What are you doing? Lots of stuff, right?

It’s easy to be seduced by action – doing all the whats of what we’re doing.

Image copyright: annnna

It feels good to be busy. It feels good to do stuff without thinking. To feel wanted. To roll along. To do.

So nice in fact that sometimes we get into things just because we can, or always have, or someone says please.

For one day only, see what happens if you ask yourself and your team, why?

1. It brings the what into focus
2. It defines success
3. We’re likely to be more motivated when we know why it matters
4. It releases creativity – for alternatives whats that get to the why better
5. It creates options and helps prioritise
6. A clear common cause aligns resources
7. Decisions are faster and firmer
8. It can save a lot of work – particularly if there is no why and you can stop, or not start

No getting away with “because I have to” or “you told me to” — to get the benefit you have to go deeper than that. Visit the why-stuff-happened world of root cause analysis to work out why stuff should happen.

The 5 Whys Method.

Legend has it that Sakichi Toyada, founder of Toyota Motor Corporation, invented and systematised the 5 whys method for engineers looking for the seat of a given problem, although anyone who’s been a kid knows that asking a bunch of whys is the way we’ve always learned. You can use his method to determine the future, not just analyse the past. Just ask why (about) five times.

I’m about to drive to Cambridge to attend a conference (the possible action)

• Why? – I need to connect with some people in our market (first why)
• Why? – To find some potential pilot sites for our next product (second why)
• Why? – We like to do live testing before we do any marketing (third why)
• Why? – We’re obsessed with quality (fourth why)
• Why? – The golden rule; treat others as you’d like to be treated. We don’t want to sell anything that hasn’t proved its worth in the real world and we know is up to the job (fifth why, root cause)

So going to Cambridge is the tactic that will fulfil some personal goals and further the strategy and values of the company. If the answer to number 2 was, “I always go, they expect me there”, I’d save myself an awfully long drive.

Whenever you need to commit resources, better know why.

Neatly filed under Leading,Managing
Tags: planning, resources, values

What happens when the slow controls the quick? Sometimes the quick gets stuck.

Bre Pettis and Kio Stark may have the antidote.

Cult of Done Manifesto

1. There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion.
2. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.
3. There is no editing stage.
4. Pretending you know what you’re doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you’re doing even if you don’t and do it.
5. Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.
6. The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.
7. Once you’re done you can throw it away.
8. Laugh at perfection. It’s boring and keeps you from being done.
9. People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right.
10. Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.
11. Destruction is a variant of done.
12. If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done.
13. Done is the engine of more.

Which was quickly transformed into this poster by James Provost.

Which all reminds me of something by Yoda said ….

There is no try. There is do, or not do.

It’s too easy to get stuck. Instead … get done.

Neatly filed under Innovating,Keeping Promises,Managing
Tags: build, motivation, planning, start

Thomas J Watson Jr succeeded his father as chief executive of IBM in 1952. His leadership was something of a success. IBM experienced around 30% compound growth, year on year, for the entire 20 years that he was in the job. Amongst his projects he oversaw the System/360 project, an initiative Fortune magazine called a “$5 billion Gamble.”

This isn’t intended as a second instalment in a series on the history of computing, any more than Don’t Waiver was yesterday, but as an introduction to running a business based on beliefs. How did Watson pull off $5 billion gambles? Page 5 of his 1963 book, from which this post takes its title, gives a clue:

I firmly believe that any organization, in order to survive and achieve success, must have a sound set of beliefs on which it premises all its policies and actions.

Next, I believe that the most important single factor in corporate success is faithful adherence to those beliefs.

And finally, I believe that if any organization is to meet the challenges of a changing world, it must be prepared to change everything about itself except those beliefs as it moves through corporate life.

In other words, the basic philosophy, spirit, and drive of an organization have far more to do with its relative achievements than do technological or economic resources, organizational structure, innovation, and timing. All these things weigh heavily in success. But they are, I think, transcended by how strongly the people in the organization believe in its basic precepts and how faithfully they carry them out.

Watson’s sound set of beliefs formed the deepest of IBMs layers, providing the foundation for everything that happened at IBM under his watch.

I just searched Amazon for “business books” and found 156,947 results. One of them is Watsons, (which you can find here) – recommended reading for anyone in the pursuit of skippiness.
Photo credit – US Department of State, via Wikipaedia.

Neatly filed under Foundations,Purpose
Tags: beliefs, IBM, planning, Purpose, values

We’ve been incubating a fantasy in my house for the past few months.

Ice cream entrepreneurs

Let’s open an ice cream shoe; somewhere in Brighton, in a few years time.

My kids are 11 and 13 so, along with their friends, represent an obvious supply of willing labour – but not yet. For now it’s fun to play with the idea, and it means we have an excuse to put in lots of very important research, testing flavours and never walking by. Best job I ever had!

It may be a fantasy but it highlights some of the man traps that often catch entrepreneurs.

• Don Quixote – an impossible dream?
• You have an idea, but innovation happens in the market – is there a need, will anybody care?
• Ok, so they care, are they prepared to pay for it?
• Does anyone know what you’re up to?
• How do we get there and where is there anyway?
• What was I supposed to be doing again?

Going down the list, it’s entirely possible that we’re tilting at windmills – it’ll never happen and it’s just a good excuse to experiment with outlandish flavours. Lot’s of people waste a lot of time and money dreaming about starting their own thing – very few get out of the drive. Assuming that’s not us, that we’ll get off our collective arse, what about the the other risks?

Is there a market? Another idea my daughter has is elbow rests – something that would swing out from under the table so she could rest her elbows without someone telling her giving her a hard time. It may be a good idea but I imagine the market is limited to one eleven year old, I could be wrong. The simple answer here is to ask. Ask your market. Do they want it?

Yes? Ok. Do they want it so much that they’re prepared to take money out of their pocket and put it into yours? Sadly, just asking this question may not give a reliable result. Sometimes you have to try it out for real. Test sell.

Get past that stage and it’s time to make the product. In order to sell it you have to tell people about it which is why ice cream vans play that jangly music. It’s no good sitting around waiting for the ‘phone to ring, marketing is the thing.

It’s around this time that the day-to-day can make you lose sight of where you’re going. The problems might be in product development, too many sales, too few sales, too many specials. None of which should be a problem for our little shop – but guaranteed they’ll be an endless stream of daily demands that blur the horizon. Keep to the plan.

The final risk is the worst. We set out to make the best ice cream in the world so how come we now spend 87% of our time sorting out muffins, coffee, biscuits, sandwiches, cheese and those little pots of marmalade made by your best friend’s aunt? Stay focused.

There’s a lot more to running a successful business – these are the biggest risks that I see from my side of the table. Assuming we can steer our way through, what will our little shop be like? Best inspiration so far is Amy’s in Austin, Texas (which you can find here).

Now that’s ice cream!

Neatly filed under Focus
Tags: ice cream, marketing, planning