Gentle Intervention

The Project
Finally completed Earned Value Management in easy steps, thanks to lots of good feedback from David M, Graham M and David C-C. The publishers are now reviewing it, so far no queries or questions, so fingers crossed. Meanwhile onto the next project, updating Sourdough Bread Made Easy, I've lots of new material to add in and quite a few bits to update.

Many things can cause conflicts on a project: tight schedules, tight budgets, other peoples’ priorities, human resources (or the lack of them), technical opinions, interpersonal conflicts and administrative procedures to name but a few. The project manager has to deal with these conflicts to keep the project on track. I have known some project managers that take the approach of confronting things head on and insisting on things being done their way but that is not the way.

The Way  
The wise project manager takes a gentle approach to things. If there is a problem, he tries to identify the cause of the difficulty, first making sure it is not something he has or has not done. If someone is being difficult, the wise project manager is assertive about the issue but does not over-react. He is gentle with them and explains what he wants to achieve. He explains why it matters and trusts in his consciousness shedding light on the issue. But if that doesn’t work, he still does not over-react, for that is not the way. 

Instead the wise project manager steps back and yields knowing that their resistance will relax. The wise project manager understands how much, how little can achieve. 

The Tao
Lao Tzu tells us:

The softest thing in the universe,  
Overcomes the hardest.  
That which has no substance,  
Can penetrate where there is no space.  

I thus understand the value of being motiveless.  
Teaching without words.  
Actions without motive,  
Are rarely attained in the world.