The Plot Thickens

OK, I'm back to my original posts about Race Through The Forest (which was officially released today).  Amazon purchasers can still expect a 2-3 week delay as books were shipped off today.

This little post about how the book was originally conceived was originally written in April 2006:

OK, so I've decided to write this "end all be all" business fable on project management.  Now what?!?!?

This is where a little inspiration and a lot of creativity came crashing down all at once.  I was reviewing the movie, Trading Places, with Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd, for an upcoming management class lecture when my daughter came up to me in her cute little fuzzy pajamas wanting me to read her bedtime story.  (NOTE:  Never refuse the opportunity to read bedtime stories to cute children, namely when they are your own.)  The movie had just started, so I turned the volume down while I was reading her the story of choice:  The Tortoise and the Hare.  Something about Randolph and Mortimer Dukes' initial conversation at the beginning of the movie and the simple plot of the children's story jarred some synapses loose, and the basic plot of Race Through The Forest came into focus.

Project managers love to talk about best practices (too often, sometimes, since every project unique by definition).  However, there are some basic principals and guidelines that work across a majority of projects.  There are even more "worst practices" which are sure to create failure in your project unless your guardian angel has been promised overtime and hazard pay.  The story of the The Tortoise and the Hare drive home that contrast of approach quite nicely, but how to extrapolate the contrast into business terms?  I reached into my memory banks and thought of people with whom I had worked who were exact opposites of each other.  I started writing down odd combinations of individuals who could compete in a project management arena.  The one that made me stop and giggle (and then stop again and laugh uproariously) was an accountant vs. a field sales representative.  And the generalized personality traits of these professions fit well with the personalities in the Tortoise and the Hare.  Hence, the accountant Barry Tortisse and the "flashy sales guy" Biff Haire were created.  I'll dive into their respective characters in a later post.

Since neither accountants nor salespeople tend to seek out project management as an alternative lifestyle choice, there needed to be something imposed on them, which is where the movie came into play.  A debate cycles through every once in a while about what makes a good project manager, and the Duke Brothers' debate about genetics vs. environment at the beginning of the movie served as the inspiration for the opening debate of the Forest Sisters, Flora and Fauna.  Again, I'll share more about their character development in a future post.  The debate for my book:  What works best for managing projects?  Something with a little structure to it (slow and steady tortoise) or an individual with a track record of success (speedy hare).

What followed was a lot of fun, a lot of mental wrestling, a lot of replayed conversations, and a lot of digging through old project meeting notes.

Lessons Learned:  Inspiration lies all around you - what are you missing that is right under your nose?  What seemingly unrelated things can you combine to make something new and fun and innovative?  What can happen when you turn down the volume to do something really important?

Author's Footnote:  All of the characters stayed intact for the 2nd edition. I had considered making the characters more "serious" since that is where my writing has gravited since that first book.  Those to whom I suggested this switch said in loud unison:  "Don't you dare!"  So while they are real people with cute names (my favorites are still Ben Theer and Dunn Thaat), they have not gone away at all.  What is new about the book are a lot of templates and project how-to ideas that you can begin using immediately.