Example of Strategic Pattern:
Storytelling
Storytelling is a tactic employed by many different roles in the project, specially by those in managerial positions, and can serve many different purposes, depending on the way it is implemented. The basic principle behind it is to tell a story, either casually, in conversation, or explicitly as a story of importance, and is intended for the audience to receive a message as a result of the storytelling process.
Different types of stories:
Story Type :
The Cautionary Tale
Brief Description:
This type of story is told to advise the audience to be careful of specific types of behavior.
WHAT:
The communication artifact here is the story. It is an aural artifact. Sometimes the story is modified to stress the message.
Style(HOW):
Depending on what it intended, it may be as mild as general advice, or as severe as a warning. It is a good way to set expectations and at the same time express the consequences of the expectation not being met, or the expected behavior not being followed. The style is usually informal/casual. And the message is implicit.
WHO:
Cautionary Tales are usually told by a manager or a stakeholder, like the client, and are typically intended for the project team.
WHEN:
- The pattern for telling the Cautionary Tale may be invoked ad hoc as the need arises, or when the message is appropriate.
- Some managers may tell the cautionary tale in the beginning of the project to let the team members know that the message is to be taken seriously.
- Sometimes the pattern is invoked when a similar situation as the story speaks of is likely to occur, or is already happening.
Story Type:
The Comparison
Brief Description:
The comparison tale is a story that is told to compare the behavior of the current team with another team, perhaps on the same or some other project. The motivation for comparison can be appreciation or criticism.
HOW(Style):
This type of story is also told informally. The message in the Comparison Tale is usually more apparent and less implied.
WHO:
The comparison tale can be told by any project member, whether it is a manager or a subordinate. The audience can be any subset of the project team.
WHY:
The goal behind the telling of the comparison story may be either to compare and criticize how things are in the current project, and how they used to be better in the compared situation. The other motivation could just be to appreciate how the situation in the current project is better, or that progress is better than the other situation.
Story Type :
The Utopian View
Brief Description:
The Utopian Tale is a pattern where the story is told to describe someone's vision of the ideal, with an intention to have the project follow the vision.
HOW(Style):
The utopian tale is told informally, usually at the beginning of an endeavor by someone whose vision is supposed to be followed. The message is subtle but normally less so than the Cautionary Tale pattern.
WHO:
The client, the manager or some major stakeholder may tell the Utopian View story in hope that the audience is the relevant members of the project who can implement the view.
WHY:
The goal of telling the Utopian Tale is to describe the ideal situation, either for the process to follow, the product to build, or just for the working relationship. It is rarely expected that the utopian view would be implemented in full, but it is expected that a lot of direction and learning is imbibed from the story, to implement what is feasible.
Cause:
The leader/client may not believe that he/she is dictating how things are done at all and may actually believe that he is letting the team make their own decisions.
The leader may have a fixed and clear idea of their expectations of the team and thus knows what he/she wants done.
The leader may feel like he/she does not have enough confidence in the team's abilities to make their own decisions, thus prefers to dictate how things are done while still hearing the team's views on the best next step.
The leader may have been practicing this type of leading style for a long time and now does not even realize that they are doing it.
The leader wants things done a certain way, but wants to also hear the team's views to see if left on their own, would they also make the same decisions without the leader's urging.
Effects:
The team feels like they are making the decisions with guidance from the leader.
The team may feel like the leader only asks for their opinion to test whether they are on the right track, but actually is telling them what to do.
The team may feel under pressure to answer in alignment with what the leader expects, when asked what they intend to do next, like they are being quizzed.
Example:
Hank explaining how things are best done, and then asking the team what they intend to do next. If their views on the next step are different from his, then leading them to align their views.
Hank: You folks can be really creative about it.... well anyway what will you be doing
Denise: Rip in the code probably, do some of the skeletoning stuff, now we know what we have to do.
Hank:
I would recommend a couple of things, since we just looked at this Simulink stuff, you could play around with it while this is still fresh in your minds and start going through the blocks and start writing about things you dont think you need, and things you think you need, maybe write a sentence each about the blocks. We could meet next time and discuss it and
I could tell you whether you were close or not. Or you could make a skeleton. It might be easier than directly making the skeleton, If you want to make the skeleton, you could try that but it might not be a super efficient use of your time. You could try it if you want, I suppose, I mean the more background you have on this the more help it will be.
But I'll leave it up to you to decide.