Comments on _Critical Chain_, ch 18

Chapter 18

“Thank you," I say. "Persuading people to collaborate is always necessary. The time when you could dictate is over. If you want people to think, to take initiative, you cannot dictate."

this raises 2 questions: 

• when was it ok to dictate?
• so at some point in the past, it made sense to expect people to think while dictating to them?

“Yes." And being Roger, he must add, "And whatever you say will not change it." He puts his head in his palm and shuts his eyes. I ignore him.

defeatist attitude. assumes that win/win interaction not possible. it seems like he's assuming that he knows everything I could say, and none of those things could persuade the suppliers, but I don't think that's what he's thinking. I think it's more like: even without knowing what I could say, he still thinks that all potential things I could say cannot possibly have the effect of persuading the suppliers.

“They can tell you whatever they want," Ted is almost shouting. "But the truth is, it's price. My company is a subcontractor. So I know. They may talk about reliability and quality, but when they come to sign, it's price."

But time is money. A delay can cause a financial loss that dwarves the financial "gain" from a lower price.

“While he thinks about it I turn to the class. "It is surprising, but unfortunately this is the case everywhere. Most people involved in a project don't explicitly recognize the penalties associated with each month that the project is delayed."

wtf

“I think Mark disagrees with her when he says, "Every project manager knows that it's important not to be late." But then he continues, "They know it because the pressure to finish on time is immense. But, as a project leader, I can tell you, they don't really know why. Until our executive vice-president explained it to the three of us, we didn't know. Maybe Fred did, but I didn't."

Yeah giving orders without making sure the orders are understood, including why that order should be done versus alternative potential orders, doesn't work well.