Sep 6, 2006
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Five Project Management Keys from Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin took on a lot of projects in his life. Here are five key concepts for effective project management culled from his Autobiography.
1) Deliver: Ideas are great but delivery is what projects are all about.
2) Do People Favors: Favors have a psychological affect on people and can build powerful bonds that go beyond the politics of a project.
3) Ask for Favors: People overestimate the value of things they do for other people and therefore feel superior and kinder towards people they’ve helped.
4) Solve Easy Problems: Great results can happen in changing things that look small and easy.
5) Manage Bureaucracy: Understand and, if possible, change the rules of your environment. They determine the realm of potential outcomes and even likely outcomes of your tasks and projects – even before you start planning.
Here are those project management concepts spelled out more.
1) Deliver. Ideas are great but delivery is what projects are all about. If you don’t execute, complete and deliver, the ideas and effort are misdirected.
There is some academic controversy around the accuracy of the Benjamin Franklin’s portrayal of himself in his autobiography and how “nice” he may have been in his means of accomplishing projects. But no-one can deny the impact he had. He delivered. Again and again.
2) Do people favors. It doesn’t have to be out of the goodness of your heart. Favors have a psychological affect on people and can build powerful bonds that go beyond the politics of a project or organization.
Doing other people favors has clear advantages. Those advantages are magnified if you don’t hold the favor over the other person or overestimate what you did for them. Remember, results are on the outside. What matters is how the other person perceives the favor.
3) Ask for favors. Once someone does you a favor, they will most likely over-estimate its value to you. This creates a dynamic where they see themselves as friendly to you. Depending on the nature of the favor and your reaction to their “kindness” they might even see themselves as your “protector.”
Ben Franklin recounts an incident where he wanted to develop a relationship with a politician on the other side of an issue. He learned that that person had a book in his library which Ben wanted to read. Being a voracious reader and super-considerate book borrower since he was young, this was a perfect opportunity for Ben. He sent a message to the gentleman asking if he could borrow the book. It had nothing to do with the issue they were debating. It was “outside of work” as it were, and personal.
The gentleman was touched that Ben Franklin overlooked any issue and asked him for a book. He lent it to him. Ben read it and returned it promptly with a note expressing his thoughts and gratitude for the favor. This gave the guy warm fuzzies and kind feelings towards Ben Franklin. It was a beneficial relationship that lasted well beyond the issue of the moment or politics as a whole.
4) Solve Easy Problems. Hone in on the simple part of a problem and concentrate on changing it. Great results can happen in changing small things. Avoid being distracted by larger “strategic” issues. All things being equal, the more problems you solve overall, whether in a project or the organization, the more your reputation and opportunities will grow.
These issues are often administrative, process type problems, or problems with the flow of information. They are easily overlooked and decidedly not hip. But an improvement in any of these areas impacts the whole team and can make a significant difference. These improvements can be either within the confines of delivery in a project. They impact items like workflow, budget, task management, execution or interpersonal relations. Or these type of process improvements can be projects themselves for companies.
5) Master Bureaucracy. Ben Franklin was an innovative and effective administrator. He knew his way around process and bureaucracy. He used it to great advantage. He saw how administrative rules actually molded the realm of potential outcomes of any project or issue. He saw that changing the rules one way or the other would even make one potential outcome more likely then the other.
Understand the environment you are operating in. Understand how the rules and constraints on action are made. Once you do, work towards changes that make positive, constructive outcomes more likely, things like on-time deliverables, being within budget and having inspired team members.
[...] Five Project Management <b>Keys</b> from Benjamin Franklin [...]
Benjamin was remarkably gifted at cutting through red tape and getting things done. His insights still bear listening to many decades later.
[...] Posted by fanboy2000 There’s a story (I suspect it’s apocryphal) about Ben Franklin asking to barrow a book from a political rival to [...]
Nice tips. I was writing today about reciprocation and read about the Ben Franklin example in the book 59 seconds. Your other tips are helpful as well. Thank you!