Being cognitive of the...

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Ok so your probably wondering two things.

1. What relationship does the pygmalion effect have with the Project Performance Index
2. What is the pygmalion effect.

Well according to the book titled "The Knowing-Doing Gap"; by Jeffrey Pfeffef and Robert I. Sutton, it is the power of the self-fulfilling prophecy on performance.

I belive that the pygmalion effect is one of many factors to consider when developing a good measurement set. Another is the Hawthorne effect (you influence what you measure). The pygmalion effect tells us that project performance will be influenced merely because we believe that it will, and visa versa.

So if this is the case, then why go to all the bother to develop and track a measurement system? Hmmm.. the answer is because nobody will want to trust and/or act on faith alone. However that shouldn't preclude you from using this effect to your advantage.

So my advice is to tell everyone how great adding a measurement system to projects will be, and how much better projects will perform once they start getting measured... trust me..