http://www.jrothman.com/blog/mpd/2005/04/schedule-game-5-queen-of-denial.html Management, especially good management, is hard to do. This blog is for people who want to think about how they manage people, projects, and risk. Fri, 18 May 2012 15:02:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 http://www.jrothman.com/blog/mpd/2005/04/schedule-game-5-queen-of-denial.html/comment-page-1#comment-56018 joapen Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:59:37 +0000 http://jrothman.com/blog/mpd/?p=8160#comment-56018 I have seen this denial in a project where I have to ask to the PM: Who is delighted of being building this application? The answer was: "nobody"; This lack of involvement of the people on the team provoked lack of interest and an denial environment where nobody believes in nothing. It has being hard to remove it. I have seen this denial in a project where I have to ask to the PM: Who is delighted of being building this application?
The answer was: “nobody”;
This lack of involvement of the people on the team provoked lack of interest and an denial environment where nobody believes in nothing.
It has being hard to remove it.

]]> http://www.jrothman.com/blog/mpd/2005/04/schedule-game-5-queen-of-denial.html/comment-page-1#comment-55844 s c miller Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:44:48 +0000 http://jrothman.com/blog/mpd/?p=8160#comment-55844 Similar to one of your cases, especially when a PM is reporting on a complex project with large stakeholder groups, an up-line manager may believe (consciously or not) in House MD's viewpoint that "Everyone lies", so somewhere in the project there's bound to be enough slack to close the plan s/he wants. Getting and tracking the data to prove otherwise is an infinite regress task for the PM. I don't know a good way to handle this, the best I've come up with is report carefully (honestly and timely), scrupulously update mitigation plans so that the project can reset as quickly and efficiently as possible when the time comes -- that is, when the denial is no longer sustainable --, and keep very good notes in case there is a detailed project review. There's a lot of negative work in all of that, though. Similar to one of your cases, especially when a PM is reporting on a complex project with large stakeholder groups, an up-line manager may believe (consciously or not) in House MD’s viewpoint that “Everyone lies”, so somewhere in the project there’s bound to be enough slack to close the plan s/he wants. Getting and tracking the data to prove otherwise is an infinite regress task for the PM. I don’t know a good way to handle this, the best I’ve come up with is report carefully (honestly and timely), scrupulously update mitigation plans so that the project can reset as quickly and efficiently as possible when the time comes — that is, when the denial is no longer sustainable –, and keep very good notes in case there is a detailed project review. There’s a lot of negative work in all of that, though.

]]> http://www.jrothman.com/blog/mpd/2005/04/schedule-game-5-queen-of-denial.html/comment-page-1#comment-120 James Ward Tue, 26 Apr 2005 16:32:05 +0000 http://jrothman.com/blog/mpd/?p=8160#comment-120 Many managers believe that by setting ambitious (impossible?) schedules, they will get the project done sooner than otherwise. When nobody believes the published dates, because the organization's track record of delivery to schedule is so miserable, schedule pressure is pervasive. The only cure I know for this is to establish a track record of meeting commitments. Risk management alone won't accomplish this. Too many project managers don't know how to effectively plan and schedule a project. Too many project teams have no idea how to work to a schedule, or report progress against a plan. Many managers believe that by setting ambitious (impossible?) schedules, they will get the project done sooner than otherwise. When nobody believes the published dates, because the organization’s track record of delivery to schedule is so miserable, schedule pressure is pervasive. The only cure I know for this is to establish a track record of meeting commitments. Risk management alone won’t accomplish this. Too many project managers don’t know how to effectively plan and schedule a project. Too many project teams have no idea how to work to a schedule, or report progress against a plan.

]]> http://www.jrothman.com/blog/mpd/2005/04/schedule-game-5-queen-of-denial.html/comment-page-1#comment-119 David Anderson Tue, 26 Apr 2005 01:18:43 +0000 http://jrothman.com/blog/mpd/?p=8160#comment-119 Denial ain't just a river! Great series of posts. Thanks. Denial ain’t just a river!
Great series of posts. Thanks.

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