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Is Your Project in 2-D or 3-D?

May 1, 2011 by Mel Bost 2 Comments

Last week on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” Paul Reiser was a guest.

You may remember Paul as the male lead in the sitcom “Mad About You” which starred Helen Hunt as his wife.  The madcap comedy of this twosome kept me in stitches for many evenings.

Paul was appearing on “The Tonight Show” to promote his new sitcom “The Paul Reiser Show.”  However, as luck often has it in the TV business, Paul’s show was canceled after just two shows on air. 

The way he said the TV executives pitched the cancellation to him was “Well, you have some viewers and then you have not so many viewers.  Your show fell in the latter category.”

So he was a “lame duck” in a sense but, since he was already scheduled for Jay Leno’s show, he showed up to provide some laughs and a look a reality in the wacky world of TV sitcoms.

Jay asked Paul about his two sons, who I believe are seven and ten years of age.  Apparently, the last time Paul and Jay spoke, Jay recalled that the two boys had requested a 3-D TV for their home.

Paul explained that one of his sons had exclaimed “Dad, didn’t you see that last jungle picture in 3-D.  The trees were slapping me in the face as the animals swung through the trees.  It was so real.” 

Paul explained that he had always been a 2-D person himself and, in fact, throughout his life, he had tried to avoid being slapped in the face by anything resembling tree limbs as he navigated the world. 

But, of course, the boys were different.  They really enjoyed the idea that they could actually experience being slapped by something unreal and yet so lifelike in appearance.

To all you project managers reading this blog, how do you treat your projects?  Do you go through the motions, treating your projects like 2-D, always hoping that something won’t leap out and slap you in an unexpected manner? 

Or do you approach you projects with a 3-D mentality, relishing the idea that every slap in the face represents a new opportunity to lead?

If you are experienced enough to have managed several projects, you know that 3-D is the only flavor for projects in today’s fast-paced project environment. 

So why avoid being slapped in the face by treating projects as 2-D?  Take a risk and embrace new experiences and new opportunities to lead–you will be glad that you did.

Filed Under: Project Community, Project Environment, Risk Management

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lester says

    May 3, 2011 at 2:57 am

    I’m so very serious to listen that video.. this is very nice information, he’s very thoughtful and talented. He made a successful project !! Thanks for sharing with us , because i’ll gain knowledge to this article!! Keep up the Good Work!

  2. marj says

    May 29, 2011 at 7:30 pm

    Wow he is very brilliant and professional person.This video is very informative and knowledgeable, thanks for sharing this with us. One thing I should say,thumbs up to his very successful project. I learn another pearl of wisdom today :D.

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About Mel Bost

Mel Bost is a project management consultant specializing in project closeout and lessons learned, as well as process improvement, best practices, and benchmarking. For the past several years, he has been teaching “Project Management for Research” to postgraduate students at Arizona State University, as well as developing new approaches to the research process. Read More

Project Management Lessons Learned: A Continuous Process Improvement Framework

The NERS department congratulates C. Melvin Bost, Jr., on the publication of his new book.

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