Creative Project Management

2What We Know and What We Think

The most erroneous stories are those we think we know best—and therefore never scrutinize or question.—Stephen Jay Gould, naturalist and author, Full House, 1997

Where’s Your Blind Spot?

There’s a difference between what we know and what we think we know, but sometimes it’s hard to be sure. Assumptions, that key PMBOK concept, are what we think we know. Project managers are supposed to challenge assumptions whenever possible. That’s easier said than done, though. Every one of us has blind spots—cognitive biases and perceptual errors that keep us from recognizing our own misjudgments. To be an effective manager of any stripe, and especially a project manager, you have to manage your blind spots. Doing so is every ...