Swallowing frogs and Project Management

Hello Luis -

The closest English expression would be to "bite your tongue". Effectively by doing so, you won't say what is truly on your mind.

That is one of the advantages I have frequently enjoyed as an independent consultant - I have little fear of repercussion so am able to speak my mind freely.

Kiron

Luis

In my culture, we say: “Swallow it” and in Canada we say “Bite your Tongue” like Kiron mentioned.

I’ve done that countless times to the extent that sometimes I feel my stomach quacking. Sometimes for the sake of being politically correct or sake of the project, you have to do that. It is inevitable especially when you work as an employee.

In my own side business as a consultant, I tend to have to do that less.

RK

Dear Daire
Thank you for participating in this reflection and for your opinion

Is the politically correct just a consequence of the Project Manager's lack of preparation?

Hi Luis, I too had to look up what swallowing frogs meant.

I recently had an experience where a resource manager said they no longer had resources for my high profile project in front of other managers. Yet when I escalated the situation, I was told by him that workers from his department were now available. I wanted to call him a liar but decided to take the high road since I will have to continue working with him in the long run and I need to continue a respectable relationship with him.

Dear Luis,

Time constraints of a project means a project manager has to go with the information that they have to hand and make strategic decisions on that information. The project manager delegates a lot of responsibilities of a project to their subordinates and as such are reliant that their quality of their work is on a par with that of the project manager especially if the project manager does not have the time or forethought to check the validity of the information being provided.

With that thought in mind a project manager does a substantial amount of decision making in the dark, only knowing part of the situation, making assumption when information is not to hand and filling in blanks and gaps in information when none exists at all.

So your original question on lack of preparation may have its routes in the ability of the project manger to manage change, the unexpected, stakeholders and the level of quality that a project team adheres to on a daily basis.

Daire

Dear Luis,

I think a more culturally closer match to swallow frogs would be 'bite the bullet'. It would mean throwing caution to the wind and just going for it regardless of what people may think and how you may feel.

I would only go with swallow frog if it is in my nature to do so and I would not lend myself to being politically correct if its not what I am about and as a result I am giving other people a wrong impression of who I am. I think you would only swallow frog if your job was at stake and only for that reason alone.

Personally I prefer people who are honest and straight forward with me as I feel they are not the people who are bitching behind my back. The people who easily swallow frog are the people who will easily shift allegiances and could end up stabbing you in the back.

So politically correctness maybe just for politicians who want your vote.

Daire