As anyone whose read Howard Zinn’s Peoples History of the United States will tell you, there’s always a different way to view our history. For example, on a recent trip to Mount Vernon, I found out that George Washington died of a disease that slowly constricted his throat until he couldn’t breathe; in effect, he strangled to death. That still gives me the chills.
Anyway – since we are celebrating our national birthday on July 4, I thought it appropriate to think about how this country almost never came into being; through my rose colored Project Management glasses.
Project Manager Extraordinare
Ok so its 1787. Lets say that George Washington is the Project Manager for the ‘Create the United States’ project. In theory, George should be happy. After all, the project:
And everyone was free to pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Right?
Wrong. The reality on the ground was:
Clearly, something wasn’t right. The initial set of requirements for the ‘Create the United States’ project were called the Articles of Confederation. And the Articles were failing; what was built wasn’t meeting the mark. The utopia envisioned in the project charter was a distant possibility, not a daily reality.
I just finished watching Andre Augusto Choma’s most excellent presentation at the PMI EMEA conference in May of this year where he lays out the Top 10 Ways to Kill a Project. Number 1 is to Have a Vague Scope and number 2 is to Never Revisit the Scope. I would argue that the Declaration of Independence was fairly vaugue when it came to how newly Free and Independent states would relate to each other. Of course, there was pressure to act quickly so I imagine that a modern day PMP would attempt to raise the issue at the signing, probably would have gotten shot down and therefore would add a risk to the risk register something like:
And in fact the Articles of Confederation tried to deal with these issues, but produced a set or rules, rather than a mechanism for creating rules. Further, lost in the Articles was the clear vision of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, the protection of which is implied but not clearly spelled out in the Declaration of Independence. Knowing this, Washington called for time out. The project scope needed to be revisited. And the whole change management board (CCB aka The Congress) had to decide and approve a change, unanimously and collaboratively. In effect, the Constitutional Convention of 1787 was a really one massive CCB in response to one massive scope change request.
Sometimes Project Managers have to force the conversation, to shed the light on a problem and keep it on until the problem is fixed. Project Managers need to have the courage to be the force for change, and sometimes, to be the whistleblower. I’ve advocated for vision keepers in another post on this blog, and I would say that George Washington’s courage and actions during 1787 is the physical manifestation and examplar of that vision. Seriously, let’s think about the ‘what if’. What if Washington took the CYA route on this one. He would’ve sounded something like this:
“Hey, you know, I didn’t sign the Project Charter or the Requirements Document, so I’m off hook here. I’m going to catch some fish.” I digress…Here’s how the CCB changed the scope:
In effect, the old requirements were scrapped and new set, called ‘The Constitution’, were written. The old stuff about life, liberty, defense, pursuit of happiness from the Project Charter was still there. But tellingly, the most important new requirement became the first sentence of the new requirements document.
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
And the rest, as they say, is history. Thank God George Washington tenaciously mitigated for project risk. Thank God a solid CCB was in place to skillfully and honestly manage scope change requests. And Thank God for Rule of Law.
Have a great holiday.
“Create the United States’ Project Documentation
My rewrite of the Project Charter
Most interesting! I’ve just finished reading War on the Run, about Robert Rogers and his Rangers (focused on the French and Indian War) and I realized at one point that I was analyzing his approach to warfare from a PM perspective… especially when it came to risk mitigation, availability of resources, and a clear understanding of the objectives. There are lessons to be learned everywhere.
C.K, indeed..I’ve wondered about the possibility of some kind of objective truth buried within the PMBOK, as if perhaps the PMBOK is the elaboration of centuries old knowledge. Just another idea..could be blog worthy!