Reversing Up a One-Way Street

Occasionally, I get a flash of inspiration — this last week, when I read Thomas L. Friedman’s “Thank You For Being Late”, I had a “hey — that’s how I make key decisions” moment.

Many people I have worked with are late to meetings because they are too busy. They need to be more focused at the meeting and make the space required to make an effective decision. They seem “proud” of their busyness, as if it’s a sign of their importance — I think it’s just ineffective delegation.

I have to admit my response is often to throw “petrol on the fire” by asking them to imagine doubling their departments as there is no limit to the potential responsibilities of any individual other than how that individual prioritises what is essential and delegates what should be delegated.

Engineers often get busy trying to do a project backwards — developing a product without understanding what a customer needs. My mantra is “communicate, communicate, and communicate” with actual or potential end users because psychic engineering is too hard.

It’s like reversing up a one-way street; you are pointed in the right direction but going the wrong way and will never reach your destination.

The “customer” in question can be your colleagues whose infrastructure you plan to change or team members trying to do their jobs in a customer’s business. I have encountered instances where a customer’s management made decisions on requirements because the users were too busy to be interrupted — requiring a lot of rework at deployment time, and all sides learned a valuable lesson.

Stop, think, and examine where you are going and what you are doing. This is a better way to get to your destination. I just wanted to let you know that it works for me.

I watched The Shawshank Redemption again this week, and the quote “Get busy living, or get busy dying” seems apposite. We can quickly be institutionalised by busyness.

It seems a shame to waste the one life we have in this way, methinks.