
Managing Projects
40
HERDING CATS
How hard can it be to lead a project team? Consider
the following fi ctional but all-too-common scenario:
When Brett fi rst launched the PR campaign for
his company’s new product line, he loved the
creative energy in the air. But now, a month into
the project, that electricity has turned to static.
Kelly and Joe are designing speeches and press
briefi ngs that don’t seem to fi t together. They keep
asking Brett for lists of speakers. When he says
they should line up the speakers themselves, they
complain that they have too much other work to
do. Meanwhile, the marketing people are demand-
ing information that Brett ...