Why There Are Pet Projects

A pet project is an effort that has captured organizational resources beyond the levels that correspond to its degree of organizational support. Usually we associate pet projects with specific individuals — those with some means of allocating resources to the project. In the metaphor, these individuals are "nurturing" or "keeping" their pets.

What motivates nurturers of pet projects? Here are some possibilities.

Ambition

Some nurturers adopt or conceive pet projects because they believe success will aid them in competition with peers for recognition, promotion and organizational prominence. They want to get ahead.

Identification

Nurturers sometimes identify with their pets. Those who do identify make a direct connection between project travails and personal travails; between project failure and personal failure; and between project success and personal success.

Corruption

Some pet projects confer benefits on parties other than their nurturers, such as customers or suppliers. For instance, the pet project might lead to dramatically increased sales for a particular supplier if the project is adopted and expanded by the organization. The nurturers of these projects sometimes make arrangements with these beneficiaries to kick back some of those benefits to the nurturer, possibly in hidden and potentially illegal or unethical ways.

Infatuation

Some nurturers find their pet projects so fascinating that they take great risks just to have the opportunity to pursue them. They're hooked.

Differentiation

Nurturers Attaching oneself to someone's
pet project can be a risky
career movesometimes seek to differentiate themselves from colleagues in incontestable ways. They hope that their pet projects will demonstrate their personally unique capabilities, vision or insight.

Evidence-seeking

Involved in debates long ago, having had their own positions rejected, some nurturers pursue pet projects almost single-mindedly to prove the rightness of their past claims. This pursuit can endure even after those who opposed the nurturers have left the organization.

Since all of these motives are primarily personal, the focus of the nurturer's attention is also mostly personal. Attaching oneself to the pet projects of these nurturers can therefore be a risky career move, because the nurturer and anyone affiliated with the project can be reassigned, stigmatized or worse, when the organization discovers the project.

But there is one additional motivation that does create true opportunities both for the organization and its people. Some nurturers have a vision for what could be that transcends the present state of things. Unfortunately, from their position in the organization, they've so far been unable to persuade the organization of the importance of the vision. They might lack the skills of influence, or their genius might be so advanced that the organization simply cannot grasp the concept. For these nurturers, a pet project is the best available alternative.

Working for, collaborating with, supervising, or aiding these visionaries can be both stimulating and rewarding. The trick is identifying them.

Next time we'll explore how nurturers find resources for their pet projects.  Next in this series  Top    Next Issue

Are your projects always (or almost always) late and over budget? Are your project teams plagued by turnover, burnout, and high defect rates? Turn your culture around. Read 52 Tips for Leaders of Project-Oriented Organizations, filled with tips and techniques for organizational leaders. Order Now!

Your comments are welcome

About Point Lookout

Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful, and that you'll consider recommending it to a friend.

Point Lookout is a free weekly email newsletter. Browse the archive of past issues. Subscribe for free.

Support Point Lookout by joining the Friends of Point Lookout, as an individual or as an organization.

Do you face a complex interpersonal situation? Send it in, anonymously if you like, and I'll give you my two cents.

Related articles

More articles on Workplace Politics:

The Costs of Threats

Threatening as a way of influencing others might work in the short term. But a pattern of using threats to gain compliance has long-term effects that can undermine your own efforts, corrode your relationships, and create an atmosphere of fear.

Animosity Patterns

Animosity between two people at work is often attributed to "personality clashes." While sometimes people can't get along, animosity can also be a tool for accomplishing strictly political ends. Here's a short catalog of some of its uses.

How to Stop Being Overworked: II

Although many of us are overloaded as a result of our own choices, some are overloaded by abusive supervisors. If you find yourself in that situation, what can you do?

Pariah Professions: I

In some organizations entire professions are held in low regard. Their members become pariahs to some people in the rest of the organization. When these conditions prevail, organizational performance suffers.

The Perils of Novel Argument

When people use novel or sophisticated arguments to influence others, the people they're trying to influence are sometimes subject to cognitive biases triggered by the nature of the argument. This puts them at a disadvantage relative to the influencer. How does this happen?

See also Workplace Politics and Managing Your Boss for more related articles.

Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout

Coming May 25: On Reporting Noncompliance

Regulating compliance with process design in organizations requires monitoring process usage. Typically, process monitors depend on reports by process participants. In blame-oriented cultures, fear of retribution can limit what these reports contain. Available here and by RSS on May 25.

And on June 1: Mental Accounting and Technical Debt

In many organizations, technical debt has resisted efforts to control it. We've made important technical advances, but full control might require applying some results of the behavioral economics community, including a concept they call mental accounting. Available here and by RSS on June 1.

Coaching services

I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates. Contact Rick for details at rbrenEQuetChPjwYBDxmgner@ChacxXTxBssoFmfDfMugoCanyon.com or (650) 787-6475, or toll-free in the continental US at (866) 378-5470.

Get the ebook!

Past issues of Point Lookout are available in six ebooks:

• Get 2001-2 in Geese Don't Land on Twigs (PDF, )
• Get 2003-4 in Why Dogs Wag (PDF, )
• Get 2005-6 in Loopy Things We Do (PDF, )
• Get 2007-8 in Things We Believe That Maybe Aren't So True (PDF, )
• Get 2009-10 in The Questions Not Asked (PDF, )
• Get all of the first twelve years (2001-2012) in The Collected Issues of Point Lookout (PDF, )

Are you a writer, editor or publisher on deadline? Are you looking for an article that will get people talking and get compliments flying your way? You can have 500-1000 words in your inbox in one hour. License any article from this Web site. More info

Public seminars

The Power Affect: How We Express Our Personal Power

Many people who possess real organizational power have a characteristic demeanor. It's the way they project their presence. I call this the power affect. Some people — call them power pretenders — adopt the power affect well before they attain significant organizational power. Unfortunately for their colleagues, and for their organizations, power pretenders can attain organizational power out of proportion to their merit or abilities. Understanding the power affect is therefore important for anyone who aims to attain power, or anyone who works with power pretenders. Read more about this program.

• A recording of a program presented June 29, 2017, Monthly Webinar, sponsored by Technobility Webinar Series. PMI members can earn 1.0 Category 'A' PDU by viewing this program. View this program now.
   
• A recording of a program presented June 29, 2017, Monthly Webinar, sponsored by Technobility Webinar Series. PMI members can earn 1.0 Category 'A' PDU by viewing this program. View this program now.
   

Bullet Points: Mastery or Madness?

Decision makers in modern organizations commonly demand briefings in the form of bullet points or a series of series of bullet points. But this form of presentation has limited value for complex decisions. We need something more. We actually need to think. Briefers who combine the bullet-point format with a variety of persuasion techniques can mislead decision makers, guiding them into making poor decisions. Read more about this program.

• A recording of a program presented June 24, 2020, Monthly Webinar, sponsored by Technobility Webinar Series. PMI members can earn 1.0 Category 'A' PDU by viewing this program. View this program now.
   
• A recording of a program presented June 24, 2020, Monthly Webinar, sponsored by Technobility Webinar Series. PMI members can earn 1.0 Category 'A' PDU by viewing this program. View this program now.