Making It Happen: A Non-Technical Guide to Project Management

3.1. Discovering Perspective

To my surprise, that didn't happen. "You've made a big step Willie," Martha said slowly. "I never was able to help straighten out anyone's thinking who didn't understand they had a problem."

I felt absurdly pleased at that comment. "So can you giveme some suggestions?" I asked.

Martha looked thoughtful and she took a long draw on her pipe.

"You know, Willie, there isn't a lot that I can tell you."

Oh, well, I thought, it's always nice driving down here anyway.

"But what I can do is help you figure out how to do projects better." She sat back in her chair looking rather pleased with herself.

I sipped my lemonade. "I don't mean to be rude, Martha, but if I knew what to do, don't you think I would have done it already?"

Martha took her pipe stem from her teeth and said, "Willie," (I'm sure she kept calling me that because she knew it bugged me.) "I bet you already have all the knowledge you need to do projects well."

I reflected on my formal and informal education in project management. I had taken a course in operations research when I was at university. We had done a lot of mathematical analysis of PERT charts and arrow diagrams, both project management tools. But the guy teaching the course had a Ph.D. in project management. It seemed to me there must be a lot of knowledge that I did not yet have. I told this to Martha.

She just smiled. "I suspect that you don't have time to get a Ph.D. before you complete theWindSailor project. And anyway, you probably ...