The Blind Men and the Elephant: Mastering Project Work (Paperback)

~ David Schmaltz (Author) "A revolution in project work has exploded over the last decade..." (more)
Key Phrases: Charlie Brown, John Godfrey Saxe, Grandpa Thurber (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Don't start your next project till you've read it."

Product Description

Using the "blind men and the elephant" metaphor, this useful guide explains how a "follow the leader" approach creates troubled projects by pulling attention from the real source of power and authority - the individual. Using real-world stories, it shows how anyone can transform a fuzzy project assignment into a meaningful, satisfying experience. Author David A. Schmaltz·-- creator of True North's Mastering Projects Workshop at Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Project Sun Workshop -- reframes the root cause of difficulties in project work, singling out "incoherence" (the inability of people to make common meaning from their common experience) as the main obstacle, and presents a set of simple, easily available techniques to increase a project's coherence and its participants' enjoyment of the process.

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Product Details Paperback: 144 pages Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers; 1 edition (March 2003) Language: English ISBN-10: 1576752534 ISBN-13: 978-1576752531 Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies) Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #819,933 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

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Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
A revolution in project work has exploded over the last decade. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Charlie Brown, John Godfrey Saxe, Grandpa Thurber, Village Idiot, Will Rogers, Mastering Projects Workshop, Silicon Valley

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 42 books:

• Metamagical Themas: Questing for The Essence of Mind And Pattern by Douglas Hofstadter on page 63, and Back Matter
• Your Life: Teacher's Resource by John Foster in Back Matter
• Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies by Charles Perrow in Back Matter
• On Becoming a Counselor: A Basic Guide for Nonprofessional Counselors and Other Helpers by Eugene Kennedy in Back Matter
• The Gift Of Fire by Richard Mitchell in Back Matter

See all 42 books this book cites

 

1 book cites this book:

• Love It, Don't Leave It: 26 Ways to Get What You Want at Work by Beverly L. Kaye in Back Matter

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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews 5 star:  (7) 4 star:  (1) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:  (1) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 4.6 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews 16 of 18 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Project management as a human activity? Wow!, April 15, 2003 By  Daniel C. Starr (St. Charles, IL) - See all my reviews I've got quite a shelf of books on project management, some excellent, some not so good, but nearly all centering on the mechanics of planning, organizing, and controlling a project effort. What's been lacking is a good view of projects as a human activity--which is kind of strange, since every project I've ever seen has been carried out by human beings. David Schmaltz's book, "The Blind Men and the Elephant," is a welcome addition to the project management literature. It won't teach you how to draw a PERT chart, or use Microsoft Project, or construct a formal work breakdown and budget. What it will do is give you some invaluable tools for thinking about projects and the people who do them--including yourself. Schmaltz uses John Godfrey Saxe's classic poem about the blind men who perceive an elephant (depending on which part they touch) as a wall, a spear, a snake, a tree, a fan and a rope to illustrate lessons about human beings in project situations--lessons ranging from the only form of real motivation (what do you really want from your participation in this project?) to the nurturing of communities that truly cooperate and support each other in carrying out a project. The style is personal, idiosyncratic and quirky, in the best sense of the words--the lessons are presented and illustrated with personal stories that are a delight to read even if you're not trying to manage a project at the moment. "The Blind Men and the Elephant" is not a replacement for a good textbook on organizing and managing the mechanics of a project; it's something far harder to find--an essential addition to the shelf of any project manager who might someday have to deal with human beings. 8 of 8 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Find the Juicy Part of Every Project You Do, October 20, 2003 By  David McClintock (New York) - See all my reviews Here's a new way to look at complex development work: Your project is an invisible elephant. It's standing in a room, waiting to be revealed by a group of groping teammates. Like the six blind men from Indostan in John Godfrey Saxe's famous poem, "The Blind Men and the Elephant," we encounter pieces of projects, rarely the whole elephant. We grasp whatever we can -- an ear, a tail, a trunk, a leg, a tusk, a broad, flat side. Based on what we grasp -- our piece of the project -- we extrapolate an understanding of the whole: a fan, a rope, a snake, a tree, a spear, a wall. Author David A. Schmaltz, in his book named after the poem, develops these analogies in terms of project experience. We encounter a fan that brings us fresh air, a rope that binds us together, a snake that abuses our trust, a tree that evolves in structure above and beneath the surface, a spear that puts us on the defensive, a wall that challenges our personal progress. A chapter is devoted to each analogy. This isn't a storybook, though. These simple metaphors are touchstones for Schmaltz's broad exploration of what makes projects meaningful. Schmaltz sheds light on the dark matter of project management -- the stuff that blocks us from succeeding on projects as individuals and as teams. He even leads us through the panicked self-talk that runs through a manager's head at the start of a project. With rich writing that's rare in management books, Schmaltz gives us a 360 view of project management itself -- project management is this book's invisible elephant. The elephant emerges. You won't find any worksheets, diagrams, flow charts, procedures, instructions, or textbook problems in this book. Schmaltz gives us something more valuable and memorable: fresh ways to think about how we approach and manage projects. For example, managers should encourage each person to find a personal project within each project, something personally "juicy" to sustain interest and make the effort valuable. Going beyond the stated objectives of a project, each of us needs to ask ourselves, "What do you want?" -- and to keep asking that until our personal goals emerge. These goals don't compete with the team's purpose -- they bind us to the project's success. This is the process of what Schmaltz calls "finding your wall." Just as managers should encourage this kind of buy-in rather than trying to externally motivate a team, managers should not impose a prefabricated structure onto a team. Schmaltz argues that when people find a personally juicy goal within a project, they will strive to structure their efforts in an efficient, organic manner -- without taking that twenty-volume project methodology off the shelf. On a person-to-person level, Schmaltz asserts that despite the risk of getting cheated by snake-like deceivers, project members are most wise to interpret people's actions generously, assuming the best and freely offering trust and help. Using the results of a computer programming competition in which the Prisoner's Dilemma was solved by having the imprisoned conspirators refuse to implicate each other, Schmaltz shows that offering trust as a first principle can lead to bigger win-wins, more often. Schmaltz consults through his firm, True North project guidance strategies, based in Walla Walla, Washington (see http://www.projectcommunity.com). He hosts the Heretic's Forum at http://pc.wiki.net, a Web space designed to "capture dangerously sane ideas." In addition to his periodic newsletter, Compass, he has published one previous book, This Isn't a Cookbook. That invisible elephant, the powerful analogy at the center of this book, will enrich the way you approach new projects and reconsider problems -- especially the parts of problems that remain invisible to you on current projects. As Schmaltz wishes in a sort of benediction, "May this elephant emerge whenever you engage." 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars "People and Collaboration" Over "Process and Controls", August 29, 2003 By  "mikegcanada" - See all my reviews This is a book you have to read, by this I mean it is both an important text that should be read and a book you can not dip-into or skim. You have to read it carefully to absorb the concepts that build upon each other to provide great insights into how projects actually work. The descriptions are rich and complex but because the book is small (under 130 pages) it never feels overwhelming and the topics are well covered but not repeated or over stated. Recognition is growing around the fact that successful projects are more about people, collaboration and communications than creating plans and following processes. The success and growth of agile methodologies in software development is testimony to this shift in priorities and through this book, David Schmaltz explains why this is the case and offers suggestions for improving project outcomes. The clever use of the "Blind Men" poem ties the main concepts of the book together in an engaging manner and provides an uncomfortably apt analogy for many of the classic project management struggles. This book provides valuable guidance for project managers and highlights the key areas to focus on to achieve better project outcomes.		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 4.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtprovoking "The Blind Men and the Elephant" is a small book (130 pages) which covers the relationship or human side of project management. Read more Published 4 months ago by Bas Vodde 5.0 out of 5 stars Getting Real about Project Management If you've ever owned an animal, you know what it's like to have expectations that don't match "reality"--there's what "the book" says about how your animal should behave, and then... Read more Published on March 14, 2007 by Eileen Andreason 5.0 out of 5 stars The critical human dimension of project work This quick, well-written, and thought provoking book addresses the human dimension of project work too often lost behind GANTT charts, change controls, and scheduling tools... Read more Published on June 1, 2005 by Nina Ambrosius 2.0 out of 5 stars Incomprehensible and Rambling I don't want to detract from what others got from reading this book. Judging from the other reviews, it was obviously well-received by many. Read more Published on May 4, 2005 by R. Smith 5.0 out of 5 stars An interesting read Using the parable of "The Blind men and the Elephant" - a poem by 19th century poet John Godfrey Saxe - author David Schmaltz illuminates the nature of project work and the... Read more Published on August 5, 2003 by Susan 5.0 out of 5 stars Project Work: Finding Humanity in the Nuts and Bolts This book is the merging of the "finding meaningful work" movement and the nuts and bolts of the workplace. Read more Published on July 22, 2003 by Carol A. Ross Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers; 1 edition (March 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576752534
• ISBN-13: 978-1576752531
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #819,933 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Project management as a human activity? Wow!, April 15, 2003

By	Daniel C. Starr (St. Charles, IL) - See all my reviews

I've got quite a shelf of books on project management, some excellent, some not so good, but nearly all centering on the mechanics of planning, organizing, and controlling a project effort. What's been lacking is a good view of projects as a human activity--which is kind of strange, since every project I've ever seen has been carried out by human beings.

David Schmaltz's book, "The Blind Men and the Elephant," is a welcome addition to the project management literature. It won't teach you how to draw a PERT chart, or use Microsoft Project, or construct a formal work breakdown and budget. What it will do is give you some invaluable tools for thinking about projects and the people who do them--including yourself.

Schmaltz uses John Godfrey Saxe's classic poem about the blind men who perceive an elephant (depending on which part they touch) as a wall, a spear, a snake, a tree, a fan and a rope to illustrate lessons about human beings in project situations--lessons ranging from the only form of real motivation (what do you really want from your participation in this project?) to the nurturing of communities that truly cooperate and support each other in carrying out a project. The style is personal, idiosyncratic and quirky, in the best sense of the words--the lessons are presented and illustrated with personal stories that are a delight to read even if you're not trying to manage a project at the moment.

"The Blind Men and the Elephant" is not a replacement for a good textbook on organizing and managing the mechanics of a project; it's something far harder to find--an essential addition to the shelf of any project manager who might someday have to deal with human beings.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Find the Juicy Part of Every Project You Do, October 20, 2003

By	David McClintock (New York) - See all my reviews

Here's a new way to look at complex development work:

Your project is an invisible elephant. It's standing in a room, waiting to be revealed by a group of groping teammates.

Like the six blind men from Indostan in John Godfrey Saxe's famous poem, "The Blind Men and the Elephant," we encounter pieces of projects, rarely the whole elephant. We grasp whatever we can -- an ear, a tail, a trunk, a leg, a tusk, a broad, flat side.

Based on what we grasp -- our piece of the project -- we extrapolate an understanding of the whole: a fan, a rope, a snake, a tree, a spear, a wall.

Author David A. Schmaltz, in his book named after the poem, develops these analogies in terms of project experience.

We encounter a fan that brings us fresh air, a rope that binds us together, a snake that abuses our trust, a tree that evolves in structure above and beneath the surface, a spear that puts us on the defensive, a wall that challenges our personal progress. A chapter is devoted to each analogy.

This isn't a storybook, though. These simple metaphors are touchstones for Schmaltz's broad exploration of what makes projects meaningful. Schmaltz sheds light on the dark matter of project management -- the stuff that blocks us from succeeding on projects as individuals and as teams. He even leads us through the panicked self-talk that runs through a manager's head at the start of a project.

With rich writing that's rare in management books, Schmaltz gives us a 360 view of project management itself -- project management is this book's invisible elephant. The elephant emerges.

You won't find any worksheets, diagrams, flow charts, procedures, instructions, or textbook problems in this book. Schmaltz gives us something more valuable and memorable: fresh ways to think about how we approach and manage projects.

For example, managers should encourage each person to find a personal project within each project, something personally "juicy" to sustain interest and make the effort valuable. Going beyond the stated objectives of a project, each of us needs to ask ourselves, "What do you want?" -- and to keep asking that until our personal goals emerge. These goals don't compete with the team's purpose -- they bind us to the project's success. This is the process of what Schmaltz calls "finding your wall."

Just as managers should encourage this kind of buy-in rather than trying to externally motivate a team, managers should not impose a prefabricated structure onto a team. Schmaltz argues that when people find a personally juicy goal within a project, they will strive to structure their efforts in an efficient, organic manner -- without taking that twenty-volume project methodology off the shelf.

On a person-to-person level, Schmaltz asserts that despite the risk of getting cheated by snake-like deceivers, project members are most wise to interpret people's actions generously, assuming the best and freely offering trust and help. Using the results of a computer programming competition in which the Prisoner's Dilemma was solved by having the imprisoned conspirators refuse to implicate each other, Schmaltz shows that offering trust as a first principle can lead to bigger win-wins, more often.

Schmaltz consults through his firm, True North project guidance strategies, based in Walla Walla, Washington (see http://www.projectcommunity.com). He hosts the Heretic's Forum at http://pc.wiki.net, a Web space designed to "capture dangerously sane ideas." In addition to his periodic newsletter, Compass, he has published one previous book, This Isn't a Cookbook.

That invisible elephant, the powerful analogy at the center of this book, will enrich the way you approach new projects and reconsider problems -- especially the parts of problems that remain invisible to you on current projects. As Schmaltz wishes in a sort of benediction, "May this elephant emerge whenever you engage."

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "People and Collaboration" Over "Process and Controls", August 29, 2003

By	"mikegcanada" - See all my reviews

This is a book you have to read, by this I mean it is both an important text that should be read and a book you can not dip-into or skim. You have to read it carefully to absorb the concepts that build upon each other to provide great insights into how projects actually work. The descriptions are rich and complex but because the book is small (under 130 pages) it never feels overwhelming and the topics are well covered but not repeated or over stated.

Recognition is growing around the fact that successful projects are more about people, collaboration and communications than creating plans and following processes. The success and growth of agile methodologies in software development is testimony to this shift in priorities and through this book, David Schmaltz explains why this is the case and offers suggestions for improving project outcomes.

The clever use of the "Blind Men" poem ties the main concepts of the book together in an engaging manner and provides an uncomfortably apt analogy for many of the classic project management struggles. This book provides valuable guidance for project managers and highlights the key areas to focus on to achieve better project outcomes.