Wolfe's Lessons In Project Management

“My name is Winston Wolfe. I solve problems.”

This is how “The Wolf”, as he is simply nicknamed, introduces himself the first time we see his face in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. Read how a Hollywood character demonstrates some of the fundamentals of project management in just a few minutes.

For those who forgot, this part of the story is about two mobsters accidentally shooting someone in the head in the car, making an incredible mess (lots of blood and brains on the seats and windows), and panicking. They drive into the garage of a friend’s nearby house, but they need get out very soon before Bonnie, the wife comes home from a hospital night shift. (Hence this part is titled “The Bonnie Situation”.)

(For a reminder, I recommend to first search YouTube for "The Bonnie Situation", then for "The Wolf".)

“You sendin’ the Wolf?” – The reputation of reliability

Jules (Samuel L. Jackson), one of the guys in trouble, calls Marcellus (Ving Rhames), the mob boss, asking for help. This is how the conversation ends:

There are some important lessons to be learnt here.

First, asking for help is sometimes necessary. You must be able to recognize when you can't solve the problem yourself, and must be willing to call the boss and admit it.

Second, see how Jules reacts to the news that The Wolf is being assigned to the job. Are you the person who is always assigned to the s**t job that has already been seriously messed up by someone else? Good news, you are the guy with the reputation of The Wolf. It may be time for asking for a raise.

Understand the problem, define the stakeholders, make the commitment

So the mob boss makes a call to The Wolf (Harvey Keitel).

First of all, think about how many times you see co-workers show up in meetings without having a notebook in front of them. This is very annoying, because the message they seem to give is that they are here to say clever things but not to actually capture new information or take on any responsibility.

The Wolf is not one of those guys. His job is to record the facts and go away with a responsibility to do something about them. In this part, he clearly records the problem as seen by top management, in other words, identifies sponsor expectations. Then, he finishes by making a clear commitment, allowing the boss to know that this issue is now being taken care of.

The analysis phase

The Wolf arrives to the project site earlier than promised.

This part is very important because it teaches us that whatever you heard from top management must be double checked with the people on the ground. So many times top management has a less than satisfactory understanding of the real situation, so before making an action plan, The Wolf makes sure that his information is correct.

Avoid surprises

What is least expected from a project manager is the surprise. Marcellus hates surprises. The most anoying thing that can happen to a project is when one day it looks full green, and suddenly it turns out to be a catastrophe overnight. In most cases, this happens because “s**t, we did not expect this thing could ever happen“.

The Wolf is expecting it to happen. He builds a comprehensive risk log. He goes one by one and prepares the team for every possible eventuality that may jeopardize the project.

Make a project plan, assign tasks and responsibilities unambiguously

Watch carefully what is happening here. The Wolf, in just a few sentences, defines exactly what needs to be done by whom, defines what tools to use. He also managed his own expectations up front before assigning the tasks. 

Knowing there is no time for a perfect clean-up, defined what is really important, what is less important. He made sure people are very clear on what the real priorities are.

Equally importantly, he also defines the required quality and how it will be measured (by a potential police officer, in this case). This is what so many supervisors fail to specify up front, and then later get surprised they do not get the output they wanted.

Establish your authority

The project manager is the boss of everyone assigned to the project. Often this is not taken seriously enough, especially in organizations where project members have other, more permanent reporting lines.

The Wolf knows he must break this perception and will not shy away from conflict to establish his authority. If people do not follow his instructions, or work on “other stuff coming from line management“, the project is doomed.

Know when to delegate and when to do it yourself

Notice that The Wolf drives the trouble car himself. You have been made manager of the project team because you are supposed to be the most experienced person for the role. There are always some important parts of the job that you do not want to delegate to anyone less experienced. So roll up your sleeves and get deeply involved in the riskiest part of the job yourself.