ON THE EDGE
SpongeBob Squarepants®, PMI® and the Body of Project Ideas
by Carl Pritchard, Pritchard Management Associates
"A string walks into a bar..." My wife heard me telling that ancient joke the other day and reminded me, "HEY! That's my joke!"
"And you're proud of that?" I offered.
"No. But it's my joke. You're telling my joke." She shook her head. "You didn't even laugh when I told it to you." She paused, "and besides, it's my joke!"
I took further note the other night as I was framing a SpongeBob SquarePants poster. There he was, friend to Squidward and all humanity, nestled against a small but noticeable copyright symbol. According to that symbol, SpongeBob belongs to Viacom. Ask any young person, and they will inform you that SpongeBob belongs to the ages. (If you've been avoiding television for the past two years, SpongeBob is a bright yellow square of a cartoon character that rules a significant portion of the pre-teen market).
Read the Guide to the PMBOK® lately? It's teeming with copyright, service mark and trademark notices. At least ten different notices are incorporated on the first page alone. But who owns the ideas?
The Power of a Copyright
Most people don't realize that when they craft something, and it represents a complete, new idea, it's copyrighted. No government intervention required. If you write an article, a story or a letter and assert that it's yours and it's your original thought, it is copyrighted. While you could submit the forms to formally copyright it through the government, even without their assistance, you legally have rights to your own ideas. The challenge comes in defending those rights. Whoever can make the best claim to ownership and can prove they were first with the idea, and that it's truly a unique, complete thought, will win.
The country music group The Dixie Chicks learned how little it takes to constitute a unique, complete thought when they used the musical phrase "I'll Fly Away" in their song SinWagon. The original song was composed by Albert Brumley in 1929. It's not public property for several more years. Those three little words, set to music, sent Sony Music Entertainment Inc. to the courts.
After the 9-11 tragedy, some charity groups tried to trademark the phrase "Let's Roll," as it was used on Flight 93 (that crashed in Shanksville, PA). It was deemed too broadly used to be appropriate for trademark.
But how does this relate to project management? Projects are unique. As such, each project generates a new set of ideas, thoughts, and powerful approaches. Each project affords us the opportunity to build the base set of knowledge. With America's propensity for litigation, this opens the door for a whole new industry in the competition for ownership of ideas.
One organization that takes its copyrights, trademarks and service marks seriously is the Project Management Institute. When authors agree to join in PMI® projects, one of the Institute's first acts is to get a signed agreement to clarify that PMI® will become the sole owner of the content. The tight reins ensure there's no lack of clarity about where the information is coming from (and conversely, when information is not coming from the Institute).
The Power of Free Ideas
Does this mean that we should all follow PMI's® example of ardently, passionately protecting each and every thought we share? No...and yes. Free ideas provide project managers with the foundation for moving from project to project with a better base of information. Knowledge is power. But knowledge is power only when that knowledge is put to use or shared. The power of ideas only produces something when it is unleashed.
So how can we share ideas and information freely without losing our ownership? We mark it as our own. We provide it openly and freely but surround it with our own stamp. That stamp may take the form of introductory notes about the use of a process (richly littered with the names of those who developed it), or it may simply be an assertion of copyright. PMI® did this brilliantly in the 1996 edition of the Guide to the PMBOK®, with the copyright legend that read: "Permission to republish in full is granted freely." It meant that the document would remain whole and intact as they had intended, and yet the information could spread far more readily than would have otherwise been possible.
The liberal sharing of ideas with clear labels opens the door to "spread the gospel" of project management without surrendering pride of authorship and ownership. Will there be those who take credit for your ideas? Absolutely. But as long as you are keeping those ideas fresh, and building on them, you will remain one step ahead of the curve, and you have the advantage of knowing the thinking that established those ideas in the first place. You have the history. You know the groundwork and where it came from.
But...
Not every idea can be shared with such liberality. Some concepts, notions and thoughts are intensely proprietary and owned by others, and many are covered by non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) or copyrights. If you encounter such a notion, but wish there was a way to use it, don't. Don't succumb to that temptation. If you're compelled to use something like it, then find an alternative source for the information before taking a single step forward.
There are sources for almost any information. The U.S. government has rich repositories of everything from photographs and art to articles and research. And, for the most part, if the government creates it, it is in the public domain. It may not be a mirror image for what you're looking for, but you might be able to find a process, procedure or practice that meets the need. And then you know you're in the clear.
Ideas can only be harnessed for a very short time. And they're only new for a very short time. Sharing your thoughts liberally will ultimately get you credit for them. Sharing others' ideas only when they are legitimate and in the public domain will keep you out of trouble.
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