May, 2026 | Contributed by Dærick Gröss

Another Unpopular Opinion...

Over the course of my career in the professional world of delivery and execution, I've found there is a greater tendency to focus on the process and structure of things, putting less concern on the people doing the work. This, to me, is problematic and the kind of environment I have worked hard to influence and redirect to something more balanced. Below I want to share an anecdote to illustrate the power of the Human Element and the benefit of focusing on supporting the people and teams that drive the work, empowering them while still providing guidance and parameters to work within.

Following rigid process without trust, empowerment, or flexibility will hamper your team's ability to make decisions on the fly and act nimbly, and over time will erode the team's drive and morale. This is true regardless of whether you're building software, shipping physical product, or interacting directly with customers. I have largely worked in corporate project delivery, but the example below is a strong parallel from the customer service perspective. The output was challenged and late, leaving room for dissatisfaction with the entire process, and yet was salvaged by positive interactions with professionals who knew how to reset expectations and show genuine empathy and understanding.

A few weeks ago, my wife and I took our young children on a cross-country Amtrak excursion from Los Angeles to Chicago, then catching another train to Indianapolis. It was a roughly two-and-a-half day trip each way, so already you might imagine how there might be lots of opportunities for things to, let's say, not be optimal. While a good bit of the trip was nice, overall we experienced several things that were unpleasant and made the trip rather arduous at times. We kept telling ourselves that we were providing the kids with an experience and this is an adventure... the kind of things you tell yourself when you just want to get through a moment and be done with it already.

Yet I found as the trip wore on that all the things that were bugging me mattered less and less as the staff tended to us, handled everything within their power (and slightly beyond at times), and did so with a genuine concern for our comfort and a desire to see us want to come back again. What we saw was not just "professionalism", we were serviced by people who truly enjoyed what they do, clearly felt empowered in their role, and went beyond what they had to do and instead did what was needed to provide everyone a great experience. They wanted to see everyone delighted, and it showed.

I want to thank Melonie, our car attendant on the Cardinal line, and Early, our Red Cap at Los Angeles' Union Station. Moreso than everyone else who was part of this journey, these two individuals stand out as examples of how focusing on your team as individual people ends up reflecting on how they approach their work and the people they interact with.

To be clear, having protocols, frameworks, systems, and methodologies is very important and foundational to being a Project professional. Yet it is equally important and incumbent upon us as project leaders to not lose sight of the element that really makes the difference: people.