Making Jaws

Lessons in Agility for Financial Institutions

In July of 1974, a 27-year-old Steven Spielberg was sure his career was over. Armed with an unfinished script, a sinking shark, and a film crew ready to film ocean footage for the first time ever, a young and ambitious producer set out to bring Peter Benchley’s bestselling novel, Jaws, to life.

The rest, as they say, is history. Spielberg has since been forgiven for going over budget and over schedule; likely because the film’s $470 million in global returns was more than enough to justify the $9 million in costs. And certainly, Spielberg’s creative genius and touch for suspense drove this masterpiece of a story. But perhaps the production team also tapped into a workstyle that best allowed for a creative genius to shine.

How is the making of Jaws similar to Agile Project Management and what lessons can be learned from the chaotic workstyle on the Jaws set from 45 years ago?

When beginning a project, traditional project management methods call for thorough system design and preparation. Whether it was youthful ignorance or creative genius, Spielberg began filming Jawswith a completely unfinished script.

Carl Gottlieb, brought in for the rewrite, was often rewriting the script and finishing scenes late into the evening to be ready for filming the next day. Other writers and actors were brought in to assist, with stories of actors themselves contributing and improvising key lines. “We’re gonna need a bigger boat”, arguably the most famous line in the movie, was written on the spot by the actor, Roy Schneider.

Great leaders and managers utilize the value of a team’s brainpower. With a flat system of organized chaos, leaders can empower employees, foster critical thinking, and fuel engagement. This structure, or rather lack of structure, stimulates adaptability and sparks collaboration. Perhaps counterintuitively, this environment also creates more individual accountability as team members are empowered to make informed and data-backed decisions without elevating to higher management.

With a flat system of organized chaos, leaders can empower employees, foster critical thinking, and fuel engagement.

Non-software project management methods require perfect scripting of the finished product at kickoff. After all, in manufacturing and construction style projects emerging from the Industrial Age, one could not put up drywall without framing the house. However, the Jawsproduction team’s assignment and the challenges of today’s age are different.

“I remember being on the set for the first shark test, and it simply sank”, said producer David Brown. “Everything that could go wrong with the shark, went wrong.” Often, projects run into great adversity. Thankfully, this team’s leadership allowed for adaptability.

Traditional Waterfall project management prevents returning to a previous phase as challenges arise; therefore, the only way to revisit a phase is to start the entire process over from the beginning. Agile project management welcomes change, and backlogs leave room for unexpected tasks and adjustments. Such a structure allows team members to focus time and energy on matters vital to creating value for the project and the achievement of a final goal.

Traditional project management requires a certain amount of handholding and preparation before launching a new business or product. Part of Spielberg’s genius was his perfectionism and determination to “shoot the film in the Atlantic Ocean not the North Hollywood Tank”.

Nothing about this process was easy. Previously, film had not been shot in the ocean due to the effects of Mother Nature, and the limited capability of film equipment in the 1970s. Among other problems, the mechanical shark actually deteriorated in the saltwater. It was best described by one cast member saying, “most of the hydraulic valves on the shark were powered by electric solenoids… when they dumped it in the water, everything fried”.

In order to achieve maximum success, businesses and products must be tested in the ocean, not the North Hollywood Tank. There is truly no substitute for the live feedback and discovery that takes place in the real environment. Rooted in the core of Agile is flexibility, adaptability, and an iterative approach to the development processes during live releases.

‘In order to achieve maximum success, businesses and products must be tested in the ocean, not the North Hollywood Tank’

Although ‘shooting in the ocean’ may prove extremely complicated and require multiple adaptations and iterations, it ultimately provides for great dividends in the final product. Businesses and products receive vital feedback in an iterative environment that requires developers to craft toward perfection.

The Jawsproduction stage was an environment of chaos and adaptability, which ultimately produced a masterpiece. Such an environment resembles Agile project management, an iterative approach to business and a best practice in today’s Age of Technology. The main benefit of Agile is the ability to respond and adapt to issues in real-time.

Financial institutions can learn a lot from the Agile project management approach. Much like Spielberg creating Jaws, banks and insurers do not need to specifically adopt an Agile framework. Rather, “operating with agility” can become a framework for both projects and overall daily management of an institution. Specifically:

• creating  institutional vision for empowered employees
• building culture that embraces and learns from failure, and
• operating in a real-world environment as soon as possible

will enable firms to become more agile. Through such agility the next decade’s leading financial institutions will emerge, ultimately delivering the highest shareholder value.