Page 34 - Straight Talk On Project Management IV

Six lessons IT Project Management can learn from Spitting Image

After 24 years, Spitting Image is back. Not on Sunday night,
mainstream ITV now but tucked away behind a Britbox
paywall.

However effective the newly moulded rubber caricatures of
today’s politicians, showbiz stars and members of the royal
family prove to be, it will be hard pushed to match the
impact of the original series.

Repeating the successes of the past is harder in these new,
more challenging times. Ruminating on this thought I could
see how this may also be applied to our field of projects
and business change.

In fact, as I watched, I drew other comparisons.

Six Lessons IT Project Management Can Learn from Spitting Image

1 - The Value of a Team Made Up of Different Characters

As with any TV show, the new Spitting Image is largely dependent upon the relationship between the
show’s different characters. The interaction between Dominic Cummings and the Prime Minister and
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, I predict, is going to be a rich source of content on this new run – just
as the relationship between Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan defined much of the original series.

A diversity of complementary talents and interaction between different characters is the glue that often
holds together an IT team too.

A team I recently worked with featured a geeky, nerdy BA (his own self-description – I’m not being
rude!) who is obsessed with figures and data, a Gant chart obsessed Project Manager who, if allowed,
would project manage the loading of the dishwasher, a control freak Stakeholder (again self-
confessed!).

The fact is you need all these valuable characteristics – they often keep the others in check! If you think
your team is missing a vital characteristic, access it from the Project Management as a Service market.

2 - The Value of Now – Contemporary is The Strongest Currency

Watching Spitting Image at the weekend, there’s nothing I’d have liked more than to hear Steve Nallon
doing his Margaret Thatcher from the 1980s – except it wouldn’t have worked!