The blind men and the elephant : mastering project work : how to transform fuzzy responsibilities into meaningful results / David A. Schmaltz ; illustrations by D. Wilder Schmaltz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schmaltz, David A., 1951-

Contributor:

Schmaltz, D. Wilder.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Saxe, John Godfrey, 1816-1887. Blind men and the elephant.

Saxe, John Godfrey.

Project management.

Physical Description:

xii, 143 p. : ill.

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Mastering project work

Place of Publication:

San Francisco : Berrett-Koehler Publishers, c2003.

Language Note:

English

System Details:

text file

Summary:

If you work, you probably manage projects every day-even if "project manager" isn't in your official title-and you know how frustrating the experience can be. Using the familiar story of six blind men failing to describe an elephant to each other as a metaphor, David Schmaltz brilliantly identifies the true root cause of the difficulties in project work: "incoherence" (the inability of a group of people to make common meaning from their common experience). Schmaltz exposes such oft-cited difficulties as poor planning, weak leadership, and fickle customers as poor excuses for project failure, providing a set of simple, project coherence-building techniques that anyone can use to achieve success. He explains how "wickedness" develops when a team over-relies on their leader for guidance rather than tapping their true source of power and authority-the individual. The Blind Men and the Elephant explores just how much influence is completely within each individual's control. Using real-world stories, Schmaltz undermines the excuses that may be keeping you trapped in meaningless work, offering practical guidance for overcoming the inevitable difficulties of project work.

Contents:

Intro

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Preface: Naive Beginnings

1: The Blind Men

"The Blind Men and the Elephant"

Challenging Our Certainty

Confusing Ourselves

Choosing more Appropriate Frames of Reference

A Different Set of Possibilities

2: The Elephant

An Elephant We Cannot See

Masters and Slaves

Fragmenting along Predictable Lines

Disclosing Our Delusion

Liberating Ourselves

"That each by Observation Might Satisfy His Mind"

3: The Wall

Festina Lente-Hasten Slowly

Meeting My Wall (Again)

Discovering what I Want

Juiciness

"God Bless Me! but the Elephant is Very Like a Wall!"

4: The Spear

The Tale of a Very Bad Soldier

Monitoring My Metaphors

"To Me 'Tis Mighty Clear, this Wonder of an Elephant is Very Like a Spear!"

5: The Snake

Who's Here with You?

Trusting Snakes

Sorry Sort of Safety

Snake Hunting

Tit for Tat

How Badly do You Want Them to Win?

"I See," Quoth He, "The Elephant is Very Like a Snake!"

6: The Tree

"101 Reasons Why I Can't Plan Yet"

"I Think that I will Never See …"

There's No Such Thing as a Project

Unavoidable Blind Spots

Imposing Disorganization

How Work Really Gets Done

Central Organizing Principle

"'Tis Clear Enough the Elephant is Very Like a Tree!"

7: The Fan

No One is Apathetic Except in Pursuit of Someone Else's Goal

Fanning the Flame or Stirring the Breeze?

Three-Part Conversation

Creating a Village Idiot

"Deny the Fact who Can, this Marvel of an Elephant is Very Like a Fan!"

8: The Rope

Will Rogers was an Artist with a Rope

Sitting Comfortably

Just Like the Real World

Coherence Emerges

Encouraging Coherence

"I See," Quoth He, "The Elephant is Very Like a Rope!"

9: Theologic Wars

A Heretic's Homecoming.

"And Prate about an Elephant not One of Them has Seen!"

Bibliography

Index

About the Author.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 131-136) and index.

ISBN:

9786613268570

9781283268578

1283268574

9781605096124

1605096121

OCLC:

774026545