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PROJECT MANAGEMENT & STORIES
By Camper Bull, Founding Partner & Principle Armiger International & Terrence Gargiulo, President,
MAKINGSTORIES.net
Projects are devoid of meaning without the ongoing role of sense making. Let me start by telling you
a story…
A group of top notch project managers like you climbed a mountain. After a rigorous day of
hiking all day, the team’s objectives of reaching the summit had been met with flying colors.
Every milestone hit and every critical success factor pointing to a complete success. After
adequate celebration and the filing of the all closure artifacts with the Project Management
Office it was time to get off the mountain. With the sun setting fast people began to look for
the path leading down the mountain. Confusion engulfed our team of mighty adventurers. No
one had any idea of what path to take and internal in‐fighting threatened to wreak complete
havoc on the team until one of the team members pulled a map from their backpack. Chaos
was replaced with a calm resolve a plan worthy of the highest praise from even the Project
Management Institute. The team made its way down the mountain and when the sun rose the
next day people glanced at the map only to realize it wasn’t a map of the mountain.
Sound familiar? The map was a vehicle of sense making. Whether it was right or wrong was
inconsequential (at least in our story). The map gave people a sense of purpose, direction, and action
tied to the map. Everyone was on the same page. The map is a metaphor for stories. According to
author and President of MAKINGSTORIES.net Terrence Gargiulo, stories are fundamental to how we
communicate, learn and think. Stories are how we make sense of what is happening around us. We
cannot divorce ourselves from looking for patterns. We are pattern machines. Stories are the
language we use to articulate and guide our actions.
Stories can play a central role in project management. For the sake of this article, consider stories in a
much broader light than you may be accustomed to think of. Stories do not need to be told and
stories do not need to have Hollywood perfectly crafted beginning, middle, and ends. In this article
we take a look at some of the ways stories can be used to manage your projects to success.
In this three part article we’ll walk through the PMBOK process groups and identify where and how
stories fit. This article assumes you are acquainted with these process groups (Initiating, Planning,
Executing, Monitoring/Controlling, Closing).
Initiation Phase
Projects are the vision of a solution to a problem. Stories drive visions. The stories we collect from
constituents in need of a solution, helps us to envision a project. When we elicit people’s day to day
experiences or ideas of the future we are working with stories. Descriptions and facts paint a slow
cumbersome picture wrought with the seduction of rational certainty while being riddled with blind
spots. Granted the facts and details give us the crucial data to support our recommendations.
However, if we collect only facts our picture will be incomplete. It’s unlikely we’ll be able to
collaboratively craft a solution that addresses the root of the problem.
We can get to the heart of the problem quicker when we get people to speak about their
experiences. People’s experiences are stored in their minds as stories. The more we help people
share the richness of their experiences in the form of narratives, the better our understanding will be
of the problem domain.
So how do you tell the difference between someone offering an explanation or description and the
richer form of communication offered by stories?
Here are few guiding questions to get you started:
1. Are they speaking from their personal experiences or are they speaking in general terms?
2. Are there little tangents in what they share? Listen for descriptive elements, elaboration of
ancillary details that paint a more vivid picture, editorial comments, references to other
experiences, the use of analogies, metaphors, perhaps even jokes to illustrate their
descriptions.
3. Do you detect any emotion? This will vary from person to person. It may be subtle but if
people are telling you a story you will notice nuances of emotions?
4. What’s your level of engagement as a listener? Stories engage us in active listening. We
are not fighting off the incessant streaming distractions of our minds or the desire to speak
our mind.
Remember to adjust your expectation of what constitutes a story. Look for threads and fragments of
stories. These can be very short and sandwiched in between common forms of communication.
You will use the stories you collect to piece together a tapestry of understanding. As you scan the
stories you will begin to observe patterns of meaning. Liken this crisscrossing intersection of patterns
and meanings to a computer network with nodes. Think of it as a network of meaning. Insight does
not sit in one node of the network or one story. Some stories are stronger than others, attracting
weaker or isolated nodes of meanings. These stronger stories will naturally facilitate your projection
of meaning. Use them to help you connect other stories to them. This is a circular process. Once you
generate a map of the terrain you cannot stop there. Like the Project Management cycle of Planning‐
Executing/Controlling‐and‐Planning sense making never ends. Like a detective, as you add more clues
you redraw your map; after all not just any map will get you off the mountain.
©2009, Armiger International & MAKINGSTORIES.net, Camper Bull & Terrence Gargiulo, All rights reserved 2
Almost any aspect of collecting the information for the Project Charter is touched by story‐based
communications. For the sake of this article let’s focus on three:
1. Stakeholder Analysis
2. Initial Project Scope
3. Selling the Project Charter
Stakeholder Analysis
Stakeholders will make or break the success of a project. This is truly irrational stuff. What are the
assumptions people are making about a project? What historical filters are coloring their views of our
project? Do we understand what’s in it for them? What’s the quickest way to amass and manage our
way through all these perceptions? And where there are pockets of potential resistance how can we
use our influence to make sure these do not become obstacles that capsize our project?
Try to see every stakeholder as an actor on a stage. Start by understanding each character in your
play. Every character in a play has a background that informs the play’s unfolding story but which
may not be directly included in the actions or dialogues of the play. This is the background stuff. Too
often we are compelled to convince others of why our project is so important and why they should be
enthusiastic supporters of our efforts.
We don’t always take the time to hear other people’s viewpoints. We set our agenda and off we go.
Even if we give people’s perspectives air time we aren’t listening with our story ears. In other words
we are probably not ready to make sense of what’s important to this other person and how that
might provide unanticipated fuel for a collaborative idea not in our line of sight.
Okay, it’s counter intuitive but according to story expert Terrence Gargiulo, “the shortest distance
between two people is a story.” Listening to our stakeholders share their stories can lead to very
positive outcomes for our project. In these stories we will be able to understand what is important to
them and why.
Sometimes the very act of being listened to opens up people to the possibility of taking an active
interest in our viewpoints. Of course there are those rare times when no matter how hard you try to
make an open space for other people’s stories they will not trust you or the situation enough to share
them; perhaps they have been burned too many times (from Charles Schultzt’s cartoon Peanuts
imagine the Charlie Brown and Lucy syndrome with the football). These are few and far between. Like
any good project manager we are triaging where, when, and how to spend our finite energy and
time. So there’s no need to be Don Quixote and chase after windmill stakeholders; those impossible
stakeholder who will never become champions of our projects.
As you make the rounds between stakeholders you will be surprised how people’s needs now
encoded in the collage of stories you have been collecting inter‐relate with one another. You will
have stories to tell that match or at least dovetail with the needs and agendas of others.
©2009, Armiger International & MAKINGSTORIES.net, Camper Bull & Terrence Gargiulo, All rights reserved 3
Here is a simple tool:
1. Identify the stakeholder
2. Indicate whether they are supporters or opponents of your project
3. Describe “What’s In It For Them” (WIFT) – what’s important to them
4. Short descriptions and key words of the stories you elicited that help you understand their
perspective
5. List strategies of how you might meet any of their needs or turn them into an ally or if they
are supporters how you can enlist them as allies
Stakeholder Pro Con WIFT Stories
Strategies…
Initial Scope
During Initiation we are trying to paint a picture of the project that is a mile high and an inch deep.
Every project follows a life cycle for collecting and managing requirements. A large project will usually
include a formal process of analysis before even entering the Initiating Phase. Whether a small or
large project, user stories are one of the tools used by project teams to gather requirements. For
example, in software development user stories describe how people interact with an application.
When you are collecting these stories think less in terms of filling out a template. Using software as
an example, you want people to talk about how they do their jobs, what would make it easier, and
what picture do they have of themselves and their job after the implementation of a new business
process or the automation of one.
As much as possible, ask people to describe these things to you as a narrative. Event timelines can be
helpful. Bring a simple high‐level picture of the process to the person you are interviewing or draw
one while you are with them. Then use the picture to elicit more story‐like material. This is
exploratory requirements gathering. Your job at this point is to uncover business value. Remember all
of this information is being used to develop a project charter and ultimately sell the value of the
project to the organization. Requirements will be fine tuned later on and every requirement will be
evaluated in terms of its risk, value to the organization, its feasibility, is effect on the scope of a
project, and the constraints of a project.
Selling the Project Charter with Stories
So far we’ve discussed how stories are a listening and analysis tool for projects. But when do we get
to tell some stories. Can’t we craft the perfect narrative to rally the whole organization around our
project? Of course we can but you might be surprised at how it’s best done.
©2009, Armiger International & MAKINGSTORIES.net, Camper Bull & Terrence Gargiulo, All rights reserved 4
Stories are great encoders of information. We know stories have tremendous power to move people
emotionally. It should be simple then to craft an air tight narrative that will appeal to most if not all
people and get them behind our project. It turns out not to be that simple nor the most effective use
of stories.
By now you have spoken to lots of people and you have heard lots of stories, opinions, ideas,
agendas, etc… When it comes to selling your project, pick out some of the more prominent stories
and use them to paint a compelling picture of the future. These future stories will stir people’s juices.
Sometimes there may be such a powerful future story that people become attached to it leading to
motivation, commitment, and performance. Recognize this is really more of the exception than the
rule.
Stories work best in collections. Develop a collage of compelling stories with pointers and references
to lots of other people’s stories. This allows you to cast your net far and wide. In the collage of stories
people are more likely to encounter one that hits home. This is a story that resonates with them.
When a story resonates with someone they become story repeaters. They may not repeat the story
you have told them. Believe it or not that’s not even important. Instead people are more likely to
share a story triggered by the story told to them.
According to Terrence Gargiulo, “the only reason to tell a story is to hear a story.” This is how you
activate the network of sense making in the organization. Unlike facts compiled on documents sitting
on file cabinets, or the 0’s or 1’s stored on disk arrays, stories are not to be managed or controlled in
the same ways. Stories work by activating people’s imaginations. Every person has a vast array of
experiences they use as templates to interpret and map the world around them. Information is
always in association with other information. Therefore any story‐based communication strategy we
use to excite our network of peer‐to‐peer to story nodes should involve people as co‐creators of
meaning.
Conclusion
Stories are how we communicate and make sense of the world around us. Becoming more aware and
purposeful in how we elicit people’s stories leads to more effective project communications during all
phases of a project. In this first article we examined three aspects of the Initiation Phase of projects
touched by stories; stakeholder analysis, initial scoping of a project, and selling the project charter. In
our next article we will look at the role stories play in the Planning Phase.
©2009, Armiger International & MAKINGSTORIES.net, Camper Bull & Terrence Gargiulo, All rights reserved 5
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Camper Bull has held leadership and management positions in both commercial and
philanthropic environments. He has led a division of an international software
company and served as lead Account Executive for Fortune 500 companies at both
Genigraphics and ACI. Camper led development of the ACI multi‐media marketing
product team and developed their corporate image as an industry leader and
innovator in the market. He also managed the development of new products
including the launch of wireless paging at Bell Atlantic.
His background in developing the strategic planning and growth initiatives for VISTA
Computer Services, including restructuring the company to better address the market
with a global offer, significantly helped that company gain a footing in the worldwide
software industry. Camper has developed and delivered several leadership training
programs in business and industry as well as for high school seniors and foreign
exchange students. He is the author of a significant PMP Prep program for the
purpose of helping project management professionals prepare for the PMI
certification examination. Proficient with computerized business applications, Camper
has been able to transfer these practical skills into useful training tools helping clients
gain a fast yet comprehensive understanding of the application in their business
environment. His extensive travel and experience throughout Europe, Africa and Asia
provide additional strength and a global view to Camper’s platform of
communications and project management training.
Contact Info:
Email: camper.bull@ArmigerInt.com
Phone: (973) 377‐0411
Terrence L. Gargiulo, MMHS is an eight times author, international speaker,
organizational development consultant and group process facilitator specializing in
the use of stories. He holds a Master of Management in Human Services from the
Florence Heller School, at Brandeis University, and is a recipient of Inc. Magazine's
Marketing Master Award, the 2008 HR Leadership Award from the Asia Pacific HRM
Congress, and is a member of Brandeis University’s athletic Hall of Fame. He has
appeared on Fox TV, CN8, and on CNN radio among others.
Highlights of some of his past and present clients include, GM, HP, DTE Energy,
MicroStrategy, Citrix, Fidelity, Federal Reserve Bank, Ceridian, Countrywide Financial,
Washington Mutual, Dreyers Ice Cream, UNUM, US Coast Guard, Boston University,
Raytheon, City of Lowell, Arthur D. Little, KANA Communications, Merck‐Medco,
Coca‐Cola, Harvard Business School, and Cambridge Savings Bank.
Terrence is a frequent speaker at international and national conferences including the
American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), International Society for
Performance Improvement (ISPI), Academy of Management, Conference Board,
Linkage Inc, Association of Business Communications, and he is a Field Editor for
ASTD. His articles have appeared in American Executive Magazine, Journal of Quality
and Participation, Communication World, ISPI Journal, and ASTD Links.
Contact Info:
terrence@makingstories.net
(415) 948‐8087
©2009, Armiger International & MAKINGSTORIES.net, Camper Bull & Terrence Gargiulo, All rights reserved 6