Beware Invisible Random Flying Pentothal Darts

 

Sodium thiopental, marketed as Pentothal, is a drug that was used as anesthesia in the United States way back when I was having my wisdom teeth removed. For a long time it had the nickname “truth serum,” and when I was administered it I quickly found out why. It’s a good thing my oral surgeon and his assistant had my mouth propped open and full of gauze and instruments for the procedure – I would have told them anything they wanted to know, had they asked. To this day I’m not quite sure why. I seem to remember an overwhelming urge to be accepted by these two relative strangers. Also, I didn’t feel any pain.

Meanwhile, Back In The Project Management World…

Now, Pentothal’s use as a means of extracting an accurate account from a reluctant person has been reduced to near-elimination, with critics equating its use for this purpose as torture. That having been said, I must admit to being occasionally reminded of my experience with Pentothal during monthly project review meetings, particularly in those cases where the project being reviewed is passing cost and schedule performance data indicating that it’s clearly in trouble, but the PM is unwilling to own up to that fact. Sometimes they will seek to avoid any mention of difficulties, no matter how pronounced. An explanation of this phenomena is perhaps best illustrated by the Game Theorist’s favorite tool, the payoff grid, so:

Since every project wants to be in Scenario 2.A., we’ll skip straight to its congruent cousin, Scenario 1.B. Even if the PM perceives he is in over his head and doesn’t mind publishing the nature and extent of the project’s difficulties, this is an undesirable Scenario. It’s something of an admission of failure on the part of the PM, that the particular circumstances of the project were more than a match for that PM’s skills.

Where we get into PM nightmare territory is when there’s a disconnect between the cost and schedule performance information on a given project and that project’s reality. If the system is showing overruns or delays, when everything is really okay (Scenario 2.B.), then the organization’s executives are likely to become involved, potentially making decisions that (a) are best made by the PM, and (b) performance-neutral, or even counter-productive. If the PM didn’t have a problem before, she has one now. Its non-congruent partner, where the project really is in difficulty, but the cost/schedule performance systems aren’t alerting to it, is where “surprise” overruns and scheduling delays originate. And few things will irk a Program Manager more than learning that the projects in the portfolio, which were showing everything proceeding fine, are, in fact, comprised of elements in trouble.

This is where the invisible random flying Pentothal darts come in. In most project review meetings, there will be at least one person who is both savvy in the workings of Project Management Information Systems and is willing to challenge projects that show symptoms of even approaching Scenario 1.A. But to make such challenges, depending on the organization’s particular corporate culture, can be hazardous, even a career-limiting move (the dreaded CLM). I used to think that these challengers were either very brave or extremely naïve, but then I realized there was another possible explanation for people blurting out a truthful observation in an environment where it was dangerous to do so: they may have been injected with a tiny amount of Pentothal. But if it wasn’t administered via hypodermic needle, then how? Perhaps a small dart with its tip dipped could have been employed, but these must have been rendered invisible. Additionally, I noticed that these challengers wouldn’t take on all of the projects being presented in the review, and sometimes more than one person would assume the role of challenger. There must be some sort of randomizing element in the way these darts fly about the conference room.

As to who’s launching all these invisible, random flying Pentothal darts, I may take that up in a future blog, though I must admit to a certain fascination with the idea that PMI® has finally developed a more robust enforcement mechanism than publishing and certification training (I don’t really think they’re doing it. I’m just fascinated with the idea.). For the present, suffice to say that, if you happen to be in a project review meeting, and you are suddenly overcome with the urge to challenge anomalous cost/schedule information being presented in an everything-is-okay narrative, and you are neither exceptionally brave nor naïve, you may have been hit by one of these darts. This could be bad for your career.

That’s why you should beware of them.