Yoga and the Art of Post-Yoga and the Art of Post-Modern ManagementModern Management@yogacat, 2014@yogacat, 2014

Namaste

Who am I?

• Ly nn My ric k , a k a @ y oga c a t1 3• Co -fou nd e r of Ag ile E nv ironm e nt• 2 0+ y e a rs of m a na g ing a nd le a rn ing• Pa s s iona te a b ou t he lp ing te a m s work

b e tte r toge the r!• Fou nd e d the Lond on Com m s D ojo

Why Yoga?

• I’m pretty good at yoga. I’m not an expert, as there is always more to learn, and it is a lifelong undertaking to learn. I have seen some positive results with my practice of yoga, though these were not always the results I had expected. Yoga can be moulded to suit the practitioner, who in turn evolves and grows in their practice, never perfecting, but always improving in their yoga practice.

PM vs Yoga

• Business Practice• Tool for Delivery• Ceremonies and

Artefacts• Certifications

• Spiritual Practice• Exercise• Asanas and

sequences• Certifications

PM certifications

• PRINCE2 (3 levels of certificate)• Association for Project Management (5 separate

certifications)• Project Management Institute (8 separate certifications)• International Project Management Association (IPMA) • Agile Project Management certificates are starting to

appear as well.

Yoga certifications?

• Generally needed only to teach, not to practice• Many of them - One for each “brand”• They're honest about it though: in a recent New

Yorker article, the author describes his yoga studio's owner's car licence plate

• NAMA$TE

PM Failure Modes

• Over-control• “Going Through the Motions”• Working the Plan and Managing the Risk

• Can yoga provide insight into how we can improve?

Over-Control

• The Deming Funnel Experiment• “Trying to deterministically compensate for a

random process is counter-productive, but -- according to Deming -- quite a popular pastime”

• There will be events that afect you over which you have no control

What does it look like?

Yoga says . . .

• Trying to achieve the perfect asana is not the goal

“Going through the Motions”

• For every project, you prepare a set number and type of documents and artefacts

• You collect data, because, well, you should, right?

• You do the minimum required not to get fired

Yoga says . . .

• Trying to achieve the pose without understanding the goal or preparing properly risks injury

Working the Plan and Managing the Risk

• You have a Gantt Chart exists that says exactly what everyone will do and when they will do it and how long it will take.

• You have a Risk Register, and you've thought of every possible thing that could go wrong and have a foolproof plan to fix it.

Yoga says . . .

Your new Project Management goal?

• Work to achieve a state of fexible, relaxed strength – be a management warrior!

NamasteNamaste

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