No Heroes on a Ship.
As I think about the night the Titanic went down, many thoughts come to mind about what it must have been like after the ship hit the iceberg. Visions of people hurrying to find out what happened and imagining what they might have said come to mind. What would go through someone’s mind when they found out that the ship was going down? In my mind I can see the hustle and bustle on each deck as people try to asset what to do and how to make it through what may be the last moments of life. In this situation it seems reasonable that someone would be thinking “Where is Superman now”? At a moment like this it is easy to see how the hope for that one person to come in and save the day can exist; but in reality we all know there is no Superman.
Yet today some managers will give the impression that a project failed because of something one person did on the team. At times like this, these leaders are looking where to direct blame when they should be asking a simple question: “Where is Superman now”? Just like when the Titanic went down there was no Superman, there is still no Superman today on a project. Projects usually fail due to a whole series of issues throughout the project by many people. Putting the blame on just one, or two, members will only lead to a team that cannot function at all.
I once was at a workshop with Tim Lister and Tom DeMarco where I heard them say a manager has only one job, keep the obstacles away from the team so the team can do their job. This is so true. If a manager is keeping the obstacles away, projects tend to succeed. However, even the best managers sometimes have a project that fails. When a project does fail it is important for a good leader to be honest over what went wrong and then learn these mistakes. This can also become a teaching moment to teach the team what went wrong and how to avoid the same mistakes next time. We all make mistakes, but only the best people learn from these mistakes.
In simplest terms: There are no Heroes on a ship. The ship either sinks or floats with the help of everyone on board. The same goes for projects. Projects either succeed, or fail, because of what the team does as a group. Sure each team can have a superstar, or two, but when the ship is going down these individuals will not become Superman he simple does not exist.