Page 36 - Straight Talk On Project Management IV

necessarily damage you” and even Boris Johnson has said that he is impressed and thinks he has got off
lightly, describing his puppet as ‘too flattering’!

These days, more than ever, things aren’t always going to go according to plan. The more we can
maintain a sense of humour and humility (at the same time as giving it our all of course!), the better it
will be for our mental health!

And to take this on a step …

6 – Be Realistic

At the height of its run on ITV, when it was shown on Sunday nights between 1984 and 1996, Spitting
Image was reaching 15 million viewers. To achieve that now you’d have to stage a royal wedding or blow
up the Rovers Return on Christmas Day.

Monday at school, for my generation, was all about last night’s Spitting Image, it’s all we talked about
(that and how tired we were because we’d stayed awake to watch it). I doubt if my children’s generation
have even watched the reboot.

The makers won’t be expecting 15 million viewers, they’ll be hoping Spitting Image’s return will boost
subscribers to Britbox.

IT Project teams approaching post-Covid projects with pre-Covid ambitions might be in for
disappointment. The challenges are different! Business need is different!

A realistic approach has always been a key weapon in our arsenal, today it is even more so and the
importance of honesty and communication around what is realistic should underpin every stakeholder
interaction throughout the project lifecycle.

Right, I’m off to hunt out that scene from the original series of Spitting Image where Mrs T and the
cabinet are in the restaurant. The Prime Minister orders her main course of steak (raw) and the waitress
asks, “And what about the vegetables?” If you know … you know!

If, in the meantime, Stoneseed can help mould and model your IT Projects to be the Spitting Image of
your idea of success (sorry), then please - get in touch.

Sources:

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/sep/28/spitting-image-victims-on-being-
lampooned-livingstone-currie-kinnock

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQela5VBPho.