January 30, 2020

All the wood

Trees

When the project (every project) runs a little (a lot) ragged. When thinks kinda-sorta get done and kinda-sorta don’t. When there’s a decent (big) delta between what you expected and what actually happened (or didn’t). When every day brings new tales of delay, new stories of resource overruns, new accounts of unaccounted issues.

The odds on culprit? People saying Yes without knowing it is true. Making commitments to which they’re only vaguely committed. Seeing and considering the next hour or day, but talking about the next week or month.

The odds on solution? Writing it down. In every meeting, in every email, in every action oriented interaction … write down every commitment and … fit it to the schedule. If it doesn’t fit, call it out. When it competes for time, call it out. When it isn’t clear, call it out.

Skippy strategy: Write down all the trees and all the wood.

Category:
Focus