Work, in Plain English

So why do you manage projects, anyway? Derry Simmel cuts to the chase in his article, Cargo Cult Project Management.

I love articles like this: articles that remind us to focus, not on the trappings of project management, but on the desired outcome. As with many essential truths, this applies to more than business. Before there were hundreds of models and brands of cars, there was the desire to quickly and safely get oneself and one’s stuff from Point A to Point B. Before there was House Beautiful, there was the desire to make a shelter both safe and comfortable. Before there was project management, there was a great idea that was too big or too long to be completed alone, in a single burst of energy.

In Derry’s example, a group of otherwise intelligent human beings were missing the context of the mysterious cargo that had been briefly showered upon them, seemingly from nowhere. They were missing the culture that had evolved a world view, as well as systems and values, for creating and distributing those cargoes, just as I lack the world view, as well as the systems and values, to become a Pacific Islander.

Derry reminds us, first of all, to wait, and assess a project before acting. I would add that this would be a good time to privately interpret the purpose of a project, as well as to determine how you personally plan to contribute to its success. Then, jettison wasteful “Project Management-ese”, whether it’s processes, lingo, superfluous meetings, etc.

Once you do that, you can start building the unique processes required by that unique project, and, as he reminds us, build on what is working.

Surprise! Not only do you win a more successful project management experience, you and more team are now free to discover and initiate much more creative solutions, and (shhh…) have much more fun doing it.

I am taking in a great article on my latest blog gem, The Simple Dollar. I found it while working on the redesign of another financial site that is chock full of content so inscrutable it’ll make your eyes water. This blog is subtitled, “financial talk for the rest of us”. It does keep it’s promise, and I nearly wept for joy.

It was probably relief that got me to read, Financial Success Isn’t About Who Has the Most (or Best) Stuff, because, heck—I know that. What flicked the light on for me, though, was the reminder that:

Being rich or successful is never measured in the amount of stuff you have. It’s measured in the amount of security you have and the amount of freedom you have from the worries of day to day life.

Most of the comments in response to this article were more of the “I knew that” sort. Still, if so many of us know that, why are we still expanding our expenses to the very brim of our income? The answers are complex, and include both the positives and negatives of our consumerist culture, as well as a healthy dose of personal soul searching.

Some might argue that the trappings of success are key to making you feel successful. For me at least, I rarely feel more successful than when I see my investment balances going up because of my contributions or when I see an opportunity to really make someone else’s life more successful through a helping hand delivered by my knowledge or a connection that I have.

This kind of success requires more thought, and a commitment to continuously search outside of what society, family and the media would like us to believe.

So many of us 21st Century People have to husband our money the way we once husbanded farmland. Unfortunately, most big (and popular), Happy Friendly Money Sites are filled with a quagmire of content that is the modern equivalent of swampland.

In the meantime, it’s amusing, frustrating and heartening (all at the same time) to see someone speak Money in Plain Talk. One might suspect, considering the title of my own blog, that it’s an important issue for me. After years as a communications professional, I’m ever more convinced that I’m not alone.

It only gets better with time!