Published
In February 2021, The Guardian produced a ranked list of the 100 best tasks from the phenomenally successful TV series Taskmaster. If you have never watched the series, I encourage you to give it a go. Not only is it habit forming but many of the tasks offer a striking analogy for the work of major projects.
Comedians working individually (or occasionally as part of a small team) compete to complete short tasks set them by the Taskmaster, Greg Davies. The tasks whilst short, are often apparently nonsensical although, in many cases, a twisted logic appears during the process of execution. The tasks are most commonly judged on the basis of speed (schedule), achievement or quantity (value) and, intriguingly, many of them include an aesthetic judgement from the Taskmaster (which is sometimes overtly expressed in the requirements of the original Task and sometimes not).
Success, which is where the lessons for those in project delivery are most apparent, often requires:
- skin in the game – those contestants who become emotionally committed to the task will tend to make the greatest effort to succeed. Plus, they are often more highly marked for their efforts by the Taskmaster who recognises and responds in human terms to their emotional commitment;
- fail fast – given the emphasis on speed, in many cases, contestants are required to work out their strategy as they go; experimenting with the resources they have been given for the task, working out and achieving a solution, all as a single process. Those that are the fastest learners and adapters do well;
- rebel thinkers – in an episode which I have recently watched, the contestants were invited to make and then clear up the greatest possible mess within a short time-limit. Four of the contestants, all men, opted to make a physical mess by scattering things around. Katherine Ryan, the only woman contestant for that particular series, went for a completely lateral solution and sought to create and then resolve an emotional mess by ringing up members of her family and telling them wild lies;
- a safe environment – whilst opting out of a task, as an alternative to finishing, will mean you forego the points on offer for the task, contestants may choose to give up, if they believe a task is beyond them;
- ‘beauty’ is a clear measure of success – many of the tasks will include a success measure that involves the Taskmaster’s personal judgement (and some have no tangible metrics beyond the Taskmaster’s own preference). Those contestants who can achieve the task in the most beautiful, comical or spiritual way are more likely to win the task;
- ‘the power of diversity’ – despite being substantially outnumbered by the number of male contestants, female contestants were series champions in seven out of the 13 series that have aired so far.
Escaping the Major Projects Echo Chamber, the Association’s annual conference on the 12th and 13th September, sounds very much like the title of a Taskmaster task. It will be interesting to see what conclusions our delegates reach about the behaviours needed to escape successfully and how many of those will be reflected in my list above?
Which is your favourite Taskmaster episode and why – do share your thought in the comments section below?
More details on the annual conference. Association members are invited to send one member to the conference free of charge. If you’d like to make the case for representing your organisation at the conference, then contact your main Association rep (we can tell you who that is).
Jonathan Norman, Knowledge Manager