Professionalism demands that project delivery processes are comprehensive and robust.
That creates the right foundation for delivery jazz — situational agility and innovation.
The delivery principal must hold the tension in a fundamental balancing act between:
- systematic and thoroughgoing processes on the one hand, and
- situational agility with space for improvisation and innovation on the other
This gives us another C to add the three we've covered in part 1:
- Calmness
- Confidence
- Consistency, and
- Creativity
Over-boiling process that throttles creativity can be tragic for experts and specialists in delivery teams, creating a flight risk that puts projects and businesses in peril.
But beware of the trouble with delivery principals who see themselves as solo jazz artists or thunder gods — the tamers of chaos.
You know the type — those always adapting on the fly, whose processes and practices aren't well structured but flexed to suit business and client’s needs or expectations
They thrive in chaos, so they keep creating chaos in order to thrive. But that's problematic for growth — they will bristle, and may even choke off the growth business itself.