Sep 23, 2011
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The Speed of Light, AIDS and How We Can Improve Projects
Two remarkable events in the scientific world over the past month shed light on how we can improve projects and deliver the right solutions.
The decoding of an AIDs protein and the publication of the CERN findings on a faster than light particle.
These are incredible accomplishments in their specific domains. However, what strikes me as particularly relevant from the project management perspective is the context in which these events are happening.
They each represent changing paradigms about the context in which knowledge is created. Decoding the AIDS protein occurred under conditions where the data was made public, where strictures on applicable problem solving methods were removed, where the downside implications of a team’s failure were minimized and where there was sufficient information to approach the problem yet not bias potential solutions. Creativity, cross-domain sharing of tools, techniques, knowledge and processes occurred, and people were rewarded (either externally or by an internal feeling) just for trying.
This is a powerful model for the kind of environment we can create on projects and throughout the life cycle of the project’s objective (its product, service or result).
Similarly, the CERN announcement represents a blended paradigm of traditional scientific knowledge creation melded with an open approach. The CERN scientists are asking for the world to go at the data to disprove or confirm the results. There doesn’t seem to be a traditional, silo based aspect. Given the magnitude of the discovery (and the fact that it was experimentally derived rather than theoretically) the team is putting it out there for the world, professionals and amateurs, to approach.
Take note, having empirical data makes it easier to share the problem across domains. The data, like in the AIDS protein example, becomes a boundary object for cross-domain sharing.
On projects, we can encourage this kind of approach by creating true boundary objects (and not just project artifacts that pm’s, engineers or other specialists can understand).
Creating an environment and artifacts that foster meaningful and useful communication can have a significant impact on the success of the project’s objectives to meet the underlying goal /problem that sparked the project’s initiation.
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