{"id":17004,"date":"2019-11-02T12:21:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-02T10:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pmdoc.ua\/two-genres-two-ideologies\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T09:49:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T07:49:13","slug":"two-genres-two-ideologies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pmdoc.ua\/en\/two-genres-two-ideologies\/","title":{"rendered":"Two genres, two ideologies…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two genres, two ideologies, two completely different worlds describe the same thing \u2013 the psychology of project management<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Among the very old films about project management<\/a>, I have two favorites – The Chairman<\/strong> (1964) and Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House<\/strong> (1948). I am deliberately posting them in one post to balance the ideological perception. I recommend watching both films consecutively. Dedicate 4 hours on the weekend and watch it all at once.<\/p>\n

The Chairman<\/h2>\n

The first film is The Chairman<\/strong> (1964, USSR), a drama. The objective<\/strong> of the project<\/strong> depicted in the film is to revive the collective farm and, in turn, the war-ravaged village – wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Chairman_(1964_film)<\/a>.\"The<\/p>\n

After the end of World War II, soldier Yegor Trubnikov returns to his native village to restore the ruined collective farm facilities. He finds no resources or money<\/strong>. The workers, mostly women, have lost their husbands in the war or due to migration for work. The village is marked by post-war devastation and appalling poverty.<\/p>\n

Amid these challenging conditions, Trubnikov, upon becoming chairman, assumes the heavy responsibility<\/strong> for not only the collective farm but also the destiny of the people and the restoration of normal life in his village.<\/p>\n

Monologues, dialogues, and scenes of general meetings<\/strong> play a decisive role in the film.<\/p>\n

For the front-line soldier, life and work in the post-war period are as challenging as at the front, if not more. In war, he faced a clear enemy with defined targets (goals) and solutions. In a peaceful life, he had to “fight” on several “fronts” (what I appreciate most about this film is the stakeholder management<\/strong><\/em>). To change the traditional way of life and raise the collective farm, Trubnikov takes decisive measures to his fellow villagers. Regarding his superiors, he resorts to guile, even deception, which for him was a lie necessary to save the overall goal of the project<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House<\/h2>\n

The second film is Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House<\/strong> (1948, USA), a comedy. The project’s goal, as the name suggests, is to build a house for the family – wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mr._Blandings_Builds_His_Dream_House<\/a>.\"Mr.<\/p>\n

Project Management<\/strong> here is depicted based on the principle of “what not to do<\/em>,” and there are many lessons to learn from the film’s characters. Everything related to a classic construction project is featured – geological, legal, and weather issues, unexpectedly large consequences of small changes in plans, failed communications with contractors, problems with supplies and coordination, and, of course, the “infinite” budget increase.<\/p>\n

Before watching, bear in mind one recommendation<\/strong> – tune in to the humor of mid-20th century. For a warm-up, you might want to pre-watch something featuring Charlie Chaplin to stretch your smile back half a centur<\/em>y 🙂<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two completely different worlds describe the same thing \u2013 the psychology of project management.
\nAmong the very old films about project management, I have two favorites – The Chairman (1964, USSR) and Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948, USA).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[361],"tags":[743],"class_list":["post-17004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-video","tag-cinemahall"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmdoc.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmdoc.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmdoc.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmdoc.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmdoc.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17004"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pmdoc.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22254,"href":"https:\/\/pmdoc.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17004\/revisions\/22254"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmdoc.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmdoc.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmdoc.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmdoc.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}