Boxy And Cloudy People

 

What would you see if you are looking from outside the PM profession to Project Managers? What association would you have with the word “Project Management”?

I’m not sure. And PMs are not the people to ask really. You know. Fish discover water last.

It might seem a stupid question, but I think it matters.

If the association you have with “Project Management” is putting you off, you might be missing out on something beneficial to your business or work.

If you assume PM is all about control, grids, measurements, and yelling “DANGER! DANGER!” you might think it’s not for you.

And let’s be fair. Sometimes the way it is presented is … well … boxy. Technological? Abstract? Conceptual? Non-personal?

Let’s stick with “boxy” for now.

And if you are a cloudy person, preferring curved lines instead of grids, the last thing you want to encounter is something boxy.

You read “Project Management” and think “Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.”

And you might miss out on some very useful principles to guide your tribe. Yes. Really.

Things might be totally different if we present things cloudy. Create a metaphor that is human, fun, playful and still addresses the same principles as the boxy approach.

Yes. Yes. For me this would be “The Wizard Of Oz“.

But. That’s me.

It’s not that I want to remove the boxy approach. There are a lot of boxy people. And I love them for being just that. They make sure my plane doesn’t drop from the sky. They make sure the bridge I drove over doesn’t collapse. Love them.

But all those lovely cloudy people that could really need some PM-goodness in their work, we’ll never reach them if we stay boxy.

Really.

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.