The Sixth Step - Right Effort

It was tough for me to see an easy tie between this step and project management, which is ironic because this step is about not taking the easy way out. Maybe that’s the tie. Shortcuts aren’t the answer to life’s questions, so should they be the answer in project management?

A key step early in a project is understanding the scope of the project. What is it that we are going to deliver? What are the deliverables? This is not the time to take a shortcut. In order for the project to be successful, we need to carefully work through this problem. That’s the only way we’ll find the true answer.

The Fifth Step - Right Livelihood

As I was researching this step of the Eightfold Path, I had to reflect on my own career. Like most (or all) people, I've had jobs I've loved and jobs I've hated. When the alarm goes off in the morning, do you say "not again" or do you jump out of bed, eager to start the day. These days, I am eager to get to work (and yes, we are hiring).

Project management can be be rewarding or frustrating. A lot of times we are expected to do things without the official authority. We don't always get the resources we need, and yet we are expected to deliver. But when a project is delivered successfully, what a feeling of satisfaction.

The right livelihood doesn't necessarily mean we seek out a job because it is more morally correct. It has to do with how we approach our job/career. We need to go out and do our best, not for reward or recognition, because that is feeding our ego. We do our best, because it's the right thing to do. Then we will see the stress dimish and find satisfaction.

The Fourth Step - Right Action

It's easy to do the right thing, isn't it? We wouldn't rob a bank or embezzle millions in our company (Enron or Worldcom not withstanding). But what about those smaller, less significant cases of maybe not doing the right thing. Where do we draw the line? Is it really a big deal if the procurement officer got a couple of tickets to the football game from the vendor? No one was really hurt, and besides, their product was best, wasn't it?

The fourth step of the eightfold path is right action. If we do the right thing, we will be in harmony, while if we do the wrong thing, even if seemingly insignificant, we will be in opposition with nature. As project managers, we need to apply insight to our decisions so that we follow the path that will progress our goals, spiritual or otherwise.

The Third Step - Right Speech

Speech is like a bell, once it is rung, it cannot be unrung. Once we say something, we cannot take it back. Equally important as what we say is the motivation behind our words.

All projects will have meetings. This is a great opportunity to practice Right Speech. We need to consider how we contribute to the meeting and why. Do we shoot down someone else's suggestion because we don't like them (even if the suggestion was good)? Do we speak our mind just to stroke our own ego? Next time you're in a meeting, think about what you say and why.

The Second Step - Right Thought

The second step in the eightfold path is right thought or purpose. From a Buddhist perspective, this means keeping an eye on your spiritual goals, especially when life happens and throws you off track.

So what's the parallel to project management? The idea is to keep an eye on the big picture, and don't get bent out of shape when minor problems arise on the project. A good project manager will plan out the project in advance, but also know how to adjust the plan as the project moves forward. Change is not a bad thing; it just needs to be managed with the end goal in mind. The vision of the project should remain the same, even if some of the details change.

Project Management and the Eightfold Path

I was recently reflecting on some Buddhist teachings and started seeing how some of those teaching can apply to project management. The first step in the Eightfold Path is Right Understanding. The Buddhist teaching is that we should look at things from other people's perspectives and not try to judge.

This concept should be familiar to people, even if they haven't studied Buddhism. Christian teaching says "Judge not that you might not be judged" (Matthew 7:1). Same idea, don't look at people from your point of view. Stephen Covey, as one of his 7 Habits has "Seek first to Understand."

So how does this apply to project management. It's how we deal with our stakeholders (among other things). Do we really take time to listen to what they want. Do we communicate with them often and really try to understand their perspective? So next time you're in a meeting with your stakeholder and you start to think "What an idiot, he/she doesn't know what they're asking for..." take some time and really try to see things from his/her perspective.

The Second Internet?

A recent Gartner report warns CIOs that they need to pay attention to how new technologies such as blogging and podcasting can impact business. Read about it here. On a related note, podcasting was recently added to the New Oxford dictionary.

So is podcasting really a business tool of the future? I recall one project I was on where we provided verbal status updates every few hours during an implementation. At that time, we were limited to voicemail. Our system let us set up a voicemail distribution list. The update would be recorded and sent to everyone on the list. Now with podcasting, this same approach can be done in a podcast.

This stuff might be fun to play with for those of us who consider ourselves techies, but what about those outside the techie arena? I've worked with some sales & marketing folks that were pretty technically capable, I could see them using these new tools. I've also worked with folks that were pretty technically challenged (you know the type; "where's the 'any' key?"). Are they going to be left behind?