story Of You also addresses the relationships with your team members. They know a little more about your background. They see how you add to the diversity of the group. And it makes us all look more human.

Also very important stuff.

This is my solution for having a holistic view on your project, the organization and the team members.

The image at the start of this post hangs on my wall.

It helps me to get the important things around projects into perspective.

It goes from PAST to FUTURE on the organizational and individual level. The project is a transitional journey. The project is a container within the larger context. The project is on a road towards "done".

You also have Landmarks  that answers the question "how do we know how far we are", Stakeholders, Decisions (Signpost maps) and Uncertainty (Hurricane maps).

It helps me personally a lot. I hope it provides some inspiration to you too.

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.