I’ve been thinking recently about the various roles project stakeholders play, and how they may distort the environment around a project until that distortion in turn impacts the reality of the project. Let me offer two key examples. The first, coined by Scott Ambler, is known as greenshifting. In this case, the further information moves from the team, the better – hence “green” on a status report – the project looks. This is a common dynamic, one that most people have experienced first hand. The team members report out numerous challenges, which the project manager – who is there to make sure problems don’t emerge of course – puts as positive a spin on it as he can. This may get filtered up through any number of managers who need to present their work in the best light, such that a project under serious duress will appear to be in perfectly good shape. [Read more...]
