I had to laugh at this quote, and I have to tell you a secret.
” Fun is one of the most important – and underrated – ingredients in any successful venture. If you’re not having fun, then it’s probably time to call it quits and try something else ” Richard Branson
On more than one occasion, I had introduced “The FunOMeter”(pronounced like “thermometer”) a LEAN tool obviously ;P, to capture how much “fun” teams were having after each iteration or phase of a project. Much like the game show “Whose line is it anyways”, the scale was made up and the rankings were arbitrary.
Needless to say, once I introduced the tool -steady increases in the FunOMeter were observed. After the lessons learned or retrospective was done, I would ask everyone for their FunOMeter score and then proceeded to plot it visually over time. We’d sit back and stare at it for a few seconds, sometimes in silence, sometimes giggling and sometimes there were shaking heads.
The FunOMeter wasn’t THE fun, but it did have a profound effect on the teams – it opened the door to conversations, to people feeling comfortable, happy, heard, seen, and to gaining psychological safety with one another, which built month over month and kept the momentum going. We never disclosed the FunOMeter to any of the other departments or teams, it was just our little secret. The most shocking day was when I was having a low energy day, yet the biggest opponent to the FunOMeter, asked excitedly at the end of a meeting, “What, No FunOMeter today!?! I’m ready with my score”. lol
In the field of project management, there are certain ingredients that are critical for success, but they aren’t always tangible. They aren’t prescribed in a body of knowledge or outlined in Tools, Procedures or Processes, but they do infact seal the deal on making a great endeavor a great success.
NOTE: Eventually fun declined, as layoffs loomed, however I’d call that a leading indicator.
What’s YOUR FunOMeter score today?
Illuminira Consulting, LLC 