ON THE EDGE
Project Cabin Feven
by Carl Pritchard, Pritchard Management Associates
This year's winter seemed longer than many of recent memory. A few extra cloudy days, a few extra inches of snow, and the days seem to drag. For those in the Northern reaches, the last vestiges of a hard winter lingered-tempting us with tastes of spring, and then quickly dropping back into those bitter cold nights. What did most people want? Out. Just "out." Just get me anywhere but here. The Caribbean would be nice. Southern California, perhaps? Hawaii? A day or two in the Congo even sounds alluring. The official answer? Anywhere but here.
Cabin fever is a common ailment, but it extends well beyond the limits of Mother Nature. Cabin fever extends to a lot of projects. Cabin fever is the distress or anxiety caused by prolonged confinement in a small or remote place (American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms). Projects are isolating events. By their very definition, they take us to the temporary universe of their specific goals. We don't get to work in the mainstream, basking in the sunshine of familiarity and common recognition. We work, instead, on the isolated crags of our unique endeavors. Here, because of the isolating nature of projects, we spend so much time that eventually, the projects become a venue from which we crave an escape.
Example: You're working on a project that started last year and was supposed to be complete by October. Because of scope changes and modifications in approach and technology, it's still plodding along today, and the end may be months away. You had hoped that when it ended, you'd be able to catch up on some of those "other duties as assigned" that seem to keep falling by the wayside. The pile of "other duties" is mounting, and there's not a lot you can do about it. No one's complaining, but they also aren't quite clear on what you're working on. You can see the swelling volume of other work piling up around your desk.
The Nature of Cabin Fever
Think about what causes cabin fever. We don't get out. We don't interact with others. The familiar becomes contentious. The sameness of the environment makes it unexciting, frustrating and tiresome. At first, most people try to simply cope with the sameness, assuming it will end. Over time, however, its lingering nature builds upon itself to the point where the very consistency of the environment becomes the source of group angst.
Because of the repetitive nature of the situation, common solutions don't work. In some instances, the proposed solutions become sources of frustration in themselves.
You and your team have been having Friday meetings through the life of the project, as an opportunity for updates and a little camaraderie. They've largely degraded into "whine-fests" with everyone wishing for an earlier end to the project. You dread them as much as any team member.
Beware! As spring approaches, the situation is going to get worse for project managers before it gets better. With real-world cabin fever coming to an end, folks will crave the opportunity to spend time outside, away from the office. They'll find the day-to-day grind of the cubicle even more confining, rather than less.
Overcoming Cabin Fever
Get out. Literally! One of the keys to dealing with cabin fever either in the real world or in our projects is to change the environment completely. Office space is inherently somewhat gray. Very few offices bear the bright sense of spring. They don't come across as cheery harbingers of better days ahead. But there are exceptions. One woman I used to work with always kept multiple flowers alive in her office and used them as décor in meeting rooms. It was a labor of love. And it changed the tone around her. Hers was an island of relief in an otherwise beige universe. Others have used posters or bright clothing. Still others try food! One PM in Northern Virginia surprised a longsuffering team with a lobster bake in the conference room. Hold staff meetings in the open air.
But it's not all physical. It's mental, too. Give them a chance to try different tasks. Change approaches to your standard processes. Note that I didn't suggest that you change the process, but change the way in which it's implemented. Take a different set of folks along on the next client site visit. Provide visibility and promote others by giving them roles in meetings, presentations, and project documentation. Trumpet small achievements.
There is one other approach that doesn't involve changing the world around you. If all else fails, take the approach I found somewhat commonplace in late winter when I lived in Maine. When winter would stretch on into early April, my friends and I would celebrate the ongoing snow and cold. That's right, rather than curse the frustrations associated with one more day of gray slush at the slide of the road we'd celebrate. Acting like the latest round of snow was the first of the season, we'd invite friends over, make snowmen and serve cocoa all around.
We can do that on our projects as well, renewing our sense of goals, objectives and accomplishments. We can do it if we can genuinely immerse ourselves in the notion that by renewing it and cheering the environment in which we're working, we have the opportunity to bring ourselves closer to the end of the long winter of our project with a far better attitude.
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