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How to discover Pretenders?

Who are Pretenders?

Simply these are the people who Pretend… Pretenders can pretend anything in the world. They pretend they understand and they claim they are experienced. They think they are superior when compared to others and they want everybody to obey them blindly. Most of the people I met falling under this category were consultants or acting as consultants.

Pretenders are characterized by the following:

  • Think they know everything in the world
  • Think that books contain everything
  • Have faithful beliefs in theory and nothing but the theory
  • Use theoretical definitions heavily
  • Believe in all best practices
  • Use the word should a lot… they believe what books say, no what facts prove
  • Have an amazing superiority feeling, which may be coming from studying definitions by heart or from hiding behind their many certificates

They are Theory Relatives I guess… otherwise, they might be breathing theories!

Also, they:

  • Are logical but not reasonable, while others may be reasonable but not logical
  • Insist on going by the book even if not appropriate for the situation
  • Insist on using inapplicable templates/processes
  • Generalize a lot…“all problems will be solved”
  • Don’t refer to example from their practical experience… because they don’t have any!

They also have some shared traits with PJs as they:

  • Try to convince you in every possible way that you can’t live without them
  • Are over-optimistic and they have kind of confidence that the project will under-run. Please note that true PMs are pessimistic
  • Don’t listen and always interrupt
  • Don’t understand what you say in case they listen
  • Are not flexible and not open to suggestions
  • Don’t respect other’s opinion
  • Panic under real pressure
  • Keep resisting till things get really bad, they surrender and give you the lead
  • Believe that adding more people can speed things up
  • Are too perfect, don’t make mistakes. Well… to make a mistake, you should work, they don’t make mistakes… it’s obvious… they don’t work!!

Generally speaking, it starts like this… Pretenders are very good candidates for PJ jobs, actually they best fit in it and they are closely related!

Maximum Failure Acceleration Formula

When put together, PJ and Pretenders, in the same box, i.e. project, it results in the maximum failure acceleration for the project. Failure is calculated in terms of magnitude and impact on:

  • Project Time
  • Project Cost
  • Project Quality
  • Project Team

MaxFailureAcceleration

It was observed that the Union in this formula is natural and doesn’t need effort or catalysts… just leave this mix of PJ and Pretender for 1 day in room temperature and you will get the worst results ever!

Beware there are plenty of Pretenders around you.

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