I’m sitting at home, watching these big fat flakes of snow fall, waiting for a call. We’re currently a 1 car household, the other car having just transformed into the world’s largest paperweight in the parking lot of Wegmans. We’ll head back to meet the tow truck driver when he calls to say he’s on the way.

This morning, the forecast said to expect 5-8” of snow. Now it says only 3-5” of snow.

This morning, we had 2 functional cars.

Life is change. It’s an adventure that we can influence, but rarely ever truly control.

As I opened my laptop just now, my browser was open to a conversation in a Project Manager group on LinkedIn about dealing with unauthorized change. The responses are generally insisting that unauthorized changes don’t happen in a properly managed project. That clients present a Scope Change Request, or they go through the Change Control Board, whatever that is. Or to stop all work until the change is authorized, and to punish the offenders swiftly.

The stark contrast between the rampant idealism in this conversation and the reality of projects is stunning.

What a disservice to our peers, to our teams, to our management – to pretend that our influence in the realm of controlling all aspects of a project is complete. We’re not managers. We’re shepherds. We guide, we influence, we provide direction. We attempt to clear the path, to avoid obstacles. But we’re not really in control.

Change is coming.

So is the tow truck. We hope.