Playing projects: Identifying flow in the ‘lived experience’

• A music-based research method was used to reveal the ‘lived experience’ of projects.
• Participants improvised their experience of project managing on a xylophone.
• Project managing is characterised by ‘ups and downs’ and intense emotions.
• A tension between challenge and capability creates ‘flow’ for PMs.
• Pushing the boundaries of capability is fundamental to what a project is.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the ‘lived experience’ of projects discourse. The research study uses an arts-based research method (musical improvisation on a xylophone and/or glockenspiel) to access the participant's perception of their experience of managing a project. Participants are then asked to explain their improvisation and therefore their experience. Key findings were that participants described their ‘lived experience’ of project managing as having ‘ups and downs’, including challenges and issues, and as experiencing variations in emotions over the project lifecycle. Csikszentmihalyi's flow theory is used to show that these ‘lived experience’ findings support a Heideggerian paradigm and personal perspective of what a project is. Projectness is not a characteristic of the activity itself. A project is a personal phenomenon defined in terms of the relationship between the individual or organisation and activity. It is dependent on capability versus the challenge presented by the activity.

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