Olivia: For every one hundred dollars a company spends on a project, they lose thirteen dollars and fifty cents. That's not a rounding error; it's a global average from the Project Management Institute. Jackson: Hold on, thirteen and a half percent just… vanishes? On every project? That's insane. Where does it all go? Bad investments? Giant, spectacular failures? Olivia: That's what everyone thinks. But the real reason is much smaller, much more personal, and it’s probably happening at your desk right now. It’s not the giant, billion-dollar projects that are the biggest problem. It’s you. And me. Jackson: Whoa, okay. I feel personally attacked, but I'm also intrigued. What book is making such a bold accusation? Olivia: It’s the central idea in Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager by Kory Kogon, Suzette Blakemore, and James Wood. And what's fascinating is that the authors all come from FranklinCovey, the productivity and leadership giant, and they openly admit they were “unofficial” project managers themselves. They wrote this book because they saw this massive, hidden problem everywhere. Jackson: So they're not pointing fingers from an ivory tower. They've been in the trenches. Okay, so if it's not the big, flashy projects failing, where is all that money, and my sanity, disappearing to?

Olivia: It disappears into what the book calls 'Small P' projects. The authors tell this incredible story about a director at one of their client companies. The company had overspent its project budget by two and a half million dollars in one year. Jackson: Two and a half million! Okay, that’s a 'Big P' problem for sure. Someone messed up a huge initiative. Olivia: That’s what the director thought. He looked at all the major, formal projects—the 'Big P' projects with official managers and oversight—and they were all fine. The bleeding wasn't coming from one big wound; it was death by a thousand cuts. The real problem was the countless 'Small P' projects. Jackson: What’s a 'Small P' project? Olivia: It’s the “Hey, can you just…” tasks. "Can you just organize the company retreat?" "Can you just whip up a brochure for the trade show?" "Can you just put together a report on this?" They're the projects that fly under the radar, assigned to people who aren't official project managers. They’re assigned to us. Jackson: Oh man, I know those. The 'Small P' projects are the ones that spiral. They start as a simple request and suddenly you’re coordinating with five departments, the budget is a mystery, and everyone has a different idea of what 'done' looks like. Olivia: Exactly. And that chaos, multiplied across an entire organization, adds up to millions of dollars in wasted time, rework, and missed deadlines. The book argues that in today's world of knowledge work, almost everyone is an unofficial project manager. We spend huge chunks of our day leading these 'Small P' projects without any of the training or tools. We’re just expected to figure it out. Jackson: And we usually don't, which is why we're all so stressed and projects fail. But is there a way to succeed without getting a PhD in Gantt charts? I mean, some people must get it right. Olivia: Absolutely. And the key isn't in the charts; it's in the leadership. The book shares a fantastic story about the marketing guru Seth Godin from early in his career. He was put in charge of a project at a struggling company with a team of three helpers who were completely uncommitted. Jackson: That sounds like a recipe for disaster. What did he do? Threaten them? Bribe them with pizza? Olivia: Something much simpler and more powerful. He started a little newsletter. In it, he just highlighted the work each person on his tiny team was doing. He didn't praise it extravagantly; he just made their contributions visible. And he sent that newsletter to everyone in the company. Jackson: Just a newsletter? Come on, how could that possibly work? Olivia: Within a month, six engineers from other departments asked to join his team. A little while later, twenty more defected to his project. Soon, he had thirty people working around the clock, not because they were told to, but because they wanted to. They felt seen, they understood the mission, and they wanted to be part of it. They ended up shipping products that saved the company. Jackson: Wow. All from making people's work visible. He didn't have any formal authority over those engineers, did he? Olivia: None at all. He had what the book calls 'informal authority.' He earned their commitment by showing respect and creating a sense of shared purpose. And that's the perfect bridge to the book's core solution. The reason most 'Small P' projects fail is because we only focus on the task. Godin succeeded because he understood the secret formula.

Jackson: Okay, I'm ready for the secret formula. Lay it on me. Olivia: It's beautifully simple: PEOPLE + PROCESS = SUCCESS. Most of us, especially when we're stressed, default to focusing only on the 'Process' side. We think, "What are the steps? What's the deadline?" We forget the 'People' part entirely. Jackson: That sounds familiar. It’s all about the to-do list, not the to-doers. Olivia: Precisely. The authors describe this exercise they run in their workshops. They ask a room full of professionals to move to one side of the room if they identify more with the 'People' side of work, and the other side if they identify with 'Process.' Jackson: I can picture it now. A stampede to the 'Process' side, with maybe two lonely HR folks on the 'People' side. Olivia: You're not far off! The 'Process' people were a much larger group, adamantly declaring, "When all else fails, return to the process!" But then a senior leader from the small 'People' group had this 'aha' moment. He stood up and said, "Well, it won’t matter how good your process is if you can’t engage a group of good people to run it." Jackson: That’s a mic drop moment. It seems so obvious when you say it, but we forget it constantly. So how do we actually do both? What does the 'People' part and the 'Process' part look like for an unofficial manager? Olivia: Let's start with 'People.' The book says this is about earning that informal authority, like Seth Godin did. And you do that through Four Foundational Behaviors. They are: Demonstrate Respect, Listen First, Clarify Expectations, and Practice Accountability. Jackson: Okay, those sound good, but they can also sound like corporate fluff. How do they work in reality? Olivia: Let's take 'Clarify Expectations.' The book uses this perfect, simple story. One of the authors, Kory, asks her colleague Liam to grab her an apple from the lunch line. He comes back with a small, green, unripe apple. She's disappointed; she was picturing a big, juicy, Red Delicious apple. They both had a picture in their head for the word "apple," but they never clarified it. Jackson: I have had that exact conversation, but about a coffee order. It’s a small thing, but when the project is a multi-million dollar initiative, those different pictures of an "apple" can be catastrophic. Olivia: That's the point. A project is just a series of conversations and agreements. Mastering the 'People' side means ensuring everyone has the same picture in their head. Now for the 'Process' side. This is what usually intimidates people. They imagine complex software and endless meetings. Jackson: Right. The five-year plan for a two-week task. Olivia: The book demystifies it completely. It argues that every project, no matter how small, intuitively goes through five phases: Initiate, Plan, Execute, Monitor and Control, and Close. To make it feel simple, they use the example of getting something printed at a local copy shop. Jackson: Printing a flyer? How is that a project? Olivia: Think about it. You walk in. That’s Initiate—you state your goal. The clerk asks you questions: "How many copies? What kind of paper? Color or black and white?" That’s Plan. They're clarifying expectations and creating a scope. Then the machine operator prints it—that’s Execute. The clerk checks a few copies to make sure the quality is good—that’s Monitor and Control. Finally, you sign off and pay the bill. That’s Close. Jackson: Huh. So that five-step process isn't some rigid, corporate mandate. It's the natural, logical flow of getting literally anything done. From a lost-dog flyer to launching a rocket. Olivia: Exactly. The book’s genius is in showing that you don't need to become a certified expert to manage projects. You just need to be more intentional about the two things you're already doing: interacting with people and following a logical sequence of steps.

Jackson: So when you put it all together, the message isn't really "learn project management." It's more like, "stop pretending you're not a project manager." Acknowledge that all these 'Small P' tasks are real projects and give them a tiny bit of intentional structure. Olivia: That's it perfectly. It's not about adopting a whole new, complicated identity. It's about applying a simple, dual-focused mindset. On the one hand, you have the 'People' skills—asking clarifying questions, listening, showing respect. On the other, you have that simple five-step 'Process' in the back of your mind as a guide. Jackson: And that combination is what stops the chaos. It prevents the 'apple' misunderstanding, it keeps the 'Small P' projects from spiraling, and ultimately, it's what saves that thirteen dollars and fifty cents on every hundred spent. Olivia: Precisely. The book's true power is that it redefines 'project management' not as a niche, technical skill, but as a fundamental leadership competency for the 21st century. It’s about managing things, but leading people. And in a world of constant 'Small P' projects, that's the only way to get things done without burning out yourself and your team. Jackson: That feels incredibly empowering. So, a challenge for everyone listening: pick one 'Small P' project this week—that thing your boss asked you to "just handle." Before you do anything, just practice one of the Foundational Behaviors. Ask one clarifying question: "Just so I'm sure, what does a successful outcome for this look like to you?" Olivia: I love that. That single question can prevent so much pain down the road. We'd love to hear how it goes. Find us on our socials and share your own 'Small P' project horror stories, or even your successes. What's the simplest thing you've done that made a project go smoothly? Jackson: This has been fantastic, Olivia. A great reminder that the biggest problems often have the simplest, most human solutions. Olivia: This is Aibrary, signing off.