I always wonder this when watching a sports game, and basketball is my favourite at the moment. You see both the players and the coaches arguing with referees... I can't stop thinking: what's the point? I have never seen a positive outcome of these arguments and I just don't understand why they're wasting everyone's time and disrupting the game, not to mention the lack of respect those arguments are showing for the referees. This article sheds some light on why those arguments happen so often (entertainment, adrenaline, players following the coaches etc.)
Interestingly, we often engage in similar fruitless, time-wasting discussions not only in our personal but also our professional life, including project management. Think about all those "challenging" stakeholders you have had on your projects and the number of times you've been involved in pro-longed debates, often heated, that were just pointless.
So, next time such situation arises, think about that basketball game. Is it worth my/my teams' time and effort or shall I just take a deep breath and look for alternative ways to resolve the situation. This is what I have been doing for a while now and it seems to work. We gain some perspective on things when we take time out (this time a useful strategy sourced from a basketball game!), and allow ourselves to re-think what's best for the project and plan our next conversation with that in mind.
Going to see another basketball game with my son next weekend so will look out for some more similarities with the project world. Stay tuned!
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