What wood $1B do? (Part 1)
|
Author’s Note: That’s not a typo, it’s a Dad Joke. Wood, not would, because this is about trees, and a very lofty sum of over one BILLION dollars. A recent article in The Guardian got my attention for two reasons. Reason 1 – and this may seem trivial, but maybe it is kind of important – was the terminology we use in project management. Reason 2 – this is an example of what we called in our book, Green Project Management a 'Green by Nature' project, one in which the objectives of the project are laser-focused on an improved sustainability outcome. In this post I will talk a bit about the terminology and will follow up with more details on some of the individual projects under the umbrella of a program, in a follow-up post. Let’s start with PMI’s definition of a project. From the PMI 7th Edition PMBOK® Guide, a project is: “A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result”. A program is “Related projects, subsidiary programs, and program activities that are managed in a coordinated manner to obtain benefits not available from managing them individually.” Yet, the announcement, and the coverage in the press, is sloppy with the use of these terms, and throws a bunch of other terms, like initiative, effort, endeavor, in the mix. It’s not just the press. In my experience as a practitioner and a consultant and lecturer, I have come across major confusion and mishegoss (look it up) with respect to (or perhaps because of lack of respect for) project management titles and job descriptions. Again, words are important. When it comes to organizations, sometimes the way project managers are titled is a “tell” regarding the maturity level of the organization. Those which respect the discipline of project management (or even project leadership!) follow through with appropriate titles for the people and the names of the initiatives on which they are working. Note: I use the word “initiative” – a positive word – as the overarching term for projects, programs, and portfolios. If you follow this blog, you know that I’m not happy with the title Project Manager, because I assert that we are project LEADERS. That’s covered as a theme in many posts, so I won’t repeat it here, but words do matter. So, what about the words thrown around, like endeavor, project, initiative, effort, work, scheme, gambit, stratagem…? I think this one is clearly a program and should be called such. Here are some snippets form the US Department of Agriculture’s announcement: “The Urban and Community Forestry Program is the only program in the federal government dedicated to enhancing and expanding the nation's urban forest resources. This is the largest single USDA Inflation Reduction Act investment to date in urban and community forests.” “Studies show that trees in communities are associated with improved physical and mental health, lower average temperatures during extreme heat, and increased food security, and create new economic opportunities. This historic funding will help the Forest Service support projects that increase tree cover in disadvantaged communities, provide equitable access to the benefits of nature, and deliver tangible economic and ecological benefits to urban and Tribal communities across the country.” To their credit, the USDA did use “Program” for the most part when referring to this initiative. To (excuse the pun) plant a seed for the next blog post, have a look at this video which talks about the rationale for launching the program. In the follow-up post (Part 2), I will talk much more about this Program, and leave the terminology behind. See what I did there…? |
PM Lessons from the Wood Wide Web
|
Nope. That's not a typo. I'm going to talk about the Wood Wide Web, not the WWW you've come to know online. In fact, you may never have heard of the Wood Wide Web - perhaps because you haven't been able to see the forest for the trees. Yep, this blog post is a bit different from the rest. It’s about lessons we can learn about stakeholders, sustainability, and communications – all key project management concepts – from, of all things, a combination of beagles, fungi, trees, and little critters called springtails. The inspiration for this post came from Radiolab, my favorite podcast. If you don’t listen to this podcast and you have even a remote interest in science and/or comedy, you are missing out. Check it out here: http://www.radiolab.org/series/podcasts/ The particular episode that caught my attention was called “From Tree to Shining Tree”. The story begins with a beagle (Jigs) that falls into a waste pit while their family is camping. The beagle happens to belong to Suzanne Simard, a Forestry Professor at the University of British Columbia. During the rescue, the digging to reach the dog exposed a network of roots of the rainforest (yes, British Columbia has a temperate rainforest!). This stimulated Susanne to research how trees may share nutrients in this underground network of roots. The story gets more complicated and intricate when the research indicates that the roots are further intertwined and interconnected by the mycelium (root structure) of fungi – a webwork of threads that looks like a combination of vermicelli and neurons (see photo below) but in which the threads are hollow – meaning that the white lines are actually fine capillary tubes. These tubes carry nutrients – minerals, for example, between trees – even between different species of trees.
Photo Credit: Nigel Cattlin/Alamy This is amazing because trees of different species usually compete for sunshine and nutrients. But here, the trees were collaborating. The trees were, in fact, healthier when they were mixed rather than homogeneous. The trees – and this threading - are acting like a giant telecom network, with hubs, represented by the older trees. This network actually has been given a nickname – the Wood Wide Web. The fungus that makes up this capillary threads has been associated for eons with plants in a very symbiotic relationship. The tree gets nutrients from the fungus. The fungus gets sugar from the trees. And here’s where it gets weird – almost science-fiction weird. The fungus gets these minerals from the soil, of course, but also from animals, including, in some cases, live animals – particularly a hexapod called a springtail. And the fungus has also developed a way to paralyze springtails and draw nitrogen from them. In some cases, they do this (here’s the sci-fi part) while the springtails are still alive. Yeah. We know. That’s creepy. And cruel. Much of this discovery is new – the relationships between the fungus and the trees, the idea that the nitrogen from springtails was getting into the trees… this is all discovered within only the last few years. You really should have a look at this TED (see below) talk by none other than beagle-owner Suzanne Simard.
The TED talk ends with some very strong messages about ecological sustainability that – of course – are also important to heed. So what are the messages for project managers?
Check out these links for more information on this fascinating natural phenomenon that has great lessons for us as project managers. http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141111-plants-have-a-hidden-internet
|
