Beyond Techniques ...

I am a big fan of the book The Art of War and Taoism ... I truly believe that there is alot of excellent philosophical ideas within both concepts.

I recently came across the a post from the The Tao of Project Management blog which I thought was excellent and bore repeating.

Beyond Techniques

People who blindly follow PRINCE, PM-BOK or any other technique or methodology to the letter are not usually wise project managers. The wise project manager needs no guidelines or methodology to do the right things and steer the project successfully towards completion. Those guidelines and methodologies exist to teach and instruct the less experienced, for whom they were intended. However the good project manager should also set an example and therefore should be seen to follow those guidelines and methodologies where they are appropriate.

The Way

The poor project manager may recognise that he needs members of the team to do the work on the project but he fails to recognise that he also need to serve these people. If there is no mutual need and mutual respect he is missing the whole point and will not see how things happen.

The wise project manager has an awareness of everything that needs taking care of on the project; he misses nothing. In return the members of the project team need the project manager to steer them in the right direction and facilitate their work. I know this for this is the way of the project manager.

The Tao
Lao Tsu tells us:

A good walker leaves no tracks;
A good speaker makes no slips;
A good reckoner needs no tally.
A good door needs no lock,
Yet no one can open it.
Good binding requires no knots,
Yet no one can loosen it.

Therefore the sage takes care of all men
And abandons no one.
He takes care of all things
And abandons nothing.

This is called “following the light.”

What is a good man?
A teacher of a bad man.
What is a bad man?
A good man’s charge.
If the teacher is not respected,
And the student not cared for,
Confusion will arise, however clever one is.
This is the crux of mystery.

I hope it is helpful ...