Barefoot (Project) Management?

Like many people (I suspect) who dream, at the point of waking the images are vivid and very real, but fade within minutes, to the extent that half an hour later I struggle to recall any aspect. I hear this is why many creative people have a pad and paper at their bedside in order to immediately record their memories.

Well last night I dreamed, I know I did, yet now I can barely recall any detail. The piece that has stuck is the phrase "barefoot management". I have no idea what seeded the thought nor do I recall any specifics, but the fact that the phrase has stuck has left me thinking. As I was trying to recall matters the word project was added to the phrase. This is not surprising given my interest in the management of change.

I did a google search for "barefoot management" and there are only 1,970 hits, a pretty low number for a search these days; "barefoot project management" had only two hits! Of these two, one URL does not appear to exist and the other is one of those "make easy money by data entry at home" style sites has little or no real content but load the pages with random words to try and defeat the automatic spam detection.

So it seems that the concept of "barefoot project management" is up for grabs!!! Sounds like a challenge to me! :)

I don't intend to solve it all now, but rather I will let the idea germinate and see what grows from it. I do however have a couple of starting thoughts.

The first couple are about sensitivity and passage. What do I mean?

Well in the summer I tend to go barefoot, well at least at home, and do drive barefoot when I am out and wearing flip flops. One senses so much more about the terrain one is travelling over than when one wears shoes. One feels the temperature, moisture, texture, etc. Depending in the ground one may have more or less grip, but one feels slippage a lot more keenly. When driving I "feel" the car (and the road) much more directly and am able to apply finer adjustments to the throttle.

There are definite parallels with project management and the "feel" one needs when leading a team and solving the myriad of problems one faces.

The other thought is that if I am wearing shoes I am less concerned about the route I take. I can walk across hot or sharp/rough surfaces, through a degree of water and stay dry. I am less affected by the lasting impact of some surfaces ie those that are sticky and leave a residue.

I can and probably do do more damage along my path, consciously and unconsciously, crushing small creatures, breaking delicate structures, etc.

If I am barefoot I may well make different decisions, either choosing a different route to avoid broken glass, place my feet more carefully to avoid unnecessary damage or changing my pace (eg if I have to cross hot coals I will prepare myself mentally and move quickly across it).

I can see merit in this line of thought and expect it to percolate through my mind for a while.  Please share your toughts too.

I am sure I will blog again on the topic.