Lessons from Hercule Poirot

An Agatha Christie whodunit is a sheer pleasure for anybody who loves mystery stories. It reduces stress appreciably as it leaves you less time to ponder on your present woes and miseries and problems. Be it a cold winter morning or a windy day, a warm summer evening or a rain washed afternoon, you can always recline in your easy-chair or sofa or even sit outside in the porch drinking tea or coffee, or smoking your favorite brand of cigar, and read the exploits of the Belgian detective with his little grey cells, egg shaped head and characteristic mustache. Agatha Christie in one of her books rued the fact (through her another famous character Ariadne Oliver) that once you have put up a character you cannot change the same, as readers who have taken to that character will never accept any change. Therefore Poirot cannot come out of his idiosyncrasies.
What can Poirot, the eccentric Belgian teach us? Of course, apart from his unique ways of detection of solution to a problem, sitting in an armchair and using his little grey cells, rather than sniffing around like an old greyhound!
Poirot emphasizes a vital skill which is absolutely necessary for managers - that of having an order and a method in everything we do. In most of the Poirot stories we see the harping on order and method many times. The order and method is necessary in any scientific pursuit, including management and more so in project management where we apply "methodologies" day in and day out.
Order and Method is a discipline which needs to be instilled like any other discipline and like any discipline it needs practice for perfection. However, once it is fully imbibed, in your profession you can also become a Hercule Poirot, obsessed, but accomplished. Let's try that.