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Monday Morning Links – 23rd November

(Not So) Cliche Quote of the Week:

Books had instant replay long before televised sports.
Bern Williams

With the reactions worldwide of the absolute hosing the Republic of Ireland’s football team and fans took Wednesday last, the subsequent cries for a replay of the match from devoted fans and populist politicians left me wondering what to make of the circumstances such a grant would allow. As I am a giant sports fan and a project management aficionado, I saw parallels that allow me a unique perspective on the matter.

First, we indulge the sports fan in me. The prospects of a replay begs one important question: Which team comes out more angered and vigilant?

France, for all their ducking of the issue in spite of their admittance of guilt and seemingly remorseful attitudes toward the Irish, may be the ones nevertheless stuck in a foul mood. There is no substitute for vengeance when all the marbles are at stake. When the rules governing play confirm you’ve done your job and completed your task with success (unregulated mistakes notwithstanding), it is downright bizarre and infuriating to see the crowned heads call you back to the scene of the triumph and prove yourself all over again. With a home field and a vigilant fire brewing, France seems to have the upper hand.

The project manager in me considers another important question: What are the rules now?

Consider the recent revamp of the London 2018 World Cup bidding team, as reported by The Times 11th November and analysed ably by Ron Rosenhead at his blog last Wednesday (See below). The revamp has shrunk the team, centralised the project’s wavering focus, and recognised the outside competition that may crash the dreams of hosting the world’s greatest sporting event in nine years. Given those circumstances, the rise in reality of failure in this project means that England 2018 have to operate under updated, different guidelines.

Although we know it’s not happening, it’s fun to wallow in the “What if…” scenarios an Ireland-France replay would incur. Namely: Would the guidelines for a repeat match at the Stade de France be updated for the sake of the increased scrutiny that referee Martin Hansson failed to stimy with a shrill blow of the whistle?

Because this is sport, no. Reason: No other match in the World Cup qualifiers has used replay, and changes cannot be made for one game based on just one missed call. In their defence, the logistics of it would be harsh under the eye of a single match:

• How would replay be instituted?
• Could rules be agreed upon it in time to properly govern it?
• Would the match officials become the opposite of trigger-happy under certain circumstances (i.e. Would a flag normally raised for a player ruled offside stay down, thinking being that there is no need to stop play when the all-conclusive video would bear out the truth anyway?)
• If they do it for this match, are they prepared to permanently institute it for all FIFA matches hereafter?

One would conclude I’ve overthought this. Only somewhat – as American football has instant replay and have set clear guidelines set in stone for its proper use and effectiveness (with alterations to the system addressed and installed during the offseason), I’ve had some time to hone these thoughts. If you call that cheating, I will be honest. It is cheating.

But I’m not the editor of this post. I’ve written it. The editor allowed it.

Five For Linking:

• Ron Rosenhead of his self-titled blog offered some sound insight about the England 2018 bid and how certain stated decisions could affect that project – http://www.ronrosenhead.co.uk/?p=340
• Josh Nankivel is vying for a parking space along with Liz Harrin and Brad Egeland! Blogging at PPMNG, the pmstudent lists the 11 Things Every New Project Manager Ought to Know (in no particular order) - http://www.projectmanagers.net/profiles/blogs/11-things-every-new-project
• Derek Huether of The Critical Path offers insightful tips on how to manage an offshore team of developers effectively – http://thecriticalpath.info/index.php/2009/11/19/how-to-effectively-manage-an-offshore-team-of-developers/
• Official parking space holders now as Brad Egeland of Project Management Tips now offers Part 2 of his analysis of the Project Change Order Request – http://pmtips.net/project-change-order-request/
• Andrew Filev of Project Management 2.0 offers a vodcast and short post from his appearance at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference San Francisco as to why e-mail is dead – http://www.wrike.com/projectmanagement/11/18/2009/E-mail-Is-Dead-Long-Live-E-mail-from-Enterprise2Open

Tweeter to Watch: @rolfgoetz - Rolf Goetz is an Engineer who focuses on variables like delivering value, reaching project goals and meeting requirements. He offers posts from his blog and was good enough to offer some solid risk management interview question possibilities when we at Arras People inquired for some on Twitter. You can see his contributions in our November edition of Project Management Tipoffs below. Rolf’s most entertaining tweet of the week?

optimist: the glass is 1/2 full; pessimist: it’s 1/2 empty. Engineer: it’s twice as big as it needs to be http://tinyurl.com/y94ppjp

Shameless Arras/Camel Plug of the Week: A shameless plug deserves a shameless proclamation…

“Let it be known that herewithin the following link lies the greatest project management issues newsletter to address the matter of risk management – the November edition of Project Management Tipoffs.”

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