Finding the Human Story in a Cultural of Secrecy

In this chapter, the author reflects on the challenges he had collecting participants’ stories about their work on projects mostly in the tech sector. The participants shared stories from their experiences in organizational cultures where project secrecy is paramount. The author recounts several experiences he had during his time at a qualitative research camp in Norway and how those events gave him a framework and different perspective in conversations intended to draw out detailed narratives with a setting that is rooted in an environment of confidentiality. To be clear, the subject and details of these narratives were not about proprietary or confidential information. The narratives captured more general stories of human interaction and working with people on a project who operated in different roles and time frames. But, the challenge remained of drawing these stories out from people who are conditioned to be reticent to discuss their work. In the end, the author lays out how he was able to bring the conversation around to the stories that the participants naturally wanted to tell and keep just enough of the technical details to correctly frame the context of their stories.