Project Management and The Apprentice: Sound off here..!

Recently, I participated in the LinkedIn PMO Group Discussion about the television show The Apprentice. The initial post by Peter Taylor posed the question, "what 'One Thing' could the producers do to improve the image of project management in the show?" Perhaps I was just in one of those contrarian moods, but I found the question all too indicative of a problem that many in the formal project management community have. And that is the idea that project management, as described on the TV show The Apprentice, is really not project management at all. Rather it is something else. To not be confused with "real" project management, let's call it task work and let's call the person in charge a task manager or something like that - anything but a project manager. For my two sense, if Donald Trump calls it a project and if he calls the person heading the effort a project manager, then that is what it is. Period.

Within the formal project management community, people seem to hate The Apprentice and have the view that what they do on the show is NOT project management or people seem to love it and see striking parallels between what takes place on the show and what takes place in real life. As in my LinkedIn post regarding The Apprentice, I would suggest that as a prime time television show that you can count on The Apprentice to not only be a very entertaining television show, but also a show that offers very practical insights into challenges faced by just about any business or organization that performs projects. In particular, I quite enjoy the following aspects of the show that I find particularly relevant to both formal and informal project management:

• The initial overview of the expected product of the project given by Donald Trump to the project team. Not surprisingly, many project team members fail to grasp what the customer actually wants.


• The selection of the project manager. Often, projects teams feel compelled to name as their project manager the team member with the most expertise in the task at hand. Whether in the context of the game or in real life, this is almost always a bad idea. As the saying goes, a lawyer that represents himself has a fool for a client. The same can be said about the high value project contributor that wants to be (or is asked to be) project manager. The SME that will no doubt be playing a major role as contributor may very well do a poor job as project manager. Take the case of last week's episode of The Celebrity Apprentice. When faced with the project to develop a new jingle and radio ad for Chicken of the Sea, Clint Black, an award winning country singer and musician eagerly volunteered to be project manager. Though the customer wanted a upbeat, contemporary jingle, Clink produced an excellent song (not a jingle) in a lazy, slow moving river, country style. Though Clint's project team members advised against the slow pace, Clint refused to change his mind about the song. The other project team that was headed by Annie Duke, an expert poker player with limited, if any, musical capabilities focused on developing a jingle that was fast, upbeat, and contemporary as requested by the customer. The result; the executives of Chicken of the Sea preferred the jingle written by the poker player over the one written by an award winning singer and musician. Wow..! What a lesson to be learned.


• The meeting with the customer. It is interesting to see how different project teams make use of the time with the actual customer. Many project teams just listen to what the customer says. Others, asking insightful and probing questions to both understand the product of the project and the intended customer better and to understand the specific boundaries for the project that the customer may have.


• The pre-planning activities of the project team. Most project teams on the show quickly agree to an idea and jump right into execution. Some teams, however, actually engage in meaningful research, brainstorming, and sharing of skills, opinions, and experience relative to the project effort. Even on a project of short duration, there is ample time for and value to pre-planning activities.


• The planning and execution of the project is also enjoyable and insightful. Some teams do a very good job of resource utilization and time management; others come apart with time pressures and execution difficulties.


• Risk management is an area that most project teams on the show do not handle at all. However, every once in a while you will have a project manager and team that identifies a key risk to the project, discusses approaches to handle the risk, and then successfully steers the project clear of the risk.


• Watching the teams complete the project is also insightful. Some teams take on too much "scope" and fail to complete the project. Other teams do not take on enough "scope" and complete a project that is missing one or more key customer requirements.


• The interaction of the project team with Donald Trump's eyes and ears for the project is also interesting to see. Most project teams ignore or view as an intrusion the visit by Donald Trump's oversight team and they seem oblivious to the fact that the oversight team might not only have an idea or two to help the project stay on track but that they will no doubt be providing Donald Trump with feedback. Some teams, however, make better use of the observing team and do a better job of at least acknowledging their presence during the visit and role on the show.


• The performance of the project team and the presentation of the product of the project to the customer is always revealing. The customers are quick to show their reaction, both positive and negative, and to give their feedback, verbally and non-verbally. Always, the customer is keen to see an outcome that meets their stated requirements. And almost always, their is very little appreciation by the customer for project efforts and outcomes that are off-point.


• The selection by the customer of which project team did a better job is both exciting and spirited. There is always a reason why the winners won and the losers lost. These reasons are quite applicable to just about any business and project setting.


• The critique process with Donald Trump, his oversight team, and the losing project team is very interesting. Whether you like him or not, it is hard to argue with the no nonsense business acumen of Donald Trump. His questions to the project manager and team members about their performance always hit the target dead on. Some participants explain and defend their actions quite well, even when they were wrong, and other participants fail to see the big picture of the project team experience or simply get out competed.


• And of course, there is the firing. Some contestants make excuses or complain about being treated unfairly or set up by team members, but most contestants readily admit the fairness of it all and are appreciative for the opportunity to make money for their charity.

I could go on and on. Obviously, I would not suggest that The Apprentice is the show to watch if one is seeking to gain insights into project management best practices and techniques as exhibited by the trained and certified project managers of a formal project management organization. I would suggest, however, that The Apprentice stands out and serves as a much needed and long overdue wake up call to the project management community.

IMHO, project management is ubiquitous. It is not limited to the formal projects of the IT department or PMO. It is not limited to trained and certified project management professionals and those of us in the formal project management community. It is not limited to IT projects or systems development projects. And the practical value of project management as a skill set (relative to the needs of the project at hand) is not limited to PMBOK, PRINCE2, or any other body of knowledge or point of reference. The so called formal project management that we too often espouse as if we are a private society of indispensable practitioners is merely the tip of a very large iceberg. For those that understand this and that care about the rest of this iceberg and the enormous value it constitutes, much can be learned from The Apprentice and discussed and applied in the workplace.

No doubt, project management as a discipline in support of the formal projects of a PMO needs to go deep. However, project management as a practical skill set needs to also go wide as evidenced weekly on the TV show The Apprentice. That is my two cents worth on the subject, but what do you think? Sound off here..!