This musical metaphor I think goes further:

• For example, with a hip-hop tune, it is very difficult to know if the wrong tune is being played or even if the words aren't the right ones because you aren't sure what they are supposed to be. That doesn't mean someone very familiar with the tune can't hear if something is wrong. But this equates to the only ones knowing if something is wrong, being the ones who are intimately familiar with all aspects of the project. Perhaps only a few of the project team.

• Singing the chorus could represent the things you do often in a project such as risk management, schedule management, cost reviews and so on. It's an interesting concept having a "chorus" in a project. A chorus is the part of a song everyone gets to know and bashes it out with gusto when it comes. From my memory, it is also the part "everyone" sings. So why can't there be a "chorus" in a project. For example, there are aspects of project management that are the responsibility of everyone in that project. The management of the schedule, cost, quality and risk are four that come to mind. These aren't the responsibility of a few. These are the responsibility of all and should be sung regularly throughout the life of a project.

• So how might we interpret the role of the conductor or lead band member in a group? I am quite sure I am not the first to illustrate a parallel, but I see him/her as perhaps the project manager. They don't play the instruments, nor are they singers. But they do try to get everything coordinated so that the music and lyrics come together to make it a song - a melody. I guess the real purpose is to make sure the entire band/orchestra/choir successfully negotiates the music and lyrics to make it something that people would listen to. So a project manager is there to make sure all the pieces of the project come together into a harmonious whole.

Looking at it another way, perhaps the way project management is currently explained is very "decomposed" and separated into elements with few if any connecting points. So when someone is learning project management, they can understand the separate concepts but it is difficult to "join the dots" and come to grips with the various combinations of concepts they need to bring together to make it work. To make that sense, they really need to see the "flow" or "weave" of concepts and understand that if they pull "Lever X", then "Lever Y" will also be moved and that may be detrimental to what they are trying to achieve. Or to carry on the musical metaphor - if the percussion section is too loud then the wind instruments won't come through and the melody is lost.

Not being able to see this flow or weave and not being taught it, has a detrimental effect on their ability to project manage and dare I say it - to "know a project".