Projects & Global Warming

Times when I descended into throes of agony & pangs of anguish when questioned about delays in projects!

I used to dish out the valid reasons (obviously not so valid for my bosses) about resource crunch, hazy and nebulous requirements, Customers changing requirements like a town bus driver shifting gears, the ubiquitous attrition, the mediocre skill set of the developers and so many other things under the sun that I have lost track of it. Probably it was not that convincing to bosses and sure there were the occasions when strands of doubts about capabilities, efficiency and effectiveness criss-cross in my mind.

Then if flashed to me one day, like Buddha getting enlightenment under the bodhi tree, sort of feeling Newton must have had when the apple dropped on his head or the excitement Fredrick Kekule should have experienced when he divined the structure of benzene. It dawned to me what is wrong with projects, project management and the world in general.

The scientists, environmentalists, ecologist and good measure of two bit socialists, politicians of all hues, the blokes in research institutes and academic universities like the JNU have all singing the same tune for such a long time that I chided myself for being so naïve and blind to such a glaring and obvious fact.

If it rains cats and dogs and brings Bombay to a standstill or if it does not rain, if arctic ice caps melt or do not melt, be it famines, droughts, cyclones, tornados, typhoons, heat waves, cold waves, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, mudslides, low rainfall, excess rainfall, dry river-beds, rivers in spate, tidal waves, tsunamis, fog, smog or any phenomena - it all because of only one thing – Global Warming. Blame it all on GW, anything and everything under the sun. Man is such a messy animal interfering with Mother Nature and incurring her terrible wrath. How dare these puny creatures even think of conquering her?

I had grossly underestimated the effects of global warming. I thought it was only to do with rain, temperature and earthly things, but I did not realize that its effects are all pervasive and all encompassing. At least our venerable folks have painted it to be so with some generous help from the media who come up with grim titles about the impeding doom and disaster.

On reflection I need not have made my mind a swirling cauldron of negative thoughts, undue worry and stark pessimism, after all my projects were not completed in time only because of global warming. So all project managers RIP.