Line Meets Curve

It might be easy to take offense to the fact that there is a “Dummies” book for project management.  And, it’s quite possible that some project managers have been called “dummies” by those who obviously do not understand the complexities of the job.

In a blog post at The Art of Project Management,  we could possibly take offense as well to the tongue-in-cheek comment “After all  there is probably no profession beside air guitarist that competes with the ease and overpayment of  project management.”

However, the author of the post offers a solution, and claims “Instead, I’m gonna let you in on a really big secret.  It’s better than project management for dummies, better than project management in 10 minutes, heck it’s even better than project management for anencephalitics”  Basically, it’s a recipe for making your own zombie project employees.

Wait!   Don’t throw it out yet.  Think of the possibilities.  A totally mindless being who does exactly as we instruct, without second-guessing or argument.  They require little care and feeding, and, since they’re dead already, we should have little concern about on-the-job accidents or injury.

Then there is the total lack of concern for them arriving on time for work, as we’ll just warehouse them in a storage building every evening, letting them out each morning for work.  Now remember, we’re talking about easing our burdens as project managers.  After all, volumes have been written about the people skills necessary for this work.  And, more volumes are out there about communication skills and dealing with conflict.  None of that is necessary with our Zombie workers.

Oh yeah, and they don’t require a paycheck either.  Ah, the perfect solution.