In my job, I have an opportunity not afforded to most: I get to listen to all of the risks, challenges, and issues (a.k.a. problems) that other organizations face. (I know, you’re jealous, right?) From issues with large-scale hardware deployments to the risks of implementing new federal bureaucratic form processing, I get to hear it all. Without fail, nearly all of those discussions start with someone in the room declaring, “We do it different here.”
If I had a dollar for every time I heard, “we do it different here” during a federal project kick-off meeting, well…I would have about twenty or thirty bucks, but that’s not my point. The point is you don’t do it differently! Human nature is human nature and given similar constraints, regulations, policies and procedures, the outcomes will be similar. Beyond the obvious irony in nearly all organizations declaring their uniqueness, I am struck by the actual similarities of the problems.
