Back in the age when the Romans ruled much of the world, there was a special place, located in what we now collectively call the Middle East, where three major roads met: the road leading northwest to Europe, the road leading south to Africa, and the road leading east to Asia. At the meeting place of these three roads was, so the story goes, a giant pole, upon which passers-by would post messages to other passers-by, in the hope and expectation that the private messages would be delivered to their destinations...
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Project managers are often mystified by the amount of “paperwork” that the average project requires. Even if handled on a computer without a single sheet of actual paper being touched, there seems to be an inordinate amount of writing standing between a project manager and the perceived reality of actually doing things. The temptation is great to bypass all of this bureaucratic writing, or at least put it off to the end of the project, but such thoughts are very dangerous.
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One of the challenges that Project Managers encounter as they work through the project in front of them is to find the time to step away from the Gantt charts and the email for a while and actually go and talk to a few people.

The temptation to stay shuttered away in one’s office is huge – after all there is always so much to get done, and having a smartphone means never having to say you’re unavailable. This leads to a profound change in the physiology of any busy person (not just Project Managers), in which their minds stay in a state of siege, prepared mostly for reaction and seldom for interaction.
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We human beings are often very good at taking on tasks with energy and commitment, especially once there is a plan and a great leader in place. Unfortunately, though, we are also plagued by optimism, and although this may generally seen as an admirable trait, it can cause havoc within a project.

Optimism tends to make people envision time-lines, budgets and end results the way they hope things will turn out, which seldom ever happens...
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