Monday, April 18, 2011

The Unforeseen in Project Management

"There are no unintended consequences--only unwanted consequences." Slim Fairview

If you have assembled a team that includes people with experience, you can minimize the unknown unknowns.

Perhaps what you mean are the unforseeables that can't be foreseen. Don't let what may happen complicate the task at hand. Too many people, (Me included) have worried about what might happen that they create problems for them selves that would not have happened it they'd been doing their jobs in the first place instead of worrying. (There is a sentence in there, somewhere, some assembly required.)

Needless to say, when the problem comes up, they declare it the result of an unknown unknown. Don't worry about it.

Assemble a team with people who have experience. (In different areas.) Keep a network of people who've had to work in crisis management situations. (It needn't have been a big crisis, the thought process is the same.)

Then get back to work. If something should crop up, (dare I say it) call a meeting.

A Small Meeting. One with a few people skilled in the particular area of contention.

Now, it should be just about tea time across the pond, enjoy a glass of chateau Fleet Street, and remember the admonition of Horace Rumpole: Never ask the witness a question unless you yourself know the answer.

Regards,

Slim


Mail slimfairview@yahoo.com

UR Ad $$$ @ Wrk! The FOX in the MAD House

Fox Network and the Young Viewers. UR Ad $$$ @ Wrk!

This almost seems to repudiate my belief that television advertising is not the wave of the future.

I stated earlier that the networks are trying to attract viewers who don't watch television by broadcasting programmes that appeal to viewers who don't watch television. Thus, driving away audiences that do watch television.

Now, what did Mad Men think would happen when television went from a few stations, 2,4,5,7,9,11,13 and sometimes 31 to 150 stations?

Well, ad-heaven is an optimistic way of looking at it. It would have appeared that this meant more advertising dollars and a better bottom line for the agency. Of course, the number of viewers per station would be small. This brings a new market. Niche advertising. "Yes, Virginia, there really is an all golf network."

This reminds me of the joke about the man telling his friend that, "My son got his bachelors degree. Now he's going for his masters. After that, he's going for his PhD."

When his friend asked him what all that means, he replied, "That's when you learn more and more about less and less until you know everything about nothing.

None-the-less, the market forces came to the fore and the advertising industry is alive an well. Good news, bad news. The good news is that there is a television series about the industry. The bad news is, that is about the industry 50 years ago.

I've often had to be all things to all people. Well, two things to two people. At the age of 10, my one friend got a go-cart. Great on the downhill--read fast! My other friend got one of those electric toy cars. Not, fast, but it could go the distance. No hill required. There was friction between them. All I had to do was to help each friend feel he had the better car.

Good news, good news. The good news: The easy part was that at the age of 10 their egos were easily assuaged. The good news, the same holds true for clients who want so spend their advertising dollars on television, the internet, or both.

For an amusing aside: Ceo the Executive or The Executives New Clothes.
http://slimviews.blogspot.com/2010/08/ceo-executive-or-executives-new-clothes.html
or The Deficit: A Moral Conundrum (This on the topic of moral conundrums more than on the deficit.)

http://slimviews.blogspot.com/2011/04/deficit-moral-conundrum.html

Regards,

Slim

Mail slimfairview@yahoo.com

Copyright (c) 2011 Slim Fairview