We live as long as we learn
One of the reasons, why I love project management so much, is because it requires one to learn constantly. Not only every project is different, but we get to do them in different organizational contexts – businesses, clients, internal / external, different settings and stakeholder types, different stakes involved. We rarely do projects alone – hence the need to know how to build teams and work with various types of people. This is learning too.
Change is a given
What’s given is change and the necessity to adapt and learn. Moving aside the entire domain of subject matter – to make change happen successfully we need to become experts at adaptation – our toolbox should be tested constantly and our approach reevaluated at all times. Could I have done better? Is it possible to be more effective and/or efficient? Was there too much structure or not enough?
A wake up call
Sometimes the best we can do is ask for feedback. Even a 15 min call at the end of a cooperation can wake you up or provide you with signals to adapt.
Some time ago I received feedback from someone more senior in the organization. More importantly, someone more experienced than me. He told me I should:
“develop stronger tolerance for ambiguity,”
and
“own the solution rather than the structure.”
The thought process
The thought process started. The learning too.
- Have I become inflexible in my pursuit to be more
compliant? - When do we engage in finding a solution putting aside structure?
- Isn’t ambiguity something we should deal with first hand?
Questions like these started nagging me. I still haven’t reached a solid conclusion, but I’m certain the learning continues. The way it should.
