What Is 'Outsidei', Who Is It For and Why Do We Need It?

What is OutsideI?

I started this journey ten years ago, while studying for a Master of Science degree in Major Programme Management at the University of Oxford . Like many of my Cohort, I was frustrated at the narrow, binary methodologies that had been used in an attempt to 'manage' transformational change. The world of Project Management seemed divided into Waterfall evangelists and Agile fundamentalists and yet we were no closer getting projects to work. So I set to developing a new methodology, or body of practices, procedures and rules, that would improve the success rate of projects. Over the years, however, something has become clear to me - project management cannot be treated like a science, any more than economics can. None of the project management frameworks give due acknowledgement to the impact and importance of Fortune in any human enterprise. I have therefore shifted my focus from the development of a methodology to the outlining of a system of thought.

OutsideI (pronounced "Outside Eye") is a philosophy to be used in conjunction with the many methods, tools and processes that already exist. Why? Because, as Seneca said, "Philosophy gives order to life, guides action, shows what should and shouldn't be done and sits at the rudder steering our course as we vacillate in uncertainties." (Moral Letters, 16.3)

Who is it for?

People who know me know how much weight I put on the stakeholder concept. Proper and appropriate consideration for project stakeholders is key to achieving a successful outcome, which is why I am keen to identify who OutsideI has been developed for.

My primary stakeholder group are project leaders, because time and again 'top management support' is listed as the critical success factor for projects across a wide variety of industries (A New Framework for Determining Critical Success/Failure Factors in Projects, W. Belassi & O. Tukel, International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 14, no. 3, pp 141-151).

The C-Suite has a difficult relationship with project management because they are not interested in the 'Agile/Waterfall' debate and tend to see the delivery of projects as an 'operational' activity that frequently fails. A recent paper by my teacher, Prof. Bent Flyvbjerg , helpfully outlines the top ten behavioural biases in project planning and management, but this idea that the biggest risk in project management is rooted internally with the individual as opposed to externally with events is a new one, and will take time to become normalised. OutsideI has been developed in conscious acknowledgement of optimism bias and uniqueness bias, and attempts to bring awareness and focus to these truths so that project decision making can be improved.

Why do we need it?

Projects fail. Time and time again we have budget overspend, schedule slippage and benefit shortfalls. As practitioners we are obsessed with 'control', even though we know that any transformational change project is impossible to lock down. We need a new approach which acknowledges the impact of Fortune (good and bad) and is honest about the risks that we should be managing. Brian Eno says "I want to rethink surrender as an active verb" (Two Beats Ahead, Panos A. Panay & R. Michael Hendrix). I believe that the real challenge for project leaders is to understand when they need to push for more control and when they need to actively surrender and allow things to happen. OutsideI is an attempt at a framework that can help with this challenge.

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Over the next few months I will be publishing weekly and explaining OutsideI in stages. As always, I welcome your thoughts and feedback and will ensure that I respond to every post. Thanks go to Neil Berenholz , Ian Cribbes FAPM, MIoL , Doyin Atewologun , Kevin Milner , Rod Baker , Sharon Naylor , Angelica Q. , Andy Wilkins , Zena Everett , Andrea Laforgia , James Lea , Ivana I. Osagie , Tiffany Franklin-Calvert , Greg Karwaski , Katie Ballue , David Coombes and Meryl Moss, MPA, EMHL, ACC for the encouraging engagement and CHRISTINE A. MACKAY 🦎 , Shaun Anthony Naylor , Helen Pritchard , Daniel Futerman and The Media Workshop for getting back to me about the proposed animation.

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