I am not an animal...I am a man...ager!
I have been pretty excited lately about the synergy of ideas in the diverse books that I have been reading. I have enjoyed discovering the synergy between Peter Senge’s systemic thinking (The Fifth Discipline) and Eli Goldratt’s global optimization in his Theory of Constraints. And the parallels in Agile’s ‘People over Process’ with the concepts of Servant Leadership from the Greenleaf Institute lets me know that being an Agile PM at ThoughtWorks is a great place to be.
Now Andrew, I hope that you have noticed that there seems to be a common theme emerging from my postings - integrity in project management. So you can imagine how blown away I was this morning as I saw the synergy of ideas related to integrity that I found while reading on the train to work:
“Dee Hock has a unique perspective on the responsibilities of a manager. The first is to manage self, which he defines as “One’s own integrity, character, ethics, knowledge, wisdom, temperament, words, and acts.””
Jim Highsmith, Agile Project Management p. 207
“If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”
I Corinthians Chapter 13
The synergy of Agile project management with my personal belief system is very cool. But please note that I am not saying that you have to subscribe to my personal belief system (Christianity) to be an effective Agile project manager. I work with a lot of wonderful people at ThoughtWorks whose belief system is very different than mine. But I would challenge anyone to make sure that there is synergy and consistency between their personal belief system and their approach to their work. If there isn’t, then either their work is not worth doing or their belief system falls short.
(OK – so the title for this posting has very little to do with the content. The title is one of my favorite quotes of all time, from the movie Elephant Man. So I extended it a little to try to get it to fit into the theme of this blog. Yeah, I know - big stretch.)
Now Andrew, I hope that you have noticed that there seems to be a common theme emerging from my postings - integrity in project management. So you can imagine how blown away I was this morning as I saw the synergy of ideas related to integrity that I found while reading on the train to work:
“Dee Hock has a unique perspective on the responsibilities of a manager. The first is to manage self, which he defines as “One’s own integrity, character, ethics, knowledge, wisdom, temperament, words, and acts.””
Jim Highsmith, Agile Project Management p. 207
“If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”
I Corinthians Chapter 13
The synergy of Agile project management with my personal belief system is very cool. But please note that I am not saying that you have to subscribe to my personal belief system (Christianity) to be an effective Agile project manager. I work with a lot of wonderful people at ThoughtWorks whose belief system is very different than mine. But I would challenge anyone to make sure that there is synergy and consistency between their personal belief system and their approach to their work. If there isn’t, then either their work is not worth doing or their belief system falls short.
(OK – so the title for this posting has very little to do with the content. The title is one of my favorite quotes of all time, from the movie Elephant Man. So I extended it a little to try to get it to fit into the theme of this blog. Yeah, I know - big stretch.)
posted by Tom Looy, Tacit Knowledge PM at 8:47 AM
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