Over projecten
This story concerns a project and four men - their names are Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.
Nobody had a clear idea of the objectives of the project, and Everybody had a quite different idea. Somebody tried to get the others to agree, but without much success; they couldn’t get Anybody to agree. In the end Nobody defined them.
Somebody planned the project, estimated how long it would take and estimated how much it would cost. Everybody said that it was Anybody’s guess and that it was likely to take twice as long as allowed. Nobody wanted to admit this to the customer. Somebody said, that provided nothing went wrong, the estimates could be met. Everybody was doubtful about this, but was prepared to take a chance. The team actually did not know how to estimate Anybody’s work. So Somebody committed the team to an unrealistic target. Nobody was appointed project leader.
Everybody’s work was held up one day because a particular task had been forgotten. Everybody had assumed that Somebody had allowed for it in the estimates and so mentioned it to Nobody. Nobody had known how critical this particular task was, and Nobody had asked Anybody to do it. Also, Nobody told Anybody that Everybody now was waiting. Somebody had actually wondered if Anybody had been told to do it but, as Nobody was controlling the project, did not follow it up with Anybody.
Everybody was asked if Anybody was free and competent to do the missing task. Somebody pointed out that the task could not be done by Anybody and that because Nobody was competent to do it and Nobody was free to do it so Nobody could do it. Everybody agreed and Nobody did the missing task.
The project over-ran its time and cost targets.
Everybody said that Somebody should take the blame for the delay. When Somebody said that it was Everybody’s fault, Everybody became very defensive and said that one could not blame Anybody. Somebody then said that, as Nobody was the project leader, Nobody should take the blame. Nobody disagreed. Eventually Nobody persuaded Anybody to accept the blame. However, Everybody admitted that if Anybody had said something about the missing task earlier this would never had happened.
The moral of the story is that when Somebody makes a project plan, Everybody should be consulted, Nobody should be left out, and important jobs should not be left to Anybody without checking that they are done.