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Every activity, every task, every deliverable – no matter how informal – adds to a project’s story. That story isn’t linear or clean. To map it is to trace a circuitous path, branching and dead-ending. This isn’t necessarily an indictment of the project manager, but instead perhaps a consequence of doing creative work. But that doesn’t mean that the effort is not intentional and deliberate. Spending time on something should contribute to the project’s narrative. That is, the person doing the work should have some idea of how their effort moves the story along. When I ask this question, I’m asking how spending time on something will enhance or elaborate on the project’s story. Beyond that, I’m asking to make sure we know what the project’s story is (at least what we expect it to be at this point).
Framing projects as stories isn’t for everyone, and perhaps it’s an easy framing for me because the bulk of my career has been as an outside consultant, coach, or contractor. From my vantage – appearing and disappearing as I do at the beginning and end of a project – there is an arc to the narrative. The view from the client’s side, where a project with me may be but a single effort among many, the arc may be negligible or non-existent. So, I direct this at those who hope to make a meaningful contribution to a project that has a clear beginning, middle, and end. Usually it’s someone on my team, but occasionally it is directed at myself. Regardless of their relationship to the project, however, the person who gets asked this question is the person expending effort without direction. It’s the person rolling up their sleeves to do… something, but they haven’t taken a moment to think about why they’re doing it.
Do not expect a clear straightforward answer. If there were such a response, the output itself would likely not appear so muddled. In our work, there’s little opportunity to try an activity just to see what happens, just to see if it can make a meaningful contribution to the narrative. That is, anyone putting in any effort should know why they’re putting in the effort. It’s not so much that they know the outcome or answer beforehand, but they should know what question they’re trying to answer. They may even do the activity to know what the right question is: but they know why they’re doing the work.
Asking this question gives someone space to think through the purpose of their effort. So their answer may be muddled or round-about or opaque. Asking the question creates space to have a deeper conversation so that perhaps the person can articulate the purpose which they knew but never admitted. Or so that you may guide them.
This question almost always comes up after some effort has been expended toward a task or deliverable. The output of such effort may appear lackluster, or chaotic, or unfocused. It may be a thousand little pieces that don’t hang together very well, or it may be a broad, nonspecific sketch with not much of a hook. The output may not be something that is easily understood by anyone other than the person who made it.
With an understanding of how an effort fits into the project’s narrative, you can then ask specific questions about the activity or output itself to help them align it with that purpose. Broadly speaking you can ask what aspects of the work contribute to that purpose and what aspects are distractions.
How does this effort move the project forward?
How does your work contribute to our next milestone?
Is your planned activity the right thing to do given our place in the project?