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The Triangle is missing The Circle

By experience -the bad one of course- I discovered that the famous Project Management triangle is missing a very important containing circle… The Strategy Circle.
The Strategy Circle is my simple explanation for many of the catastrophic situations projects end up with. I totally believe that this should not happen and that Strategy exists to set goals and directions for the benefit of organizations and accordingly for the benefit of projects and teams.
Unfortunately, I witnessed many cases where it was exactly the opposite. I was an eye witness of the failure of many projects and sometimes companies because of misunderstanding the meaning of Strategy and how to use it to bring companies to success. Some companies bankrupted because of this!
TriangleCircle

De-formation Effect

The Strategy Circle is sometimes surrounding the Project Management triangle and thus imposing pressure on it and suppressing it and some other times it is pushing on the triangle from the inside and thus inflating it. This circle is a vortex that if not used wisely can and will swallow projects and maybe companies themselves.
TriangleCircle-2

By The Name of Strategy!

The magical Strategy word is misused to commit many crimes against projects and teams. Some PJs use this word to convince you that loss is a gain and that you should sacrifice everything in the world even yourself for it. They use the “We’re building glory” illusion to suck your blood and to burn you and your teams. Some people misuse it by thinking that Strategy has to focus only on business and not on profit or even revenue! I don’t understand what can be the use of owning a business if it doesn’t generate money. P.S. I am fully aware of the difference between loss and investment.

Strategizing by Fear

There is also a newly introduced concept… The Strategizing by Fear concept in which PJs use the company image argument as a cover for bad decision making, mistakes and failures. They use the Strategy ghost to frighten you all the time and to make sure you are under pressure and under their control.
I really empathy Strategy! It’s abused, oppressed and maltreated in many places!







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