There’s this fascinating quote from French poet and writer (among others) Antoine de Saint-Exupéry:

If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.

The quote above, in my opinion, takes back to the psychology of being a human being – we like to feel a sense of belonging and appreciation, instead of being herded around.

Then there is this fascinating fact about project management: it is an adventure. You heard it right.

Project management is more than scheduling projects, facilitating project meetings, documenting project requirement documents and all those dull stuffs you think about. It is a routine at the beginning of every project that every team member is assigned with their respective tasks. At Stampede, instead of drumming them up with linear, silo-ed items that can be done to get this in time, we sit down with them and bounce ideas:

  • How will the site launch benefit the client?
  • What do we need to do to achieve this, aside from the assigned tasks?
  • How can everyone else pitch in to help?
  • How will this help you and the next team members in line for the task if you get this done on time?

The first question address the most important thing: the immensity of the sea. By addressing how much the site launch means to the client and how the team members can help contribute to this, it gives them a sense of belonging and responsibility.

Most of the times, we triumph.

There are times we don’t, but the sea is a tricky subject and takes time to master the tide. Either way, we all know we are heading towards one particular ocean.

Every day is an adventure. Every day is for me to scale the immensity of the sea and let others long for the same thing too.

(P/s: Interested to hear your interpretation of the quote above and how you would relate to yourself – as usual, delighted to hear your comments!)