Why project leaders need to be able to define wicked and kind learning environments

Projects come in all shapes and sizes. They also live in various kinds of environments. Your organizational culture and context matters. Your industry matters. Who your stakeholders are, matter.

And as you are about to launch your project into the wider world, you need to understand the difference between kind environments and wicked environments.

Why?

Because you need to be able to handle the one thing that makes any project manager shiver: Uncertainty.

Kind Environments

A kind environment is one in which “a learner improves simply by engaging in the activity and trying to do better.”

“Patterns repeat over and over, and feedback in extremely accurate and usually very rapid.”

What environments are considered “kind”?

Think:

• Schools
• Spelling Bees
• Almost all sports

Wicked Environments

On the other hand, wicked environments are quite different. “The rules of the game are often unclear or incomplete, there may be or may not be repetitive patterns and they may not be obvious, and feedback is often delayed, inaccurate or both.”

What environments are considered wicked?

All projects.

Yep, all.

What about construction? Building houses seems very repeatable.

Yes, on the surface it is.

But are you using the same crew every time?

And what about the weather?

Ever had a sub-contractor not show up?

How about the economy?

Or the supply chain?

Or the cost of wood?

I would argue that learning the skill of carpentry can happen in a kind environment. But place that carpenter on the new housing development project, and they have now entered a wicked environment.

Why understanding the two makes a difference

Every project is unique.

Thus every project comes with uncertainty.

Below are five definitions taken from the PMBOK 7th Edition.

Each definition highlights certain aspects of a wicked environment.

Uncertainty - A lack of understanding and awareness of issues, events, paths to follow, or solutions to pursue.

Ambiguity - A state of being unclear, having difficulty in identifying the cause of events, or having multiple options from which to choose.

Complexity - A characteristic of a program or project or its environment that is difficult to manage due to human behavior, system behavior and ambiguity.

Volatility - The possibility for rapid and unpredictable change.

Risk - An uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or negative effect on one or more project objectives.

If you are a new project manager, you may be thinking you chose the wrong career after reading those definitions!

But here's my point.

If you enter the realm of projects and do not understand the nature of the wicked environment and the uncertainty it brings, you will certainly say at some point “Not everything is going as planned.”

Many project managers are not prepared for that statement.

Others, are prepared, and they can make that statement with a smile on their face.

Why?

Because they are prepared for the unknown.

No, they might not have a concrete backup plan. But they were aware the unknown lurks around very corner.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

• You shouldn’t be surprised. Even when you are surprised something happens, you shouldn’t be. The known unknowns and the unknown unknowns WILL occur.
• Expect the unexpected. Welcome it. Even when painful.
• Projects are problems to be solved and the project itself is a problem generator. A project leader has to constantly solve problems.
• Don’t be afraid. Every project manager faces the same thing. You are not alone.