“The truth is more important than the facts.”
Frank Lloyd Wright
It may not be a very well know quote by Frank Lloyd Wright, but it is one that has had a profound impact on me in my project management career. You see, facts can simply be symptoms of a larger problem. Capture all the facts you can and you can theorize on a resolution all you want. You may think you know the answer but it may not always be so.
Take the following scenario for instance. I’m paraphrasing on a story I read years ago, but it get’s the point across I’m trying to make.
A plant manager notices a janitor mopping water from the same spot on the floor every day for about a week. One afternoon, the manager asks the janitor where the water is coming from. The janitor points overhead at a pipe that is leaking.
The plant manager assigns a welder to mend the leaking pipe. The weld immediately resolved the problem. However, about a week later the leak persisted. The problem was not solved based solely on the fact that the pipe was leaking.
