The settings circles back to the professor teaching his first class on project management.
An interesting exchange occurs between teacher and student...
As usual, the first row is almost empty. The last person to become quiet is sitting in the back row. Good. 1 le is a large: man, about my age. He can stand some abuse. "What's your name?" I ask, pointing at him.
I picked right because he doesn't try to pretend I am pointing at somebody else. "Mark Kowalski," he replies in a booming voice.
"Why have you chosen this course?" I ask bluntly. One thing is for sure, I have everybody's attention. They are not accustomed to my teaching style. A professor is supposed to lecture, not interview. Half are looking at me, half are looking at him.
This is similar to how Elliot talks to new people who join FI discord.
“I'm a project leader," he answers.
When I don't reply, he continues. "I work in a company that produces modems. I'm in charge of one of the development teams."
hehe, this is similar to how a lot of people reply to Elliot (not just to the above question). They don't answer the question. They say something else, seemingly hoping that the question-asker drops it.
I continue to stare at him, but he doesn't add anything more. The situation becomes really uncomfortable when I finally say, "You haven't answered my question."
That too is something Elliot says frequently (cuz people frequently reply to him without answering his questions and sorta acting like they answered).
I look around. Nobody meets my eye. Nobody wants to be the next victim. I return to Mark. "Do you have any problems managing your project?"
So the teacher is now guessing why the student is here.
“Not really," he answers.
“So why have you chosen this project management course?"
The teacher reasks his original question.
He starts to grin. "I guess I do have some problems," he admits.
Finally an answer to the question, but he was answering the teacher's second question which was a yes/no question. The first question was harder to answer.
"Can you elaborate?"
So now this is the teacher's 3rd question that is designed to get the answer to the 1st question.
“Well, I didn't start this project, and the person before me made some wild promises that, I'm afraid, are unrealistic."
Now we're getting somewhere.
“Like?" I press him.
"Like the expected performance of our new modem and the time it will take to deliver it.”
“And you expect," I look him straight in the eye, "that what you are going to learn in this course will enable you to perform some miracles?"
"I wish," he uncomfortably admits.
I guess this is sarcasm. The teacher reads it as I do too... [1]
"So, why have you chosen this course?" I repeat my question.
"Look," he says. "I am a project manager. I am working toward my MBA. This is a project management course, isn't it?"
"Ah! So you chose the course because its title resembles your job title?"
I'm not sure about this reply. I like it and dislike it. I like it for exposing that the students answer is junk. but it seems mean too. it's making fun of the student. maybe the same good point could have been made without being sarcastic. or maybe I'm wrong to care about the sarcasm cuz the students are a bunch of managers who wouldn't be harmed by this style.
He doesn't answer. What can he say? It's time to let him off the hook.”
“Can anybody tell me why he or she chose this course?" I ask the class.
Nobody answers. Maybe I was too intimidating.
"When I was a student," I tell them, "I chose courses that were given by professors who were known to be light on homework. I'm afraid that I'm not one of them."
the teacher seems to be doing a psych technique I recently heard about. Say something "embarrassing" about yourself to... I guess make the other people feel comfortable.
It helps a little, but not much.
I think that's what "it helps" is referring to. It helps make the students feel comfortable.
"Listen," I continue. "We all know that you are here to get the degree. To get a piece of paper that will help you climb the organizational ladder. But I hope that you want something more than that. That you want to get know-how that can really help you do your job."
Heads nod around the room.
"You have to choose between two alternatives. One is that I'll stand here, on the podium, and lecture for the entire semester. I can flabbergast you with optimization techniques and take you through every complicated heuristic algorithm. It will be tough to understand, even tougher to use and, I guarantee you, won't help you one iota.
“Or, we can put our heads together and, drawing from your experience and the know-how that exists in books and articles, we can try to figure out how to manage projects better. Which do you choose?"
Not much of a choice is it?
At the back, Mark raises his hand. "So what should I expect from this course?"
Good question. Good man. "Mark, you told us you have problems with your project. I think that this course should give you better ability to deal with those problems."
"Fine with me," he says.
skipping way ahead.... the chapter turns to a homework assignment regarding project management.
Heartlessly I continue. "Select a project in your company. A project that has recently finished [or is] about to be finished."
“Interview the person running this project-the project leader. Interview the people who did the actual work, and interview the bosses of the project leader. Prepare two lists for class. One: the official reasons for the overruns. The second: the unofficial reasons."
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[1] rethinking this in relation to the previous question by the teacher. the teacher asked if he's expecting miracles. an answer of 'no' would have been fine. but I think an ok answer is to parallel the "miracle" part of the question. of course miracles are not possible, the teacher and student know that. so the student's reply (I wish) is 'in kind'. miracles and wishes go together. you wish for miracles (if you believe they exist).
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