Six weeks ago I released the first draft of my ebook “Project Shrink: Linear Edition“. The reason for publishing unfinished work is to get early feedback. I am very happy to receive a lot of usable comments that will improve the material in the next releases.

Hal Macomber of Reforming Project Management made me aware that releasing the ebook in this fashion makes it an unbook. From now, it will be called my unbook. Sounds way cooler.

What Is The Main Theme?

The number one question I get about the, uhm, unbook is: “what is your main theme?” Just yelling “Projects are about humans!” is not going to cut it.

Recently, one reader (thanks Amos!) pressed some more on this topic.

Alright, alright, I’ll have a go at it!

Partial Information, Partial Influence, Partial Capability

Think about a Project Manager as a person in a huge network of interacting people. The PM can interact only with a few of them (his team, the stakeholders). The stakeholders interact also with others. People the PM knows, but more likely with people invisible to the Project Manager.

The Project Manager is running his project by interacting with his team and stakeholders, but the actual behavior of the project organization is determined by the sum of all interactions, including from the part of the network invisible to the PM.

Because of the size of the network, because of limited visibility on the network, because of the complexity of the network, the PM is getting partial information, always.

For the same reasons the PM has only partial influence. He cannot interact with “everyone”. He has no “power” over everyone.

If the information is the input and the influence is the output of a PM, his mind can be regarded as the transformation process. Because the amount of knowledge a brain can hold is limited, the PM is using partial capability.

How does a Project Manager run a successful project when he has partial information, partial influence and partial capability?

This is why I am focused on Project Management in a global, mobile, virtual and multi-cultural world. This is the context in which the image I just painted comes to life, is more visible.

Does This Make Sense To You?

I would love to get your feedback on this picture!

Bas de Baar helps people find ways to enjoy the diversity of human interaction in their organizations so that they can get out of their own way and achieve their goals. - The Partial Project Manager is a post from: Project Shrink.

The topic of our chat is the alignment of individual and organizational objectives.

Andy is founder of Capability Alignment Professionals. His company is a leader in building focused business communities that leverage the lessons from social networks. It’s all about close communications and alignment to goals.

You should also check out his blog.

You can view the video below… or follow this link to YouTube.com.

You may also want to check out…

Successful Virtual Teams With Jessica Lipnack
Project Management And Social Media With Cornelius Fichtner
Working In Japan With Kimberly Wiefling
Self-Organization In Teams With Esther Derby

Bas de Baar helps people find ways to enjoy the diversity of human interaction in their organizations so that they can get out of their own way and achieve their goals. - Alignment Of Individual And Organizational Objectives With Andrew Meyer is a post from: Project Shrink.