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The Bus Driver

They took some time to plan for the trip… They drew the road map, bought some food and beverages… and got equipped with the necessary tools… They were going to travel through the woods to draw the magnificent scenes which were observed by their neighbors early this year… This wasn’t their first trip together as a team, though they were all excited…

The bus driver was in charge for making the big decision in the trip while taking care of the travellers’ team while of course driving the bus and communicating daily with his supervisor in the station.

The map was clear, the weather was very well studied, though the bus driver expected to pass by some pitfalls in the road as there were some reparation in the way. He reported this to his supervisor and requested to take some more supplies just in case they have to camp one or two days more, but the supervisor refused “the trip has to be completed on time and the painting should be ready for sale by the end of the week”

Anyways, the one week trip started…

Day #1

The first day was sunny and windy… The team liked it very much… they enjoyed drawing the trees and the river. They had a lot of fun and the trip was just as scheduled.

Day #2

The second day went also fine till the night came… there was a storm, the team was prepared with some cloths and no one was hurt, everything was fine till the next day.

Day #3

By the beginning of the third day, some of the team members caught flu, they started sneezing and coughing while working on their paintings with passion. The bus driver who was in charge for the safety of the team noticed that the performance of some team members started degrading. He reported this to his supervisor, and the supervisor asked him to push on them to arrive on time.

Day #4

The team was still enthusiastic, they wanted to finish their drawings on time to get the bonus. They were working really hard.

Day #5

There was another storm in the morning and the team couldn’t get out of the bus, so they worked on reviewing each other’s drawing and putting some refining touches instead of wasting the time. The bus driver was really worried.

Day #6

Due to last day’s heavy rains, the bus driver had to slow down as it wasn’t safe to drive in such weather while the road was full of mud. He reported this to his supervisor who still insisted that the team can do it and finish the trip on time. It was very obvious that this can’t be fulfilled in such a situation, though the bus driver asked his team to do their best.

Day #7

The team is very exhausted and can’t go on. The bus driver tried very hard to push on the supervisor to give them some more time as the team was falling apart and work can’t be done without them and there was not enough time to get more team members on board to complete the task. He reminded the supervisor that he previously asked for more time.

… Day#10

They were still working hard

… Day #15

They arrived… the bus was in a shameful state… two team members were lost… the bus driver was sick… the drawings were not complete as planned… The supervisor is mad at the whole team… The client didn’t want to receive the paintings!

Analogy Legend

  • Bus: Project
  • Bus Driver: Project ManagerBusDriver
  • Drawing Team: Development Team
  • Supervisor: Top Management
  • Road Map: Project Plan
  • Storm: Risks
  • Paintings: Project Deliverables
  • Client: as himself!

Story Morals

  • There is no trip without a map
  • There is no trip without troubles
  • People who drive can see much better than the people who watch
  • In such projects, there are always casualties while the people who didn’t travel survive!
  • As the Bus Driver, the Project Manager is the only responsible person for the safety of the passengers and for making decisions
  • We cannot all be bus drivers












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