Systems Thinking, Project Management, and Agile - Part 7: Taming the Wild Horses

[For this series, it will help to have read "System Dynamics and Causal Loop Diagrams 101."]

Over the years I have come to regard projects as a boat in the ocean and relationships as the ocean. - Michael Wade

Remember the phrases from earlier in the article series? Here they are again.

• "We're not moving the delivery date."

• "We'll just have to work harder."

• "The team will have to put in more time until we're caught up."

• "We'll need more people on the project."

• "The team will have to work faster."

• "We're to the point of exhaustion."

• "I'm losing track of all the pieces."

• "There's no time for training."

• "Where did those errors come from?"

• "We're waiting on another team."

• "Another person quit the company?!?!"

• "I don't care. I get done what I get done when I get it done."

How much more meaningful these are to you now that you understand a little more about the system dynamics that drive projects. Choose just one of these and find where it's reflected in the model. (Figure 1)¹.