Imagine

One might say that project management is all about planning. Plan the direction, plan the tasks to get there, plan the people who will get the project there and plan all the resources that will be needed during the journey.

Let’s think of it as that simple.

But there is, in my view, another component and that is vision; having the capability to imagine, to see a view of what is going to happen based on all the facts available at any point in time. Having the ability to imagine situations, predict situations, and predict risk scenarios and plan for them.

Listening to the song “Image” by John Lennon the other evening gave me the idea to write this short piece in my series of music gives me ideas for project management topics.

I realise the theme of the song is about a world at peace and perhaps does not suite as a prompt for a project management theme. But then again, perhaps it does because it talks about no borders and divisions. And, for any major project that is exactly what happens, there are streams of work that can, if not well managed, be their own borders and create barriers, let’s call them dependencies, to the success of the overall project.

Imagine we have a fully integrated project plan, image there are no resource conflicts, imagine there are no individual agendas and yes egos at play. I am sure you can imagine more!

Lennon and Yoko Ono co-produced the song with Phil Spector. Recording began at Lennon's home studio in England in May 1971 with final overdubs taking place in New York City during July. The song was first released on an album later that year in the US.

About the Author

Michael has over 25 years experience in leadership roles in prominent customer and vendor organizations working in the UK, Canada, Australia, South Korea and Hong Kong in the Airline, Banking, and Telecommunications sectors.