Intelligent Disobedience new perspectives on decision making in project management

A blind man is rushing home. His seeing-eye dog senses his haste and quickens his pace to match his master’s expectations; the traffic is quiet as they approach the intersection near their apartment. The blind man, usually keen on hearing, does not sense the approaching mini-van heading towards him at 80 miles an hour.

The van blinks its lights but does not slow down. The dog feels a tug on his leash indicating “Go!” The animal feels something’s wrong and sensing impeding disaster over given instruction, pauses on his heels. As the dog’s nails drag against the sidewalk, the leash jerks the blind man back, his left hip missing the hood of the van by mere inches

The little parable may seem to speak to us about instincts but it’s actually about the intelligence behind those instincts. Some people may call it an example of intelligent disobedience: Intelligent disobedience means that the dog must learn not only when to obey the commands of the blind person, but when to disobey commands that might put their owner in danger.

When applied to workers executing ‘successful’ projects, the analogy seems to bring in some vital home truths. For instance, it reveals that the criteria used to evaluate project managers are still based on a crude behavioral psychology, where PMs are judged on their ability to manage and complete tasks and milestones. The impact of such ‘performance’ on the project’s ‘big picture’ is simply not considered a part of the same equation. It is important to know the objective and differentiate it from a deliverable, or for that matter, a task.

On the other hand, there are times project managers know that the demands from the project are unreasonable and pose a significant risk to the sponsor or the customer. A common example is the constant demand for new and additional features to be added to the scope of the original project. Customers think they can get better bang for their buck (especially in times of global recession and cut-back spending) if they push out a product that has everything in the first version.

So how do project managers push back on requirements which are not in the interest of project success?

Project managers need to understand that having a sound schedule plan built around schedule development principles is not enough. What matters is the power to exercise your own judgment no matter how it strikes others as being against the flow of things.

Here’s an insider’s look how authority and decisions work in our cultural context:

• Indian give positive status reports but never comment on the causes when a deadline is missed
• They will strictly code to the specs and never raise an issue before completing the code
• Revolt silently when given ‘crap work’ or feel like they are not treated like team members • When they say yes, it means, “ I heard you” not “ I agree” or “I understand”
• While Americans assume that no news is good news and any problems would be identified as they occur,

Indians consider raising objections as disrespectful and prefers to bury them

Here are some situations where you may be called upon to exercise your ability to intelligently disobey:

• When you’re dealing with scope creep (requirements keep growing without accountability)
• When you are proposing unpopular options go against team consensus
• When you are crafting compelling arguments for an unpopular initiative
• When you are standing up to senior management on personnel and resource issues
• When you are using non-traditional techniques to create “unexpected” impressions as a means to change stakeholder perceptions

All of the above involves a conscientious project manager using not just communication skill alone but deploying leadership capability, understanding stakeholders, influencing people while protecting the organization from itself!