‘Can’t see beyond the end of your nose’ is an old saying that keeps popping up in my mind as I come across young project managers. It is not that they are not good at their job or don’t know how to apply the dictated processes that abound in our occupation. It is more that they are so focused on the project or remit in hand they start without thinking about the potential problems that will inevitably occur. I think the same could be said of some companies too.
In my work I take it upon myself to research in great detail the market, positioning and aspirations of my hiring client as well as formulating an understanding of what it is they do. Once this is done, and I have the project remit I then stop.For a short while I sit quietly and cogitate over all the information I have collected. With eyes closed I then visualize the project. Literally, I imagine where we are at that precise moment in time and then ‘see’ the process I will follow until I can then picture the end goal or product.
While imagining the process I will deliberately throw in obstacles, problems or very improbable incidents that may or may not occur in order to formulate my strategy of how to deal with them. A wise mentor of mine from the past use to say “always have a plan B” and it is with this advice in mind that I have developed this personal journey in my work.
It has stood me in good stead and whilst not completely an infallible strategy it has saved a lot of time wasting and money with past projects I have worked on.
So my tip to project managers and companies alike that want to show they are exceptional and stand out from the conditioned crowd is STOP – THINK – VISUALIZE.