The Project Shrink

I always enjoy the David Copperfield solution to problems: if you cannot move the mountain, just change the angle of the camera. I spent many hours sitting in front of the television wondering how he made the mountain, plane and the world in general disappear. And so fast! I know!

Yes, he changed the angle of the camera. But in such a cool way, you didn't notice it.

I am starting to realize that this Project Leadership stuff is about playing with the camera.

Let me explain this by creating a new version of the famous story about the "Three Blind Men And The Elephant". The original goes roughly like this:

Three blind men that are describing an elephant by just touching the animal. The first one feels its trunk and thinks it is some kind of rubber hose. The second one is standing at the side of the elephant and imagines some kind of massive wall. The third and final man is located near the tail of the elephant. He figures its a rope. The moral of this story is that while everyone is “looking” at the same thing, they don't see the proper whole. So, leaders must have an overarching view of the problems, not be blind men.

My version would go something like this:

If you have an elephant and one of your stakeholders needs a rope, just turn the butt of the elephant towards him and let him see the tail. If another stakeholder wants a wall, just direct the elephant to its side and let him marvel at the beautiful gray wall. And if a team member has a strong desire to become a fireman, let him stand close to the trunk of the elephant.

I know. It's a little bit offbeat. But you get the idea.

In "Managing Sensitive Projects" the authors explain the concept of "lateral projects". Your single project can have many "lateral projects" for different people. You  formulate the project or end result in such a way that it appeals to a specific group of people. Perhaps you have to focus differently or to include some stuff to make it interesting.

If your project has a life changing goal, one that makes your existence worthwhile, one that makes you feel powered up like an energizer bunny, it’s almost difficult to be get people not motivated. An awesome project goal makes things easier, but this also works for, uhm, lets say, normal projects.

Lateral project! Emphasize or add something to appeal. Work the camera.

Somewhere between the Millennium-bug and Euro-conversion projects, I worked with a small team creating interfaces between information systems. A lot of interfaces. Basically, the same work over and over again. It’s hard to stay motivated.

At this time XML was just discovered by tech marketers. So, there was this way cool new tech, that everyone was talking about, and there we were, building interface after interface with our old school stuff.

Aha!

What if we could use the new shiny stuff to build our programs? Functionality would be the same, costs identical, but the development team could learn and use new technology. They would be excited to be involved in something “state-of-the-art”. Instant motivation.

Working the camera. This is an important mechanism to align project interests with individual interests.

You can't change the elephant. You don't have time for that. Or the authority. But you can put the the elephant in a dress if that would make someone happy.

Essentially it is about perception and presentation. Remember? Nothing is real.
 

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.

I am cleaning up my "writing" room. The one that has all the books in it. I need to make some space for a new printer/scanner/coffeemaker/toaster. I think the last one I owned was a matrix printer that actually made more noise than a power drill. Not that I have ever owned a power drill. Although I am sure that the printer I will buy in ten years has one integrated.

"You can print the photos of your children and drill a hole in the wall at the same time!"

I have to move books from one spot to another. Hoping that in some magical way rearranging my library will create an oasis of unused space. This is also the room where we hang up the laundry. So every little free spot will magically be filled with my socks. I have to move the books fast, cram the printer in the space I just created, before my shirts will occupy it.

So I want to move the books fast.

I pick one up. Look at the cover. And there I go …. "Oh yes. I remember this one. I bought it when I was traveling the first time .. "

Ok. This is not so bad. It's not fast. But it seems fast enough. Haven't seen one piece of laundry yet.

I see the corner of some pages folded. Earmarked. I do that. When I read, I read with pen, underlining stuff I find important, and earmark the page.

I open the book. Flip to a marked page. And there I go …. "Oh wow. I don't remember this. This is an incredible insight. It took me years to come up with an answer myself, but this conclusion is so much better!"

I repeat this with every single book.

The room is filled with laundry.

Am I the only one that has this?

For me reading these books is one big eye opener. Because it helps me to remember where a lot of the thoughts I currently hold come from.

An example of what I mean.

In "The Flight Of The Creative Class" Richard Florida writes about a study by Gary Gates concerning economic growth and diversity of the group:

"He also examined the effects of of two kinds of social capital (…): "bonding", or within-group social capital, and "bridging" social capital, the strength of ties between different ethnic, racial or social groups. In every measure Gates applied, he found diversity to be significantly related to economic growth."

Related in a positive way that is.

And now I remember. Florida showed me the link between creativity and diversity. Between diversity and problem solving. And in the end, between diversity and economic growth.

This is important to me. After 4 years I couldn't remember the source of this insight. I use it. I use it a lot.

And I can see the logical reasoning behind this. But I could not remember the reference and broader context.

It is like opening some mental door.

All of a sudden, a lot of connections to other concepts are highly visible. I have had these connections in my brain for some years. But if you put a lot of stuff in year brain, old connections have to move away for new ones. There is just not enough room to put them all in.

But if you just pick one and move it around, it seems all of a sudden there is enough room for these thoughts after all.

You only have to make sure the free space doesn't get occupied with stuff you don't want in there.

Great the sun is shining! I'll move the laundry outside to dry.

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.

When you enter a bar, your body is screaming: PARTY!

When you enter your office, your body is yelling: WORK!

Your surroundings signal to your body what mode to use. What kind of rules to invoke. When running on autopilot, which program to take.

If you suffer from insomnia, one of the main suggestions is to use your bedroom just for sleeping. Not for watching TV. Not for reading. Just sleep. So when you enter your bedroom, your body will switch into "Yay! Sleep!" mode.

I have my writing room. It's the smallest room in the house. It holds all the books I own. And two racks of laundry. That is where I write. Even if no one is at home. I will still sit in that room with all the books. That's my comfort zone for writing.

"Go to the beach. You can write at that beautiful place."

I know. But I won't. I need my piles of books. When I enter the room, my body switches into "Mr Writer" mode.

This is one of the major difficulties with working at home. The body can get confused. Too much switching around between modes can get your routines all messed up.

Environments and habits can help you get into a certain mode.

In the book "Switch. How To Change Things When Change Is Hard" the authors Chip and Dan Heath tell a story about a school that used to have a lot of problems with students. There appeared to be no discipline. Classes were interrupted, kids would run and scream and enter the building almost never on time.

After some research the principal of the school noticed that this was mostly a succession of the situation they found themselves in before they entered the school, at home. They already arrived at the school premises yelling and in a hurry. No wonder they started classes in the same mode.

The school established some habits for the students at the beginning of each school day. Parents weren't allowed to enter the building anymore, so when the group assembly in the cafeteria would start they were shielded from outside interruptions. Each day would start with some group exercises to get them into "school mode", to help them make the switch.

Agile development teams will start the day with a daily stand up. A short effective get-together in which team members talk about their current affairs. It is habit that gets the group into "agile team mode".

It is like dancing. You know the sequence of steps. The first steps you have to think about, be conscious about how they flow. But once you get started, the rest follows automatically. You need the first step to get your body into "dance mode".

That is why habits are so important to establish for temporary tribes.

Not only do they establish a sense of culture, a sense of belonging, but they also help to get the team into the right "mode" as fast as possible.

When your team is dispersed and largely virtual it helps to get everyone synchronized. To get the same heartbeats. To get the same pulse. No matter what they did just before starting the work, no matter where they were located just before starting the collaboration, the right habit or ritual can harmonize the groups biorhythm.

Rituals!

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.

In an article called "What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage", Amy Sutherland describes her attempt to train her husband by using a technique used in animal training: intermittent reinforcement. If you see desired behavior, you reward this. That's it. You don't respond to behavior you don't want. No punishment.

What works for Shamu the whale also works for humans.

I read about this article in the book "Switch. How To Change Things When Change Is Hard" by Chip and Dan Heath. They explain why this technique is very powerful. You don't need to know anything about the other person. No need to do a background check, dive into his childhood, inform about his wants and needs. None of that.

Chip and Dan argue in "Switch" that behavior is largely determined by the situation people are in and not so much on some fundamental personal properties. They call this the Fundamental Attribution Error. In intermittent reinforcement, a term originating from the the famous behaviorist B.F. Skinner, fundamentals don't count, just the current situation and the current behavior.

Reward and acknowledge desired behavior.

Mattias Hällström, founder and director of R&D at Stockholm based Projectplace, was the first to coin the term to me in the context of Project Management. We were discussing Social Project Management and he mentioned this specific type of reinforcement as one of the fundamentals for Social PM. Just reward or acknowledge desired behavior.

Simple.

Powerful.

Even in our digital world.

The Facebook "Like" button is intermittent reinforcement in action. You can only acknowledge that you like something, that it is a desired piece of information. There is no "dislike" button. There never will be. It is only about emphasizing that what is desired.

I am not suggesting you should hand out squid to your temporary tribe when they perform a trick well. You don't have to "like" every single word they write on the online discussion board. And of course, tapping everybody on the head just because they filed their timesheets on time ("Good boy! Yes! Yes you are!") gets annoying.

But when this mechanism is used with care … wow!

Perfect for temporary tribes. Groups that don't know each other very well. People that work for the first time together and have no background knowledge of each other. None needed.

Reward and acknowledge desired behavior.

That's it. That's all.

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.

On your first day in the new building of the unknown organization amongst your unfamiliar tribe members, you are decorating your desk.

Sure enough, the Cubicle Farm Police has policies against that. Every wall should remain anonymous gray. And dark. Oh, the horror when daylight would hit your desk.

But you find a loop hole in the 50 page workplace policy document. No mentions of palm trees!

So you bring a huge palm tree to put on your desk. Nothing brightens up a place like a little bit of tropical green.

Watch what happens.

You are new. You mix with the natives. You blend in. Well. Almost.

People will gather under the palm tree. Give you compliments. Provide you with tips on how the harvest those coconuts. Someone will bring a hammock. It will become a hangout and topic of conversation.

Yes, this would be a flag.  A flag for me represents a visible element of a culture that identifies that culture and the people part of the culture.

But it's more than that.

It is a topic of conversation. People socialize around and about the palm tree.

Hugh MacLeod coined the term "Social Object" for this phenomenon:


"The Social Object, in a nutshell, is the reason two people are talking to each other, as opposed to talking to somebody else. Human beings are social animals. We like to socialize. But if think about it, there needs to be a reason for it to happen in the first place. That reason, that “node” in the social network, is what we call the Social Object."

The power of a Kanban board is not only the visible representation of the work to do, but also the board itself. It becomes a hangout, a place where you talk about how to schedule and divide the work. It's a Social Object.

If you keep a document on the hard drive and only refer to it when people ask: "yeah, you can find it somewhere on the drive" it's a grey anonymous cubicle: nobody wants to go there and talk about it. Instead print it in color, one limited copy, on a chain to the desk so nobody can steal it. And see what happens.

People gather around the document. Flip through it. And engage in a conversation about it.

Put up a big screen in the hallway displaying your issue log. People will gather. People will talk.

Social Objects? Wow!

The palm tree is a perfect illustration of how you can bootstrap your temporary tribe without screaming your own tune from the top of your longs. Just a subtle flag, in this case an enormous tropical tree, can do the trick. You don't force people to come by. They choose to. If they think it's cool, they hang out. If they don't, well, they don't.

If you think a palm tree is too much, why not use a fish tank. With piranhas.

Or your teapot collection.

Or a picture of dogs playing poker.

Or a plastic parrot on your shoulder.

Or.

Ah well.

You know.

A miniature version of your freak flag.

 

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.