6 Blinders
Blinders can be defined as something that obscures clear perception and discernment. In project management, blinders may be the result of internal personal issues or they may develop in response to the actions of other people.
The Sin
In the context of project management, blinders are any and all attempts to reject reality and to instead substitute some type of illusion. This illusion may yield a sense of increased safety, power, influence, control, or even popularity. However, by definition, it is always a false sense. Wearing blinders involves attempting to replace reality with some illusion that is somehow perceived to be less threatening or more comfortable.
Blinders are incredibly common in large organizations but tend to be less prevalent in smaller organizations. Small organizations simply cannot afford—literally—to tolerate an environment involving blinders because they usually have little or no reserve capacity (e.g., resources, cash, time, client base). Small companies typically live so close to the edge that they recognize, understand, interpret, accept, and accommodate reality—or they die quickly. Conversely, large organizations, possibly with substantial cash reserves, long-standing client relations, or established market dominance, can fall into a culture of rewarding blinders. In such situations, the culture becomes one where imaginary scenarios of good things that might be happening take precedence over dealing with the bad things that actually are happening.
Generally, any time there is a disconnect between what is truly happening and what someone thinks is happening, it is destructive to the team, the project, and the overall organization. Whether this happens at project conception, initiation, effort specification, solution design, development, verification, validation, or solution delivery, blinders tend to be fatal. This is a sin that, no matter when it occurs, nearly always results in some level of destruction.
A concerted focus on determining what is real, based on data, measurements, and other facts, is how engineers (e.g., systems engineers, software engineers, technology engineers, process engineers) strive to understand and respond to reality. Conversely, people who “believe” that they understand their environment, or who somehow “instinctively know” what is happening around them, are highly prone to not realizing when they are wearing blinders. Technology, ultimately, is an engineering discipline—not a religion.
The primary problem with blinders is that it is a technique by which you lie to yourself (see prevarication). The result is truly a disaster not only for you, but also for your team, project, and overall organization. As a result of blinders, your lies are completely convincing. Once you start to believe your own lies, so will many of the people you are working with.
When someone prefers to make their decisions and behaviors a function of illusions instead of focusing on reality, the results are not only unexpected but also typically far more adverse than any deliberately intended outcomes. Generally, a culture that rewards blinders is a culture that is ultimately conducive to repeated failures.
A Case of Blinders
On one project where I worked, the project manager was convinced that the best way to manage the project was by reacting to problems. The manager did not establish or document plans, track progress other than hours billed, or consult with any of the technical staff regarding potential scope changes. This manager’s favorite solution to virtually any problem was to put an engineer on an airplane and fly him to the government facility, where he remained until the problem appeared to be fixed. Although our primary work was supposed to be occurring at our headquarters location, virtually no progress was being achieved on the baseline system because nearly the entire project team spent most of their time out in the field.
The manager on this project kept using the phrase “temporary crisis” during team meetings. However, it was clear to the rest of us that until the manager removed his blinders and saw what was truly happening, our “temporary crisis” was actually a permanent state of repeated failures.
Danger Signs
The most effective technique for recognizing blinders is carefully comparing actual results with planned results—or more precisely, the delta between the two. People who tend to respond to reality also tend to achieve intended and planned outcomes. However, for those primarily driven by blinders and other illusions, consequences rarely match intentions.
One of the danger signs of a tendency toward blinders is unsubstantiated optimism. As a test, you, as part of the management team, might present an interviewee with a set of scenarios that include difficult, nearly impossible, “no-hope” situations, and ask her what she thinks the expected outcomes would be. If she consistently responds with unlikely positive outcomes, then she might tend to wear blinders.
A second early detection technique is to carefully watch for evidence of someone repeatedly making the same mistake without adjusting her behavior. Such persistence in using a technique or strategy that is consistently failing can be a clear sign that someone has blinders on.
In any event, an organization is best served by realists, versus those who choose to ignore particular unpleasant details and who instead strive to make themselves “look” better, feel better, and live the illusion while simultaneously misleading everyone else.
Solutions
One technique for protecting the project from blinders is to lead by example. If you expect those around you to deal with reality (versus, for example, what you were expecting), then, as a project manager, you must take steps to be as fact-based and as evidence-driven as possible.
A second technique is to ensure that you recognize and reward people for the early detection of surprises, unanticipated developments, problems, and threats to the project. Similarly, find disincentives for attitudes and behaviors consistent with the use of blinders. For example, consider using several measures of project progress instead of just one. Likewise, use multiple criteria for determining successful milestone achievement versus, for example, a single pass/fail criterion.
However, the most critical technique for guarding against blinders is to detect them. Until you’ve taken this step, it will be very difficult to detect blinders in others. While most of us are motivated by hopes and dreams, when it comes to successful projects, we are typically best served by basing our decisions and behaviors on numbers, facts, and similar objective evidence.
Tips for Managing without Blinders
Don’t work in isolation—ask project team members and other stakeholders for their views, listen carefully, and ask for supporting back-up data.
Focus on evidence and facts.
Strive to predict via documented plans how you expect the future to unfold; then carefully monitor how well reality aligns with your plans.
Maintain a detailed revision log of changes you make to the project plan and note whether revisions to the plan are becoming more or less frequent.
Implement comprehensive and effective risk management and systematically review, analyze, and prioritize project risks while taking steps to mitigate the top-priority risks.