Charlotte's Web: Some Terrific, Radiant, Humble PRojecT!

No one’s ever asked me to name my favorite film about Project Management. (Shocker!) But if anyone ever did, here’s my answer: the 1973 adaptation of Charlotte’s Web, based on the novel by E.B. White.

Yeah. Sure. I’m biased. It was my favorite movie as a kid and I’ve never stopped loving it. But hear me out.

Wilbur the Pig is faced with imminent slaughter, destined to lead the rest of his existence as sausage meat. Charlotte, his tireless arachnoid companion, weaves a series of pithy messages into her web to persuade impressionable humans into sparing Wilbur’s life. Every animal on the farm ultimately joins the initiative, helping Charlotte with messaging, strategy, and content.

So yes: this is a story about a marketing campaign. It’s also a stirring example of a perfectly structured, perfectly executed project.

For starters, it has a clear deliverable: a living pig.

It has an equally clear timeline: the end of summer.

It has clear milestones: the four advertising slogans that Charlotte stitches into her web in the course of the film’s runtime, which I’ve not-so-cleverly referenced in the title of this blog article.

And it has the perfect project manager: Charlotte herself.

Instead of trying to draft all of the advertising copy herself, she loops in the other animals, pooling the collective wisdom of the farm.

At the same time, she knows when to rely on her own instincts and processes. At one point, a heated debate erupts between a sheep and a goose over the spelling of a key piece of marketing copy. Rather than trying to force a compromise, Charlotte says simply, “Thanks. I’ll spell it my way.”

She can be compassionate and empathetic, and she excels at assuring the key stakeholder (Wilbur) that the plan will succeed.

She knows how to foster a sense of personal investment in the project, incentivizing the farm rat to work harder by reminding him that his feeding schedule is dependent on Wilbur’s food trough.

And she knows when to be a hard-ass, unequivocally shooting down the self-same rat when he suggests “Crunchy” as the next marketing slogan.

So there you have it.

Project Managers: be like Charlotte.

Everyone else: go watch the movie. It’s truly a classic.