I never thought I would be saying this. Ron Jeffries, would be flipping in his grave if he were not so alive, well, and definitely kicking. So here goes.
The Agile Manifesto has come to my rescue
The proponents of PM2.0 and those repeating the statements of PM2.0 tools vendors and self proclaimed project management 1.0 replacement sages, have utterly failed to understand that communication is not about communication tools, it's about communicating between people, by people, for people.
Communication - at least as it occurs on projects - is about the personal, one-on-one, or many one-on-a-small-few exchange of ideas in a multidimensional context sensitive manner.
You know, hand waving, grabbing the marker, talking over people, digging out working examples of code, hardware, firmware, drawings. Grabbing the marker back. Going outside and pointing to the things you want people to connect with. Like the flying machine sitting on the ramp ready to go and exclaiming "see that, that's what I mean by integrated product team work."
I've been sucked into a conversation - of sorts, my own fault - about PM 2.0. Again. I knew I shouldn't follow that rabbit down the hole. But I did.
What brought me back to the surface was Ron's comment at an Agile Development Conference many years ago in Salt Lake City, when he was enjoying his Coke and I my beer in the lobby of the hotel, when he said...
"It'll come clear to you one of these days grasshopper (naw grasshopper is my addition, but it now feels right). It'll come clear someday when the world starts misinterpreting our ideas and fails to understand the core elements of the manifesto."
That day has come. For the proponents of PM 2.0
It's processes and tools over individuals and interactions
Communicating about the activities on projects through a soda straw of twitter. What a concept.
If this were not the case, no one would be talking about tools, except tools vendors. But it does seem to be the case. Unless I missed read the rabbit's title as project manager, when he is really a tools salesman - again.
