Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies: Understanding Patterns of Project Behavior

75. Fridge Door

Team members routinely display their work products for all to see.

You often hear about the “need to know” principle from managers: Pass to other people only what they need to know to perform their jobs; do not communicate information unless it is absolutely necessary for the task at hand; restrict the information flow to the bare necessity.

The Fridge Door pattern defies this advice, and yet correlates strongly to successful projects. Here’s how it works:

Even though it is not vital for everybody to know everything, the team displays significant information in a highly visible form. It’s in places where everybody on the project team is sure to look—when entering or exiting from the office or the project war room, or on the way ...