

Project Management via Game of Thrones - Baustin
http://blog.smartbear.com/project-management/everything-i-know-about-project-management-i-learned-from-game-of-thrones/

======
zeteo
Project management is too detached from reality and promises things comparable
to transporting 40,000 horses across the ocean? I know, let's fix it with
advice from an _entirely fictional_ world!

~~~
naturalethic
Lighten up sourpuss.

~~~
zeteo
That was a very effective line in kindergarten.

------
mynegation
It is fun article with some apt analogies and I am glad that I decided to read
it despite the title. To me at least, "Game of Thrones" TV series would be a
horrible project management tutorial, as almost all characters in it do not
have a slightest idea what they want and/or how to achieve it, changing sides
in a conflict on a whim. Obviously it is about a journey, not a destination
for Westeros nobles.

------
tixocloud
Because of your post, Mr. OP, I shall check out Game of Thrones. I have always
been fascinated by how stories can teach us so many things if we look beneath
the words. For one, I would highly recommend "Romance of the Three Kingdoms",
a Chinese literature piece that tells the stories of various leaders and their
strategies on leading armies to victories. NOTE: I am not in favour of war but
merely the way that they are able to raise the morale of people towards a
cause - something that would be helpful to all businesses.

~~~
Auguste
I would strongly suggest you read the novel series, A Song of Ice and Fire,
instead of watching the TV show. Hours and hours of worth of detail had to be
cut from the series to convert it for TV, and while they did a great job,
you're left with little more than a highlights reel by comparison.

The novels are a must if you're after the detailed history and politics of the
world the characters live in.

~~~
skore
I debated with myself whether I should read the books first, but:

On the other hand, I have read that some bookreaders recommend to first
watching the TV series as while it does "dumb down" a couple of things, it
really helps keeping an overall thread. Plus watching the series second might
leave you more disappointed ("why didn't they include my favorite quote X!?")
than the other way around ("I love reading more about this character that I
already liked!").

~~~
naturalethic
watch the show first otherwise you will hate it... i made the mistake of
picking up the books after season two and now watching season three is torture

~~~
ichinco
watching season three is torture either way

------
to3m
More Game of Thrones-related points to note.

HAVE A PLAN - it's no good setting out on a major undertaking if you don't
know where you're going. Will your loyal followers continue to stick with you,
if after a while it feels like you're just going round in circles?

UP OR OUT - growth and development is part of the cycle of life. Today's fresh
blood will be tomorrow's experienced hand. Will their assigned role still be
suitable?

------
will_brown
Maybe one more lesson from Tyrion Lannister:

UNDER PROMISE BUT OVER DELIVER. All to often a project manager feels compelled
to promise the moon and the stars, inevitably setting themselves up for
failure or at least a dissatisfied client.

------
pfarrell
To the author (if self posted). The distraction of the green menu pullout icon
made me unable to read the text on my iPhone. I gave up after realizing the
unpleasantness caused by the distraction.

~~~
breakall
Another annoyed iPhone reader here.

Normally the Safari "Reader" button would light up in the URL bar and I'd use
that to read the article without distraction, but it didn't for some reason
(content not properly marked up in the HTML?).

~~~
Baustin
Looking into this now. Sorry about that!

