I told Paul my idea to put a sketch or photo on every post to attract attention. His response was:

That’s exactly what you have to do. Also, don’t waste more time drawing and less time writing.

With that advice firmly in hand, I sat down to write and spent 20 minutes working on the Trump sketch. What is it about humans that we can know the right thing to do, have it firmly in our brains, and when we sit down to do the work, we find some way of distracting ourselves?

When I’m leading a team, how often do I “waste more time drawing and less time writing?” How often to do I encourage my team to “waste more time drawing and less time writing?” Am I creating this Gantt Chart because it is the right tool to communicate tasks, timing, and interdependencies leading to inspiration for my team members to do the right thing at the right time? Or am I just doing it because it is a way to feel busy and hide from the hard work of inspiring people?

I am a story teller. It’s my thing. So how about if I always start by writing a story. During project planning it’ll be a story of the future. Here’s what we are creating. Here’s what will happen first. Here’s what will happen next. Here’s the source of tension and suspense. Here are the obstacles our hero will face. Here is how he will overcome them. Here is how much money it will take and how many people and how long. Once the story is written, then I can start finding ways to organize the information and communicate it to people who need to know it. Maybe I end up with a Gantt Chart, but maybe not. Maybe I end up with a formal Business Plan, but maybe not. Maybe I end up with all of the mainstream tools and techniques and 100% Project Management Institute sanctioned approaches, but maybe not. Or, maybe I will invent a brand-new-never-been-tried-before way of managing a project that will only ever be used once and only ever on this one project. And maybe it will be the perfect approach for this project at this time. Maybe that’s just too weird, but maybe not.

What is your favorite mainstream tool?