Is Tiger Woods winning the Masters?

In class the other day we were discussing the benefits of a RAG or BRAG report. The main problems seem to be the definitions of the various colors and also the complete lack of objectivity in switching between them. We were further adressing the difficulties of keeping score of a portfolio of projects using a portfolio management tool. To add some humor and clarity to the situation we imagined a portfolio manager reporting on the Masters Golf Competition in Augusta, Georgia.


Our ‘reporter’ began by asking each golfer how they were doing at various points of their rounds.

Tell me Mr. Woods how are you doing now? “I'm doing pretty well considering the conditions I'd like to be doing better.”

Our intrepid reporter then moves to another hole and asks the same question of Mr. Els “Oh. I'm not doing so good. I started out well but I had a few fat shots and I'm losing ground. But thanks for asking. “

He then spies Padraig Harrington sauntering up the 10th fairway with a smile as wide as Galway bay. And how are you going sir?

“Grand” says Padraig. “Just grand”

He then returns quickly to the scoring booth and puts a red circle beside Ernie Els, a yellow one by Tiger Woods and a Green one beside Padraig Harrington and the crowd gathered by the scoring tent goes wild with cheers.

A crazy and impractical situation of course. Each golfer keeps meticulously objective score at all points of the competition and is accountable for completing his own scorecard.

We should take a leaf from the professionalism of these pros. We have become accustomed to keeping score in the operation of our companies however we rarely keep accurate score of our projects.

Bring back cigarette breaks.

Have you ever left the office and wondered what you have achieved during the day?

Meetings, meetings, meetings, they seem to have become the norm in the modern workplace – an endless round of emails, teleconferences and face to face meetings. A student smiled ironically as she explained that she had 28 hours of pre booked meetings each week in her calendar.

Ask yourself - does a doctor have meetings? a carpenter or plumber?

However they do take breaks and frequently of the unfashionable kind – a cigarette break. Many smokers try to quit but along with the biological difficulty also express a longing for the pause or break in the day, a chance to think and plan.

Much as I disagree with the damage and effects of smoking  I also miss the truthfulness of conversation, the clarity of thinking, the strength of the bonding that accompanied these breaks – and I have never been a smoker.

Decisions - Naiveté and Innocence

A student at an investment bank asked an interesting question yesterday and my answer unfortunately lacked the benefit of the perspiration, incubation, inspiration that comes from a good nights sleep.


He wanted to know if there was a mathematical formula to enable correct selection of projects into a portfolio. We had discussed differences between subjective and objective methods and he was leaning towards the latter.

I should have asked him how he had chosen his wife – and did he believe that a formula could exist that would have made a better choice for him? for her?

I should have explained how great thinkers had grappled with this very problem from Quentelet, Laplace and Hume right up to Lehrer, Bernstein and Talebs of today.

I should have told him a story of our selection method for General Motors projects in the mid-90’s that involved a weighted matrix approach. We measured 7 target ‘benefits’ for each project and gave them a weighting score to reflect their true relative value. Unfortunately my naiveté led me to take the numbers literally until a senior manager took me aside and quietly explained that the weights were for public consumption (e.g. sustainability ranked above preserving the architecture and both above cost) but were not be used in real decision making. I felt like a schoolboy in front of the headmaster instead of a professional earning his keep.

Which leaves me with the last regret:

I should have explained the difference between Innocence and Naiveté. That innocence was keeping alive the idea that it might be possible in the future but naiveté to believe that it could be done today.

Or more simply as a great thinking friend put it - Innocence is to childlike as Naiveté is to childish.

So Max – there are no easy answers, no simple formulas to take away the pain and frustration of decision making at this level. You are senior enough to take on this responsibility. Maintain your innocence as you go forward but leave behind the naiveté as it will only cloud your thinking even more.

Universal Truths

I have just returned from a pan Asia trip that included stops in Dubai, Bangalore, Mumbai, KL, Tokyo and Hong Kong. At times the diversity and contradictions were hard to manage and I reached out to local philosophies and religions from various people in an amateur attempt to come to a single framework to understand the passing world. I heard about Rama, Vishnu and Shiva, about rice pickers and potato pickers, blood types, numerology and star-signs but alas nothing seems to fit.

How could it be that such differences had developed in these extremes. From the heights of the Dubai Khalifa tower to the slums of Mumbai. From the chaos of Bangalore traffic to the white gloved taxi drivers of Tokyo. From the politeness of Japanese restaurants to the bustle of the horse racing at Happy Valley. And so I decided to play with the idea myself.

Hunter Gatherers don’t like cubicles either!

Dilbert by Scott Adams devotes a whole section to the identity, purpose and dilemmas of seating in the modern workplace. He links the shape and size of the typical cubicle to 4 previous incarnations (Veal pen, Cardboard box, baby’s playpen and hilariously a prison cell) as he mercilessly lampoons the cube and all its derived forms.
In a previous role I was the PM for a project to design seating for 22,000 engineers in the mid-west of America.

Social vs Natural Science in Management

Have social scientists have kidnapped management thinking?
Consider the following:
•a considerable number of outdated management theories based on dubious science pervade every facet of a modern organization and are not value managed.
•Social scientists push ‘empiricism’ as their new religion into the training rooms and ‘buzz’ books that greet every business traveler.
•It is true that humans are different from other animals because we can change based on knowledge. But for how long can we change our behaviour because of a book, leadership dictate or inspirational training. Hawthorne, Forer, Observer effects etc, are not properly discussed.
•Proof and results have not been forthcoming and the theories are remolded and re-presented to account for the many anomalies.
•Experiential learning may be fine as a concept but we do experience the world as flat and ourselves as younger, taller and less grey! But thankfully we have satellites and mirrors to put us right.
•And just because 200 students in the professors department say so doesn't make it true. John List (Chicago Economist) is challenging a lot of the economic behaviour study methods ('truths') that have filled many airport bookshelves recently.

Are Humans Intelligently Designed?

I was recently in the Toyota design showroom near Miraikan in Tokyo. On the wall they listed the 7 principles of good design that they had borrowed from an American, Ron L Mace.

I wanted to do a thought experiment where Mr Mace was asked by God (or a representative from the 'intelligent design' community) to review the human body as a designed product to see how it would fare against a modern automobile from Toyota. I imagine Mr Mace making notes on his 7 principles check list as follows:
• Equitable use (all sizes and types and Handicapped access etc)
Relatively easy to interact with but somewhat harder to ensure correct interpretation of communicated instructions. There is a wide variation of abilities and traits between genders. A general bias exists against females in strength and size and against males in lifespan and number of friendships. Older models have limitations with mobility and sense perception but generally may be considered equitable in use.
Overall score - not bad - 7/10

The Sistine Chapel Ceiling – A Case Study

I am a big fan of Leonardo da Vinci and was very upset recently to learn about the rivalry between these two great men in their latter years. I suppose that I want to believe in the beauty of gentlemanly rivalry like maybe between Federer and Nadal or Nicklaus and Watson. However Leonardo da Vinci did come to Rome in 1513 and he heavily criticised the chapel ceiling as both a work of art and an understanding of nature.

Here in a much more modest way I critique Michalengo’s role as the project manager for one of the most famous ‘projects’ in the world. Though it still stands as a testament to his brilliance as a painter he had many issues or challenges as a manager – in this case the product remains adored but the process, as far as we can tell, was terribly flawed.

Mistake number 1 - Michelangelo was first and foremost a sculptor and when asked in 1508 by the non-Borgian Pope Julius II to cover the monstrous ceiling he probably should have put his foot down and declined.
Know your own limits
“You cannot shoot well when the gun's askew”

The Hitchhikers Guide to the PMBOK®

(A Project in 42 Chapters)
“The Guide is definitive. Reality is frequently inaccurate.”
“I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.”

‘The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy’ would be 30 years old today and so was born around the same time as the creation of the Project Management Institute in a kitchen in Philadelphia by 6 founding members. One wonders what Douglas Adams or one of his amazing characters would make of the latest version of the PMBOK Guide?

His terrific sense of humour combined with a strong science background allowed him, before his untimely death in 2001, to tackle a wide range of topics from a ‘universal’ perspective. He would have stretched the global reach of the PM standard. Brilliant ideas from Ford Prefect to Marvin the Paranoid Android helped many people, including Richard Dawkins, to make sense of this complex world or just simply get through the day. He wrote in a time before Dilbert, The Simpsons and The Office but his books and quotes are still as readable today as when created. One of the most famous ideas from the original book is the answer given by Deep Thought, the biggest computer in the universe, to the question – ‘What is the answer to life, the universe and everything? If you remember the book well you would know that the answer was ‘42’.

Don't be a Sissy Puss

Sisyphus was cursed to continuously roll a huge boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down for eternity.
Many students talk about the hardships for project work by using the metaphor - 'I feel as if I am pushing a boulder up a hill' or worse as in ' I am flogging a dead horse'. The credit crunch has given many organizations the opportunity to weed out the less productive members of staff and 'reward' those remaining with more work or 'stretch' projects as some like to call them. Now we are starting to see some green shoots finally emerging and volumes and other measures of work are increasing. The only thing not increasing seems to be the staffing numbers. If your project is heading uphill or you feel like any of the above metaphors then the first thing that you have to do is stop pushing (or if it is a hole that you are doing then stop digging!). You need to:

1. Clarify the exact benefit of the project with the sponsor (how and when will they get your invested time/money back) and get them to sign off on it.

Life is a shortcut - don't take it

Every day we seem to read more about mental shortcuts that we make to enable us to make sense of the diversity and frantic pace of life around us.

For many years we have been used to physical shortcuts (navigational or directional) as being perceived as a good thing. Local knowledge enables you to get somewhere quicker, via an alleyway in london, an air-conditioned building atrium in HK or a side street in Mumbai.

We are also used to healthcare shortcuts (vitamin boosts, fast food, pain killers, yoga, jogging) as a way to keep sickness at bay and maintain productivity at the same time. Until we burn-out and realize that sometimes these shortcuts don't work.

We can also try career shortcuts (night classes, on-line learning, 1 year - MBA's, unpaid overtime) - in an attempt to reduce or obliterate the 10,000 hours that our brains need to gain a new skill. We simply don't have the time or patience to devote to the deep practice needed to gain unconscious competence but struggle on with nervous incompetence and rising stress.

Londoners - who are you?

Do your parents come from different countries? and were you born in another one? Did you grow up in 4th country altogether and now where do you live?

It seems from a limited survey that I have carried out with students from the banking world that many of the worlds unsettled adults are ending up in London.

Maybe it is the tolerance for cultures and languages. Or maybe it is the variety of foods and entertainment that attract you. Maybe it is the central location and hub Heathrow that allows easy connections back to past associations. Or perhaps the streets really are lined with gold - you see it all the time - the fast cars, the fancy shops, the high end fashion. Who knows for sure?

People Management theories under the spotlight

The following management theories (and many others) are used by large and wealthy companies to assess, select and improve the behavior and performance of their human resources - McGregor, Maslow, Myers Briggs, Belbin, Hertzberg, McCelland, Benziger, DISC.

The dictionary beside me defines ‘Behavior’ as ‘one’s manner of behavior or acting’ and “the action or reaction of a material under given circumstances”. Also ‘Motive’ is defined as “something that causes a person to act, prompting to act” and ‘Motivate’ – “to provide with a motive”

In order to understand human behavior it seems that we have to get a grip on motivation. What causes us to act or gives us the motive to act seems to vary between individuals. Is it a conscious or subconscious act? Is it a base need or a higher order need? Is it an instinct developed by nature or by nurture?

Management theories or fads

Apparently creativity comes from a 3 stage process of preparation, incubation and inspiration. I am in need of some inspiration. I have spent the last year in preparatory reading far and wide (see post below) about the people management area and in particular in relation to improving our assessment, selection and development of individuals and teams on projects. I spent the christmas holidays trying not to ski like 'Paddington Bear' in Chamonix while incubating these ideas. And now in search of inspiration I hope to bring this together with my experiences around the world into a 'unified theory of people management' no less.

A bibliography of modern people management

I am concerned about the wealth of scientific knowledge that is underused or misused in our modern management theories. Freudian or blank slate thinking has had an eerily religious effect on current theories to the point that they are seriously in need of modernization. Scientists and writers from Dawkins to Wilson have been leaping forward on the shoulders of the results of the Genome project but our outdated people management theories remain unmoved as if cast in stone. It is time to dust off the sheets and submit these theories to the rigors of science.

I have reviewed the following writers, thinkers and scientists for their take on the world and will try to incorporate their ideas into a fresher look at people management.

The Essential Difference

Simon Baron Cohen writes a solid scientific, well researched book about the differences between the male and female brains. He notes that key differences are their relative abilities to empathize (female) and systemize (male). The average male appears to be worse at empathizing than the average female. In the extreme male brain systemizing leads to Aspergers syndrome or Autism.
Therefore he concludes that the female brain is predominantly hard wired for empathy. The male brain is predominantly hard wired for understanding and systemizing.(building systems).

The future of people management on projects

Work is carried out in organizations by two means, by operations or by projects. In many organizations this distinction is not clearly recognized with a large middle-ground of un tracked work called ‘stuff’ or ‘ just doing it’. A very simple difference between the two is the one used by large banks called RTB (run the bank) for operational work and CTB (change the bank) for project work.

Companies like Cadbury Schweppes, Goldman Sachs and British Airways primarily make money from operations. While companies like Accenture, Bovis and Arup primarily make money from projects (sometimes called engagements). As you might expect world-class companies realize that in order to maintain and improve their position they need to be excellent in both areas.

Does the Genome project change everything?

The Human Genome Project (HGP), completed in 2003, was a 13-year project coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. The project goals were to determine the complete sequence of the 3 billion DNA subunits (bases), identify all human genes (approx 30,000), and make them accessible for further biological study.

The research projects based on the results of this project are providing astounding new information on traits and behaviour. Initially thought to comprise more than 100,000 genes on our 46 chromosomes we now know we have approximately 24,000 genes. Only 1.5% of which differentiates us from our nearest cousin the chimpanzee and only 0.1% differentiates us from any other human on the planet.

A common and useful analogy is a book. Matt Ridley in his book ‘Genome’ imagines that your Genome is a book. There are 23 chapters called chromosomes (pairs). Each chapter contains several thousand stories called Genes. Each story is made of paragraphs called ‘Exons’ and ‘Introns’. Each paragraph is made of words called ‘Codons’. Each word is made of letters called ‘Bases’. There are 1 billion words in this book.

Future of People Management

2006 London - This short blog is to reflect my thoughts on various theories developed over 25 years of international travel, workings and readings. The contents reflect my current view of the state of people management theories as applied and taught in project management. The developments that have resulted from the sequencing of the Genome have enabled a more scientific understanding of human behaviour and this has not been reflected in team selection, appraisal or development.