Jason Thistlethwaite
30 lines
1.8 KiB
Markdown
30 lines
1.8 KiB
Markdown
A project appears to go completely off the rails from what was expected, and morphs into something nobody intended. Usually, it's unclear exactly why or what happened.
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## Narrative Examples
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![[Pasted image 20230130122600.png]]
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Tom and Jerry agree to have a cookout with a few close friends, where they’ll have burgers and hot dogs.
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Tom will get the beer and Jerry will pick up the food.
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For seemingly unknown reasons, 50 people show up with a rock band and multiple kegs of beer. There’s a bouncer for some reason, and nobody knows why. Nobody is exactly sure why it happened, and they start blaming each other.
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## Common Causes
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### 1) Acting on incorrect assumptions
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We made assumptions about what everyone else wanted or expected and took action on that without communicating about it first, maybe to impress people.
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We probably thought we were helping.
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### 2) Disconnected communication channels
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Multiple side channels of communication are present, leading to fractures in consensus. Basically a rumour mill.
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This can happen when people who weren't initially supposed to be involved overhear a conversation about the project and decide to get involved, but the majority of those already working on it don't know that.
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### 3) A narcissistic personality is involved
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A narcissistic personality is present, who feels empowered or validated by causing the unexpected, unplanned results.
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## Side effects and contributing factors
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Werewolf Projects often lead to a [[witchhunt]], where people become focused on placing blame for the werewolf project. In other cases, an [[Inquisition]] can be formed, where kneejerk rules are put in place that do more harm than good.
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Primary contributing factors may be [[telephone]] or [[quija board]], which lead to the confusing circumstances or broken communication that caused the werewolf project. |