#118 - We are moving in a number of directions

"Let's have some resilient fun" shows some important topics in a more relaxed and joyful way. After all, humour is quoted as a desirable characteristic of resilient individuals like us!

Are we moving in the right direction?

Projects can get messy at times. During a Steering Committee meeting of the important ERP implementation project, a project sponsor asked one of my team members:

John is a thoughtful IT professional. He takes his time, reflects carefully, and aims to give precise, technically sound answers. After a brief pause, he replied:

I could see the sponsor’s face turning slightly reddish. He had hoped for something more reassuring, more concrete. The rest of the meeting carried a noticeable tension.

I had to hold myself back from bursting into laughter, and yet—John wasn’t wrong.

This is the reality of many endeavors, not just corporate projects but much of business and life in general. We like to believe in linear plans and clear trajectories. Project management, in particular, is built on structured goals, detailed tasks, and predictable progress. But the more detailed and rigid those plans become, the more fragile they are in the face of uncertainty.

Anne-Laure Le Cunff, in Tiny Experiments, challenges this idea of linear goal-setting, arguing that it doesn’t fit unpredictable environments. In practice, we are often moving in multiple directions at once—adjusting, improvising, recalibrating to reach our destination.

The play of the words becomes important here - not a goal, not an objective, purpose perhaps? Victor Frankl would agree. He emphasized the importance of purpose as a foundation for a meaningful life. Le Cunff goes a step further, suggesting we focus not on a single purpose, but on the narrative of our lives—the story we are trying to write. That perspective allows for flexibility, detours, and exploration. But it has its limits.

You can’t walk into a Steering Committee and tell John, responsible for delivering an ERP implementation, to “focus on writing a captivating story.” He needs something tangible—direction, priorities, and criteria for success. At the level of life, flexibility and narrative make sense. At the level of business execution, clarity and structure are essential.

So perhaps the answer lies somewhere in between.

Instead of focusing solely on tasks, we can anchor projects in their underlying purpose: Why are we implementing this system? What problem are we solving? That purpose provides direction, even when the path itself shifts. It allows teams to move in multiple directions when needed—without losing sight of where they ultimately want to go.

Strict, overly detailed plans make us vulnerable to uncertainty but a lack of direction creates uncertainty of its own.

The challenge is not choosing between structure and flexibility—it’s learning to hold both.

Because in the end, we may indeed be moving in a number of directions. But the real question is: do we still understand why?

*I don't use his real name to comply with GDPR.

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References and Notes

1. Goleman, D., Sonnenfeld, J. A., & Achor, S. (2017). Resilience (HBR Emotional Intelligence Series). Harvard Business Review Press.

2. Frankl, V. E. (2011). Man’s search for meaning. Rider.

3. Le Cunff, A.-L. (2025). Tiny experiments: How to live freely in a goal-obsessed world. Profile Books.