Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies: Understanding Patterns of Project Behavior

36. Cider House Rules

Members of the project team ignore or work around rules made by people who are unconnected to the project’s work.

The Cider House Rules, a novel by John Irving, tells the story of a group of apple pickers who return to an orchard every season to pick apples for making cider. During the weeks they pick apples, the pickers live in the old cider house. Inside it, Olive, the owner, has tacked a typewritten page headed Cider House Rules. One of the new pickers, upon reading it, can hardly fail to notice that most of the rules are being openly flouted. Inquiring about these breaches, he is told by a veteran picker, “Nobody pays ...