Posted at 01:59h in Project Management Training by admin 0 Comments
Zen and the Art of Project Management. Not an original thought. Not even an original title. But its a glorious October Sunday evening and I am sitting on the front porch watching the last light hit the turning leaves before it goes behind the brow of the hilltop I live below. Right now there is nothing to manage except completing this short beginning note and Im doing my best to give it my full attention. A Zenny occasion if ever there was one.
Paying 100% attention to anything isnt easy, even this. My wife is asking me if Im ready for supper. The beagle is trying to eat the napkin from my pre-meal snack. A couple of neighbors passed by a moment ago and beeped the horn, so I couldnt help but wave at them.
Our work as project managers is the same way, only much more so. 100 things at once clamor for our attention, yet the human mind is only capable of dealing with one thing at a time. Even those who claim to be multi-taskers are really rapidly switching between tasks, not actually attending to them simultaneously.
I believe that the more we are able to single-task, the more quality were able to bring to our work and the less stress we add to it. I also believe that as we are single-tasking, its vital to do so with great concentration and a loose hold at the same time. If our grasp is loose, itll be much easier to change direction when a pressing demandthe unanticipated scope change, the last-minute crunch meetingarises, as it inevitably will.
What Im talking about here are the qualities of presencesingle-tasking with full concentrationand non-attachmentholding loosely to the matter at hand. Its paradoxical, but mastering these qualitiesnot that I havecan mean the difference between working effectively and freaking out, or giving up.
I think now Ill go meditate on dinner. Its steak night.