So, I kept bumping into the name Adam Lange a while back. People were talking, you know, forums, maybe a couple of colleagues mentioned him. Sounded like he had some really solid ideas, especially about organizing project workflows, making things smoother. Seemed logical on paper, the way he laid it out.
I was running a small team then, things were a bit messy, deadlines felt tight. We were looking for something, anything really, to get a better grip. So, I thought, let’s give this Adam Lange approach a real shot. Got the team together, explained the basics as I understood them. We decided to try it on the next small project kickoff.
Getting Started with Lange’s Ideas
Okay, so we started. First few days were all about setting up according to his principles. Lots of specific ways to document things, structure meetings, report progress. Honestly, it felt a bit heavy upfront. We spent a good chunk of time just figuring out the ‘Lange way’ instead of diving straight into the actual work. I remember thinking, “This better pay off.”
- Tried setting up the board exactly as he suggested.
- Followed the meeting formats to the letter.
- Used the reporting template he provided.
It wasn’t exactly smooth sailing. Some of the steps felt… artificial? Like they didn’t quite fit how we actually worked or the kind of problems we were solving. My guys were patient, but I could see some eye-rolling starting, especially during the reporting part. It seemed like we were generating paperwork more than progress sometimes.
Where Things Got Rough
The real trouble started maybe two weeks in. The rigid structure, which was supposed to help, actually started slowing us down. Quick questions turned into scheduled discussions. Simple updates needed specific formats. We hit a couple of unexpected snags in the project – happens all the time, right? But trying to handle them within the ‘Lange framework’ felt like wading through mud. It wasn’t flexible enough for the real world, at least not our real world.
We missed a minor deadline. Not the end of the world, but it was the first time in a while. And the reason felt directly tied to the overhead of the new system. Team morale dipped a bit. We spent more time talking about how we weren’t following the Lange process correctly than actually fixing the project issues.
Figuring It Out
That was the turning point. I pulled the team together, and we had a frank chat. What worked? What was just getting in the way? Turns out, not much of the rigid stuff was helping. Some liked the clearer documentation idea, but hated the meeting constraints.
So, we did what any practical team does. We chucked the rulebook. We kept a couple of ideas loosely inspired by Lange – mainly around making notes clearer – but we went back to our more flexible, maybe messier, but definitely faster way of working. We adapted. We took the bits that made sense for us and ditched the rest.
The project got back on track pretty quickly after that. It was a good lesson. Sometimes these popular methods sound amazing, but you gotta test them against your own reality. Reading about it is one thing, actually doing it day in, day out with your specific team and problems? Totally different ballgame. Adam Lange might be great for some, but his exact blueprint wasn’t for us. And that’s okay. You learn more from trying and tweaking than from following blindly.
