If you could invent a video game called Project Management, what would it be like?

Here’s my version.  Imagine this:

You, the Project Manager, are at the wheel of a race car traveling at high speed over open ground.  Off in the distance is a wall stretching as far as you can see from left to right, but in the middle of the wall is a hole about twice the width of your car.  The challenge is simple.  Steer through the hole and you win the prize, and the faster you get there, the bigger the prize.  Miss the hole, and you smash into the wall – no prize, no more fast car, no more driver.

So what’s the catch?  Well, obviously crosswinds, bumps, loose suspension, and other factors tend to take you off course.  All that’s fair game.  What makes this challenge difficult are the following two limitations you must learn to deal with. 

First, your steering wheel only turns five degrees left or right – you better be making a lot of small corrections early or you will get yourself to a point where you no longer have room and time to correct. 

Second, you can’t turn that wheel by yourself – you have a partner in the car with you, your Executive Sponsor, and you only get to make steering corrections if he or she agrees to help.  So you better be good at communicating with that Sponsor about when steering corrections are required and why. 

Does this metaphor for managing projects sound too simple?  Of course it is.  But I think it’s instructive, for three reasons:

1.    You must partner with your Executive Sponsor in order to take corrective actions.

2.    All projects, including successful ones, require lots of corrective actions. 

3.    This isn’t as simple as steering one car toward one hole in the wall.  You have to manage (or steer) seven different kinds of vehicles simultaneously if you want to grab that prize and avoid crashes.  That is, I believe there are seven dimensions of project health you need to be continuously monitoring.

Do you have the instrumentation to detect distance from center line (and rate of change), distance from “the wall” (and rate of change), and whether enough time remains for a five degree correction to take effect? 

If not, you’re driving blind, wondering when your screen will say, “Game Over!”