As I prepared to join a new co-worker for a round of golf, I thought it might be fun to come armed with some project management humor. He teased me from day one – something about coming to his meetings with my “PMO guns a blazin’” so why not show a light side to project management? I decided to ask “the Google” the standard light bulb joke and others such as “Why did the project manager cross the road?”
The “How many project managers does it take . . .” search on Google returned 40,000 or so links and the jokes quite honestly weren’t funny, at least not to me. Punch lines didn’t answer the question – they had to do with things like adding a “change the light bulb” milestone to the project schedule or forming a committee before “changing the bulb”. And then there was the one about “Why did the project manager cross the road? He was looking for the critical path.” Oh ya. That would crack them up.
Time was a wasting and I couldn’t be late for the tee time! I then expanded my search to “project manager jokes” and hit the jackpot, getting some 1.6 million links. Hmmm, but the first link that I checked was not what I expected. The jokes tended to have a recurring theme:
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The project manager doesn’t know anything
- The project manager doesn’t do anything
I tried another link – pretty much the same thing. I wasn’t sure what I’d find, but I certainly didn’t expect this. As I headed out to join my friend, I still didn’t have a good punch line for “how many project managers it took to change a light bulb” or “why a project manager crossed the road”.
I must admit, I have laughed at and even told a few lawyer jokes in my day (sorry Krietta), but I never thought about it from the perspective of a lawyer. Do lawyers laugh at lawyer jokes? Should I lighten up? Does the world really perceive project managers as ignorant and lazy? Many lawyer jokes are related to lawyers, to put it delicately, not being “likable”, which I suppose is a step up from “not doing or knowing anything”.
When a project team forms, the project manager is often greeted with some level of skepticism, especially if the team hasn’t had a good experience working with a project manager. If the team has successfully completed projects without a project manager, they could be wondering, “What’s this chucklehead going to do for me? How can they possibly understand what we do? They are just going to create more meetings and keep me from getting the real project work done!”
So what can we do to get past this? I have some ideas . . .
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Get a walkthrough and/or demonstration of the business processes (if applicable)
- Clearly define roles and responsibilities (RACI chart)
- Consider having a team building exercise
- Get input and agreement on meeting agenda
- Don’t be afraid to cancel a meeting
Please share your thoughts, experiences, and suggestions! Oh, and if you happen to have any good project manager jokes, post them if you dare.
P.S. Need a laugh? This is one of the better links that I came across – http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/just-for-a-laugh-the-lighter-side-of-project-management.php
