The Heffalump Trap...

[Note: A heffalump is a fictional, elephant-like creature mentioned in the Winnie the Pooh stories by A. A. Milne. More about Heffalump: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heffalump]

I was reading “In which piglet meets Heffalump’ a story from Winnie the Pooh collection (one of our favourites) to my son. When Christopher Robin says that he saw a Heffalump, Pooh gets the idea that they should catch a Heffalump by means of a Cunning Trap! Pooh asks for help from piglet to do this. Pooh’s first idea was that they should dig a Very Deep Pit, and then the Heffalump would come along and fall into the pit. The story goes like this:

“Why?” said Piglet.
“Why what?” said Pooh.
“Why would he fall in?”

Pooh rubbed his nose with his paw, and said that the Heffalump might be walking along, humming a little song, and looking up at sky, wondering if it would rain, and so he wouldn’t see the Very Deep Pit until he was half-way down, when it would be too late.

Piglet said that this was a very good trap, but supposing it were raining already?

Pooh rubbed his nose again, and said that he hadn’t thought of that. And then he brightened up, and said that, if it were raining already, the Heffalump would be looking at the sky wondering if it would clear up, and so he wouldn’t see the Very Deep Pit until he was half-way down … When it would be too late.

Piglet said that, now that this point had been explained, he thought it was a Cunning Trap.
Pooh was very proud when he heard this, and he felt that the Heffalump was as good as caught already.

And the story goes on about how they plan to have a jar of honey in the trap and how Heffalump would smell it, go after it and get caught. Finally Pooh ends up in its own trap!

As I was reading this, given the ‘project risk management’ context that I am always in, I couldn’t help myself but to compare this with our risk management practices. Yes, we talk about different techniques to identify, prioritize, respond and control risks. But are we discounting what we know or are able to see? Are we being too optimistic at the cost of success of the project? Are we thinking that the Heffalump would be looking at the sky to see whether it would rain or when it would clear up and fall into our trap? In spite of all the visible information, is our wishful thinking barring us from acting on those? Are we thinking that things will anyway fall in line with our plan? Are we digging a trap for ourselves?

Now, let’s look at some of the project ‘heffalump traps’…

“Let’s get started with the implementation” says the customer.
“What shall we get started on? We do not know what you want.” Said the Project Manager.
“You know. You have been working on this application for a year now. This is just a further enhancement.”
Now that this has been explained, Project Manager is convinced that they can get started.
The first ‘Heffalump trap’…

“You can do it” was the emphatic statement from the Delivery Manager.
“But we had estimated for six resources, we can not manage with three” says the Project Manager coyly.
“They can pick up. They are the brightest of all.”

Now that this has been explained, Project Manager is convinced that he can manage with three instead of six.
The next ‘Heffalump trap’…

“Get it done by then. We have a major deployment which requires this enhancement.” Customer was insistent.
“But…” The project manager did not get a chance.

Yet another ‘Heffalump trap’… and so on…

We realize that catching a Heffalump is not as easy as it sounds a little late when our teams have worked over weekends, when we have handled couple of escalations, when quality of deliverable is not met, etc, etc…

Is it time to stop digging our own traps? Is it time to act on the information that we already have?