Biblical Lessons in Project Planning from Nehemiah
Long ago, before the Project Management Institute developed the PMBOK and the PMP certification, project management was debuting as a career in the Old Testament.
Nehemiah was a Jew in exile serving a Gentile king. Literally serving the king… He was a cup bearer carrying food and drink to Artaxerxes.
But this wasn’t an ordinary waitstaff position. Being a cup bearer meant the king trusted you with his very life. You had to watch everything to ensure no enemies added poison to the food or drink. If you left your post for even a moment, you had to eat and drink a little to ensure there was no poison in the food.
This sacrifice and trust would have given Nehemiah a position of special influence and observation with Artaxerxes. Nehemiah would have known of all the leaders, all the events, and all the politics and intrigues. In this position, Nehemiah would have heard of the exiles returning to Jerusalem and the troubles they faced as a nation rebuilding. (He also had first hand reports from family.)
His heart was so moved that he asked the king for release from his position, as well as the authority from the king to act in his people’s best interests as a leader. His past service moved Artaxerxes to grant his request (Nehemiah 2).
What lessons can we learn from Nehemiah as he led the massive effort to rebuild Jerusalem?
Planning is everything. (Nehemiah 2:11–18)
The first thing Nehemiah did was look at the entire effort. He got outside of the ruin and began investigating the situation from the outside in. He looked at each gate and the connecting walls. He made sure he knew the entire situation before getting started.
Divide and conquer can be a good thing. (Nehemiah 3)
This chapter can be hard to read. All the foreign sounding names can make your eyes glaze. That said, what you see is that the work effort was broken into smaller pieces. Groups or families took responsibility for a small piece. No one group had to worry about the entire project.
Expect resistance. (Nehemiah 2:19, 4:1–3, 6)
Every great project will have those who oppose it. Some out of ignorance, others out of downright maliciousness. Have a plan in response so that your supporters don’t give up.
Encourage your supporters. (Nehemiah 2:20, 4:4–6, 4:11–23, 5:1–12)
Every time Nehemiah’s detractors acted up, it negatively impacted the people who were doing the work. They would get discouraged, overwhelmed, and depressed. They wanted to give up. Nehemiah had to analyze their attitudes, the source of their attitudes, and how to improve their attitudes.
Set a standard. (Nehemiah 8:1–7, 10:28–39)
Whether we like it or not, every group working toward a goal has to have a standard against which to be measured. You need to know how you know you’re done. You also need to know how you know whether you’ve made progress and whether that progress is positive. For the Israelites, those rules were always assumed to be the Torah, the Book of the Law, those first five books of the Old Testament. However, the rules were forgotten over time and sometimes required teaching and review.
Admit failures. (Nehemiah 9)
We’re human. We’ll fall and fail. The people who performed the project labor under Nehemiah had to admit that they were in a bad spot in life because they failed to follow their standards. They also had to reaffirm the positive rules that would lead them to success.
Make course corrections. (Nehemiah 4:1–6, 4:10–13, 5:1–11)
As things change, the plan may need review and change. As problems were reported to Nehemiah, he addressed the issue by making other plans.
Celebrate victorious completion of significant milestones as well as the entire project. (Nehemiah 8:9–12, 12:27–43)
Each time something is finished well, celebrate this victory. Whether it was a completion of rededicating the people or it was a celebration that the walls were rebuilt, the Israelites held a party. It might not be our kind of party, but it was a party nonetheless.
