“Why are you working so hard? We will never finish this on time.” Imagine this being said in the voice of the famed cartoon character Droopy. Projects often require intense effort. As projects are temporary by their nature, most project team members have other responsibilities on top of their project duties. If the project manager is apathetic toward the project, why would the team members be motivated to complete it?

The Apathy Machine also tends to expand at a rapid rate. This attitude is spread much as a designer creates a tie-dyed shirt. They put the shirt on a platform, spin it quickly, and then spill paint in the center and let it flow very quickly to the outside. When the core of the team is apathetic, this spreads very quickly to the outside team members, essentially causing the project to fail before it has a chance to succeed.