Comments on: Effective Preplanning: A-Team against MacGyver

By: Bas

Bas — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 09:06:56 +0000

Hey Renato, what I like is that both series are globally known and provide a sentiment around the 80s. Brazil and Netherlands, looking at the same series

By: Bas

Bas — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 09:05:11 +0000

Hey Simon, every one can take from the analogy just what he wants For me it was an illustration that it easy to come up with a plan and solution if you have all you need conveniently located in your environment, but true resilience is when you can use whatever is in the environment and use it to your advantage. But that was just my take away

By: Renato Garcia Ferracini

Renato Garcia Ferracini — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 14:14:35 +0000

Very nice post. I was a great fan of both series, so you brought me a deep nostalgic mood in a monday morning…

In my opinion we can’t just go to a unique aproach in our projects. I mean, you always have to preplan the best you can, but you don’t have to follow this plan blindly. Even in Agile projects you have a plan! You just don’t have your product requirements defined, but at least you have a plan on how to define them.

But just having a plan isn’t enough. A project manager that don’t have a good swiss knife and don’t know how to use it at the proper moment is fated to fail.

By: Simon Moore

Simon Moore — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 06:11:50 +0000

Bas,

Cool analogy, and it’s a tough call. I think you have to go with the A Team though, they managed to create outcomes that are far greater than they could have achieved as individuals, I mean they were all pretty flawed characters in their own way, but they got it done.

Or is it that the A Team most resemble waterfall planning and MacGyver better reflects agile? So both have their place.

Simon

By: Bas de Baar

Bas de Baar — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 10:19:31 +0000

I agree, Dan. And the more I think about it, our Swiss Knife of Project Leadership is our own personality, reputation, communication skillset and emotional intelligence. No more, no less.

By: Dan Ward

Dan Ward — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 23:10:08 +0000

I LOVE this post – very cool to use the A-Team versus Mac as an example of planning versus improvisation. Both were resourceful, but clearly the A-Team’s “I love it when a plan comes together” approach is 180 degrees away from Mac’s “figure it out when I get there” method.

Given the economic, technological and social environment we find ourselves in these days, I’m going to say the MacGyver approach is probably best suited for project leaders these days…

By: 25 Ways Project People Can Train Their Mental Flexibility — Project Shrink

25 Ways Project People Can Train Their Mental Flexibility — Project Shrink — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 11:53:57 +0000

[...] 10. Inspirations do not always come from real life successes. Situations can compare very favorably to television shows as well. Relate project scenes / scenarios to your favorite television shows. Mental flexibility granted through an active imagination will lead you to some unconventional yet implementable ideas, not to mention PM metaphors. The A-Team’s resourcefulness comes to mind and you start believing you do not need to be Superman, nor do you need super machines to get to your goals, it is all in the mind and how you adapt your environment to suit your project needs. [more] [...]

By: Bas

Bas — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 05:39:20 +0000

hi Josh, yeah I guess you are right (just loved to create a post in which i could use them pictures )

By: Josh Nankivel

Josh Nankivel — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 06:47:19 +0000

Are you kidding? Of course we know about the A-Team and MacGyver!

I think they’d end up working together, so perhaps the moral of the story is that good planning and teams coupled with ingenuity win the day.

Josh Nankivel
http://www.PMStudent.com