PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
&
STORIES
By
Camper
Bull,
Founding
Partner
&
Principle
Armiger
International
&
Terrence
Gargiulo,
President,
MAKINGSTORIES.net
Projects
are
devoid
of
meaning
without
the
ongoing
role
of
sense
making.
Let
me
start
by
telling
you
a
story…
A
group
of
top
notch
project
managers
like
you
climbed
a
mountain.
After
a
rigorous
day
of
hiking
all
day,
the
team’s
objectives
of
reaching
the
summit
had
been
met
with
flying
colors.
Every
milestone
hit
and
every
critical
success
factor
pointing
to
a
complete
success.
After
adequate
celebration
and
the
filing
of
the
all
closure
artifacts
with
the
Project
Management
Office
it
was
time
to
get
off
the
mountain.
With
the
sun
setting
fast
people
began
to
look
for
the
path
leading
down
the
mountain.
Confusion
engulfed
our
team
of
mighty
adventurers.
No
one
had
any
idea
of
what
path
to
take
and
internal
in
‐
fighting
threatened
to
wreak
complete
havoc
on
the
team
until
one
of
the
team
members
pulled
a
map
from
their
backpack.
Chaos
was
replaced
with
a
calm
resolve
a
plan
worthy
of
the
highest
praise
from
even
the
Project
Management
Institute.
The
team
made
its
way
down
the
mountain
and
when
the
sun
rose
the
next
day
people
glanced
at
the
map
only
to
realize
it
wasn’t
a
map
of
the
mountain.
Sound
familiar?
The
map
was
a
vehicle
of
sense
making.
Whether
it
was
right
or
wrong
was
inconsequential
(at
least
in
our
story).
The
map
gave
people
a
sense
of
purpose,
direction,
and
action
tied
to
the
map.
Everyone
was
on
the
same
page.
The
map
is
a
metaphor
for
stories.
According
to
author
and
President
of
MAKINGSTORIES.net
Terrence
Gargiulo,
stories
are
fundamental
to
how
we
communicate,
learn
and
think.
Stories
are
how
we
make
sense
of
what
is
happening
around
us.
We
cannot
divorce
ourselves
from
looking
for
patterns.
We
are
pattern
machines.
Stories
are
the
language
we
use
to
articulate
and
guide
our
actions.
Stories
can
play
a
central
role
in
project
management.
For
the
sake
of
this
article,
consider
stories
in
a
much
broader
light
than
you
may
be
accustomed
to
think
of.
Stories
do
not
need
to
be
told
and
stories
do
not
need
to
have
Hollywood
perfectly
crafted
beginning,
middle,
and
ends.
In
this
article
we
take
a
look
at
some
of
the
ways
stories
can
be
used
to
manage
your
projects
to
success.
In
this
three
part
article
we’ll
walk
through
the
PMBOK
process
groups
and
identify
where
and
how
stories
fit.
This
article
assumes
you
are
acquainted
with
these
process
groups
(Initiating,
Planning,
Executing,
Monitoring/Controlling,
Closing).
Initiation
Phase
Projects
are
the
vision
of
a
solution
to
a
problem.
Stories
drive
visions.
The
stories
we
collect
from
constituents
in
need
of
a
solution,
helps
us
to
envision
a
project.
When
we
elicit
people’s
day
to
day
experiences
or
ideas
of
the
future
we
are
working
with
stories.
Descriptions
and
facts
paint
a
slow
cumbersome
picture
wrought
with
the
seduction
of
rational
certainty
while
being
riddled
with
blind
©
2009,
Armiger
International
&
MAKINGSTORIES.net,
Camper
Bull
&
Terrence
Gargiulo,
All
rights
reserved
2
spots.
Granted
the
facts
and
details
give
us
the
crucial
data
to
support
our
recommendations.
However,
if
we
collect
only
facts
our
picture
will
be
incomplete.
It’s
unlikely
we’ll
be
able
to
collaboratively
craft
a
solution
that
addresses
the
root
of
the
problem.
We
can
get
to
the
heart
of
the
problem
quicker
when
we
get
people
to
speak
about
their
experiences.
People’s
experiences
are
stored
in
their
minds
as
stories.
The
more
we
help
people
share
the
richness
of
their
experiences
in
the
form
of
narratives,
the
better
our
understanding
will
be
of
the
problem
domain.
So
how
do
you
tell
the
difference
between
someone
offering
an
explanation
or
description
and
the
richer
form
of
communication
offered
by
stories?
Here
are
few
guiding
questions
to
get
you
started:
1.
Are
they
speaking
from
their
personal
experiences
or
are
they
speaking
in
general
terms?
2.
Are
there
little
tangents
in
what
they
share?
Listen
for
descriptive
elements,
elaboration
of
ancillary
details
that
paint
a
more
vivid
picture,
editorial
comments,
references
to
other
experiences,
the
use
of
analogies,
metaphors,
perhaps
even
jokes
to
illustrate
their
descriptions.
3.
Do
you
detect
any
emotion?
This
will
vary
from
person
to
person.
It
may
be
subtle
but
if
people
are
telling
you
a
story
you
will
notice
nuances
of
emotions?
4.
What’s
your
level
of
engagement
as
a
listener?
Stories
engage
us
in
active
listening.
We
are
not
fighting
off
the
incessant
streaming
distractions
of
our
minds
or
the
desire
to
speak
our
mind.
Remember
to
adjust
your
expectation
of
what
constitutes
a
story.
Look
for
threads
and
fragments
of
stories.
These
can
be
very
short
and
sandwiched
in
between
common
forms
of
communication.
You
will
use
the
stories
you
collect
to
piece
together
a
tapestry
of
understanding.
As
you
scan
the
stories
you
will
begin
to
observe
patterns
of
meaning.
Liken
this
crisscrossing
intersection
of
patterns
and
meanings
to
a
computer
network
with
nodes.
Think
of
it
as
a
network
of
meaning.
Insight
does
not
sit
in
one
node
of
the
network
or
one
story.
Some
stories
are
stronger
than
others,
attracting
weaker
or
isolated
nodes
of
meanings.
These
stronger
stories
will
naturally
facilitate
your
projection
of
meaning.
Use
them
to
help
you
connect
other
stories
to
them.
This
is
a
circular
process.
Once
you
generate
a
map
of
the
terrain
you
cannot
stop
there.
Like
the
Project
Management
cycle
of
Planning
‐
Executing/Controlling
‐
and
‐
Planning
sense
making
never
ends.
Like
a
detective,
as
you
add
more
clues
you
redraw
your
map;
after
all
not
just
any
map
will
get
you
off
the
mountain.
©
2009,
Armiger
International
&
MAKINGSTORIES.net,
Camper
Bull
&
Terrence
Gargiulo,
All
rights
reserved
3
Almost
any
aspect
of
collecting
the
information
for
the
Project
Charter
is
touched
by
story
‐
based
communications.
For
the
sake
of
this
article
let’s
focus
on
three:
1.
Stakeholder
Analysis
2.
Initial
Project
Scope
3.
Selling
the
Project
Charter
Stakeholder
Analysis
Stakeholders
will
make
or
break
the
success
of
a
project.
This
is
truly
irrational
stuff.
What
are
the
assumptions
people
are
making
about
a
project?
What
historical
filters
are
coloring
their
views
of
our
project?
Do
we
understand
what’s
in
it
for
them?
What’s
the
quickest
way
to
amass
and
manage
our
way
through
all
these
perceptions?
And
where
there
are
pockets
of
potential
resistance
how
can
we
use
our
influence
to
make
sure
these
do
not
become
obstacles
that
capsize
our
project?
Try
to
see
every
stakeholder
as
an
actor
on
a
stage.
Start
by
understanding
each
character
in
your
play.
Every
character
in
a
play
has
a
background
that
informs
the
play’s
unfolding
story
but
which
may
not
be
directly
included
in
the
actions
or
dialogues
of
the
play.
This
is
the
background
stuff.
Too
often
we
are
compelled
to
convince
others
of
why
our
project
is
so
important
and
why
they
should
be
enthusiastic
supporters
of
our
efforts.
We
don’t
always
take
the
time
to
hear
other
people’s
viewpoints.
We
set
our
agenda
and
off
we
go.
Even
if
we
give
people’s
perspectives
air
time
we
aren’t
listening
with
our
story
ears.
In
other
words
we
are
probably
not
ready
to
make
sense
of
what’s
important
to
this
other
person
and
how
that
might
provide
unanticipated
fuel
for
a
collaborative
idea
not
in
our
line
of
sight.
Okay,
it’s
counter
intuitive
but
according
to
story
expert
Terrence
Gargiulo,
“the
shortest
distance
between
two
people
is
a
story.”
Listening
to
our
stakeholders
share
their
stories
can
lead
to
very
positive
outcomes
for
our
project.
In
these
stories
we
will
be
able
to
understand
what
is
important
to
them
and
why.
Sometimes
the
very
act
of
being
listened
to
opens
up
people
to
the
possibility
of
taking
an
active
interest
in
our
viewpoints.
Of
course
there
are
those
rare
times
when
no
matter
how
hard
you
try
to
make
an
open
space
for
other
people’s
stories
they
will
not
trust
you
or
the
situation
enough
to
share
them;
perhaps
they
have
been
burned
too
many
times
(from
Charles
Schultzt’s
cartoon
Peanuts
imagine
the
Charlie
Brown
and
Lucy
syndrome
with
the
football).
These
are
few
and
far
between.
Like
any
good
project
manager
we
are
triaging
where,
when,
and
how
to
spend
our
finite
energy
and
time.
So
there’s
no
need
to
be
Don
Quixote
and
chase
after
windmill
stakeholders;
those
impossible
stakeholder
who
will
never
become
champions
of
our
projects.
As
you
make
the
rounds
between
stakeholders
you
will
be
surprised
how
people’s
needs
now
encoded
in
the
collage
of
stories
you
have
been
collecting
inter
‐
relate
with
one
another.
You
will
have
stories
to
tell
that
match
or
at
least
dovetail
with
the
needs
and
agendas
of
others.
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Gargiulo Stories and Project Management
Stories are how we communicate and make sense of the world around us. Becoming more aware and purposeful in how we elicit people’s stories leads to more effective project communications during all phases of a project.…
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