Manage Project Problems without Getting Trapped by Catastrophic Thinking
Several months into a long-ago job as a programmer, I was reassigned to an existing project team located in another building. It sounded like the start of an exciting opportunity—or so I thought.
My eagerly awaited first day on my new team began with a team meeting led by Ginny, the project manager. But Ginny barely acknowledged my existence; she neither welcomed me to the team nor introduced me to the team members.
Instead, she opened the meeting by saying, "I'm really depressed," and she proceeded to describe several major problems the project faced. She saw nothing but dire outcomes and seemed too distraught to guide the team in considering ways to address the problems.
In looking back, I now realize that Ginny was exhibiting a full-blown case of catastrophic thinking—thinking about worst-case scenarios and focusing on outcomes that are unlikely or even irrational. Making matters worse, Ginny wasn't merely thinking about worst-case scenarios; she was foisting them on us.
This struck me as a fine how-d'ya-do for me as a new team member and a spectacular example of leadership at its worst. Instead of guiding us in evaluating the problems and identifying options for fixing them, it was as if she was passing out panic buttons for all of us to press.
Of course, as Dilbert knows (and as I learned when I became a project manager myself), it's easy to fall into worst-case scenario thinking. When that happens, it's important to regain control by noticing that you've stopped considering realistic ways of handling circumstances and instead are drowning in scenarios that are unlikely, if not downright impossible.
Catastrophic thinking, after all, is about thinking of the what-ifs, and the more vivid your imagination, the more miserable you can make yourself. By noticing that you're in a what-if frame of mind, you can yank yourself back and recognize that the odds are good that you can cope with the circumstances.
In fact, if you successfully come through a situation that propelled you into worst-case scenario thinking and you notice that you survived, you will have strengthened your coping muscles and reduced the likelihood of future such episodes.
I don’t know if Ginny ever learned this. The project did eventually get on a firm footing—though not until another project manager took over.
Ginny wasn't wrong in worrying about the project. It would be short-sighted for any project manager not to consider the potential risks in the project and not to evaluate and continue re-evaluating what can go wrong. But the can-do attitude of the new project manager kept us all from joining Ginny in her catastrophic thinking slump.
