Brave New World of Project Management

A Philosophy of Whole Systems

I don't usually quote Pythagoras in my daily work, but in my 'off-hours' reading I was given an article by a friend that surveyed Pythagoras' theories (beyond the well-known theorem) In thinking about the concepts, I found it really had implications for Program Management as well.

Why should you care? The fundamental concepts of Pythagoras deal with the harmony between self and the other through our differences. Project and program management seek to balance the tension between individuals striving to be independent while at the same time having the desire to achieve systematic change? You tell me, should you care?

A little scene setting information first--5 Tenants of Pythagoras

Philosophy as a way of life
1-Pythagoras believed that 'philosophy is a process'. His primary source material is sparse because of this belief. The active process of ongoing inquiry is what brings the profession's value to mankind, not necessarily the reflections or written postulations.

Fundamental Relationships
2-He uses mathematics as more than a quantitative means of measuring our world. Numbers are symbolic of universal concepts, not just quantitative functions. Numbers allow us to see things in relation to one another. 1 = unity (its indivisible and never departs from its nature even though it multiplies 1x1=1), 2 = duplicity (beginnings of us vs them), 3 = harmony or unity through duplicity (I'll get around to explaining what I mean by this one in a minute).

Relationships within the Individual
3-The human psyche has three parts. I will use Plato's words for the parts since I think they have more resonance for today's audience. Rational, Spirited, and Desirous. These aspects must live in proportion or harmony for the human psyche to be at peace. An individual must feel the world makes sense or is relatively predictable, worth caring about, and that they have the ability to desire a specific outcome-its not futile to care.

Relationships between the Individual and Organizations
4-The entire universe is a single system/1/unity. And that system is based on harmony-- the individual being able to relate his perceptions both to the universal and the personal experience. Justice, or the perceived degree of fairness amongst individuals, is a perception of the psyche and therefore subscribes to the same proportion.

Relationships between Individuals within the Organization
5- Great things cannot fail to happen when minds get together and one mind (or body of knowledge) fertilizes another--when disciplines inspire one another. Pythagoras believed that (from the Natural Philosophy school) a superfluous multiplicity of facts and compartmentalized data is useless in a higher sense unless one can determine their relationship to the whole, or the universal patterns which underlie all creation.

Pythagoras Applied to Project/Program Management

PM's Value is the Ongoing Inquiry
Much like philosophy, the value of Project/Program management manifests from the mode of thought not the conclusions. The ongoing inquiry, analysis, and problem solving by those invested in the issues that face an organization consistently results in a better quality outcome.

Rather than presenting a set of templates to be completed, boxes checked, and lists made. We have a duty to encourage people to think more analytically about their work. To give them a framework for how to look at the politics, communication, negotiation, and planning so that they can accomplish what it is they have been tasked with doing.

You model information everyday using these concepts
If you've ever built a model--organizational, data, or otherwise. You have utilized Pythagoras' theory on numbers. One to many relationship? Do you need to know how many? Not usually, its the concept that allows us to build the structure, not ultimately the number that defines what we are building.

On an org chart, how detailed do you get with your departments, divisions, and units? Depends on the purpose of the chart right? What aspect of the organization are you trying to highlight or explain? Usually it is one thing in opposition to others (2) or showing unity through difference (3).

The Value of Individual Freedom
Going back to Plato's three prong description of the human psyche--rational, spirited, and desirous. We as project and program leaders must acknowledge the multi-dimensional nature of our team members. When we attempt to build systems that nurture them as individuals on these various levels they are more likely to engage in the project and bring their 'A' game. When one of these suffers they tend to go into a protective mode and if two or more are missing you have a dysfunctional team member.

I firmly believe part of the system that we must build has to create room for people to recognize and vocalize their needs. The best project/program manager in the world will never be able to notice all of the issues with their team members. However, if team members feel empowered to take care of themselves they will speak up when they need something and it is up to the PM to find a means to address that need. I have often been surprised at how little people seem able to assess their state of mind -- What do I feel? How do I feel about what I am feeling? Instead, they become a series of reactions to both their emotions and others actions. Encouraging people to answer these questions creates a stronger sense of self awareness. While initially, when I asked people how they feel I got strange looks. I have found over time that my team members have begun to come to me with an issue on a particular task and they can also explain the contributing interpersonal dynamics that are affecting it.

In addition to posing questions, I try to lead by example in this area. When I see my mood or emotions affecting my work, I am open about that. It seems to give people more room to be fallable. That said, there is a pitfall I have noticed that you should try to avoid. When beginning to acknowledge emotions some people start to use the irrationality of emotions as an excuse for their poor behavior. However through the consistent modelling of behavior that promotes responsible treatment of others' emotions and no tolerance for disrespect amongst team members this behavior lessens.

Improving the level of interactions between people
Justice is the perception of harmony between parts. An individual cannot be just to themselves, there must be an interaction between at least two individuals that results in a balance of power or harmony between the two individuals. Therefore, justice is most like the triad--unity through multiplicity. Organizations are larger aggregations of individuals that each have their own sense of harmony or proportions. Each individual must have or should I say not have that proportion wildly out of whack! Also the balance of the proportion must be similar amongst individuals. I believe this is culture. Don't put someone who has a high need for creativity in a banking organization... talk about lack of harmony. So long as the individuals within the organization are working from relatively the same sent of expectations the organization serves as the structure that maintains the harmony between the individuals. Therefore, the organization must embody justice.

The more a program administrator can help individuals see and understand their relationship to the whole, the more likely that it will be a satisfactory experience for the team member. The more the systems can be built to allow this transparency, the more automated and automatic that visibility can become. Ultimately, this contributes to the harmony of the organization.

Project management systems, as opposed to program management organizations, focus on the individual rather than the universal. This can undermine individual project teams' harmony with the larger organizational focus. The best project managers are those who can relate and keep both their team's needs and the larger management team's needs met. Otherwise the project becomes the task without purpose, which in turn will end up undermining team's morale. Few people will see the value in their work and the individuals will feel under appreciated for all that they have invested. Its inevitable that no one will appreciate all that it took to make something happen, but if they see the ultimate product of the work as incredibly valuable--teams seem to overlook the need for recognition. Instead, they feel as though they are contributing to something larger than themselves.

Helping your people understand the meaning of their work
Data about projects and about work are only as valuable as the ability of the team members to see what is being measured and find that measurement meaningful to their work. Arbitrary measures or poorly formed calculations enhance the resentment of being monitored. This is why the measures/KPI's need to be determined for each project by both the project team and the customer. While there are some standards that relate more to the universals (time, money, and effort) most projects should be measured by the degree to which they are achieving meaningful measurable results. The collaboration between the project team and the customer in determining these measures reinforces individual responsibility to the outcome by developing a common universal.

The need for technically meaningful measures highlights the increasing need for project and program management skills to be part of the standard management skillset. You can teach the planning and control skills necessary to do project management relatively quickly. However, the technical expertise is a deep rooted thing that has been cultivated through years of experience and honing of instincts. Those instincts are invaluable to a project and the quality of its outcomes.


Lessons for the PMO

1. Respect the individual but do not neglect the whole.
2. Build systems that make the whole meaningful to the individual.
3. Use models and the relational concepts of unity, dualism, and harmony to hide unecessary detail and focus on larger structural relationships.
4. Exploit the technical expertise on your project to develop meaningful outcomes and outcome measures.
5. The program/project manager has a responsibility to build systems that facilitate good dynamics amongst team members.
   

Sources and Notes
[Source (no, its not online--my philosophy friends are luddites): The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library]


[DISCLAIMER: As with most of my posts derived from another subject matter, I am not coming at these things from the realm of an expert, rather from a perspective of trying to draw out common themes for project management from a variety of fields of inquiry. I am not a philosopher, just a normal person trying to broaden my horizons. If you have critiques I would love to hear them, but before you say it-- I have undoubtedly oversimplified a lot of these concepts. Please bear my intent in mind.]

posted by Krista G. @ 7:24 PM