Which game should you stop playing?

When was the last time you played bingo?

I bet it was a while ago. Most bingo players are under 10 or over 70 - not quite my crowd.

But last weekend, I got myself a preview of what retirement on a cruise ship is all about.

Let me explain…

I was celebrating the long Easter weekend with my in-laws at their mountain cabin. Saturday evening’s dinner was a little rushed, and I didn’t get it.

“We have to be ready for bingo at 8PM” my girlfriend explained.

Someone mentioned it earlier, but I thought it was a joke.

Guess not…

Fast forward a few hours, and two people said the same thing before heading to bed.

“I don’t even like bingo, but it’s a tradition”

Wait, what?

That comment got me thinking…

How many of those things do you have in your team?

Something that everyone thinks is normal. We all play along, thinking it’s for the benefit of someone or something else. But when you dig into the reason why, you can’t get past the most dangerous answer there is:

“Because that’s what we’ve always done”

Whenever you hear or think that, all alarm bells should go off.

But seeing that when you’re in the middle of it is hard. Really hard.

This is where you have an advantage as a project manager.

You see, in projects, people come and go. Someone joins for a specific part of the project or gets replaced because of some corporate musical chairs.

And when that happens, you have a brief window of opportunity.

That new person on your team is like the new son-in-law. But instead of taking him to your mountain cabin to play bingo, you bring him into your project environment and add him to 20 meetings, documents, and other artifacts.

Why?

Don’t give yourself a free pass. Force yourself to explain why each of those things is happening, and why it’s worth their time.

And don’t stop there - encourage your new team member to challenge you. To call BS on the 14th recurring meeting of the week.

Because their perspective will only be fresh for a couple of weeks.

Before you know it, they’re sitting there playing along “because that’s what we’ve always done”.

Talk soon,
Jasper

PS: looking for an outsider to point out which games you should stop playing? I’ve got two slots left for a Project Sprint workshop in April. Learn more here.