Financial Management Specialist | US Peace CorpsYaounde, Centre, Cameroon
Every project has some degree of chaos in it. As humans, we will always not be able to figure out exact outcomes using predictive technologies. Saving Changes...
Chaos needs to be distinguished from complexity. The latter is a common attribute of projects but the former should not be, especially once commitments or baselines have been set. Our job is to structure the project so that scope can be delivered in spite of external chaos. If there is chaos internal to the project, we are doing something wrong or the system surrounding the project is not suitable for the work to be handled as a project.
Kiron
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1 reply by Kwiyuh Michael Wepngong
Mar 28, 2024 8:20 AM
Kwiyuh Michael Wepngong
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Thanks Kiron, Your comments throw light on semantics and brings about a rethinking... Thanks for this
Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Just creative chaos is positive. What I saw is some people like to live in chaos but the person who leads the project must put this in certain order. Entrophy theory can help to understand that. Time ago I published a paper on that in PMI´s official sites. Saving Changes...
Financial Management Specialist | US Peace CorpsYaounde, Centre, Cameroon
Mar 28, 2024 7:09 AM
Replying to Kiron Bondale
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Chaos needs to be distinguished from complexity. The latter is a common attribute of projects but the former should not be, especially once commitments or baselines have been set. Our job is to structure the project so that scope can be delivered in spite of external chaos. If there is chaos internal to the project, we are doing something wrong or the system surrounding the project is not suitable for the work to be handled as a project.
Kiron
Thanks Kiron, Your comments throw light on semantics and brings about a rethinking... Thanks for this Saving Changes...
George FreemanThought Leader | Author | Architect| Florida, United States
Amit,
Projects are often complex beasts whose intricacies hide in plain sight, hoping for an event (i.e., a moment) where an observer becomes challenged to vary their perspective and accept the burden to retraverse the field of knowledge that their project has acquired—Why, to pick up knowledge that was inadvertently stepped over and left on the floor.
This type of opportunity often finds its way forward in “chaotic times” when we, through our intrinsic nature, challenge our Known Knowns (i.e., things we are aware of and understand) to gain enhanced knowledge and understanding. To add validity to this premise, engineers use a practice called "chaos engineering,” wherein they inject chaos (i.e., faults) into a system to gain enhanced knowledge, thus a principle with some grounding.`
So, yes, a little chaos can yield positive returns.
It is quite common in the early stages of product development.
When new teams are formed with people from diverse backgrounds and they are tasked with innovative solutions, there are often many different approaches and ideas about the best solution. Everyone is going different directions, the energy level is high, and the team members are still learning about each other. That apparent chaos can be a great environment for generating and incubating new ideas so it is best to let some of that take its own course for a while. Stories about the original Skunk Works, where planes like the SR-71 Blackbird stealth airplanes were developed describe it as a pretty rowdy place.
Eventually, the team needs to get on one plan, so the PM must reel that back in at some point but it needs to be done with empathy to avoid killing the innovative spirit. Saving Changes...
Robert SnyderFounder & President| Innovation Elegance, LLCChicago, Il, United States
I'll place chaos and improv under the same umbrella called "off-script." My point of view is that chaos has no rules. Improv has rules. One of the foundational rules of Improv is "Yes And." "Yes And" is a form of traceability - objectively a good thing for innovation teamwork.
Chaos encourages forms of "Yes But" and "No." Chaos might undermine traceability ... and accountability. I like the idea of encouraging improvisation. I don't really like the idea of encouraging chaos.
I think a worthwhile question is, "Why would a team want/need some chaos or some improvisation?" I believe improv is best when a team is just stuck and is unsure about the optimal next step.
Amit, back to your goal of "amazing outcomes," "on-script" teamwork imitates symphony and theater ensembles. These often produce amazing outcomes. Although "off-script," Improv often leads to positive surprises. :-) Saving Changes...
Sudhakar MokshagundamPM III| Siemens Energy India LimitedBangalore, Karnataka, India
Chaos is coming from Ambiguity or Complexity and the people who are handling the same.. best way to handle the chaos is to keep the people created it and supplement the team with chaos/crisis management team and it always results in amazing results Saving Changes...
Michael BrowningDirector, Cybersecurity| Vanderbilt UniversityNashville, United States
Very interesting discussion, thank you! Saving Changes...
I think that chaos is often necessary since a disorderly situation often motivates us to find unexpected solutions, which turn out to be very innovative and appropriate; This could not happen if we only work with an ordered system that always behaves in a predictable way.
It is worth mentioning that a chaotic system is highly sensitive, and here we can observe the phenomenon called "the butterfly effect", which indicates that any slight variation in the system can lead to completely different results. Saving Changes...
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