Are You Prepared for a Surprise?
I am like this guy on the Discover Card commercials that hates surprises. At the end (or near the end) of every project, I hate it when we discover a serious miscommunication. And, it happens almost...
View ArticleDo You Have Plenty of Time?
I thought I had plenty of time. It was Saturday morning and I had nearly 5 hours until everything needed to be completed for the event. That seemed like an eternity. In fact, I expected to have...
View ArticleWhich Way Do You Lean?
Do you lean towards being an optimist (everything will work out fine) or a pessimist (something is going to go wrong)? As a person, I prefer being around optimists. As a general rule, they are more...
View ArticleIs More Really Better?
Yesterday, we were running a fun little experiment by timing how long it takes for people to be greeted after they drove onto our church property. One person would start the timer when a car turned...
View ArticleDo You Have Time to Clean Up?
My wife and I started a major project…we are repainting every room in our house. Nothing is going untouched, and most surfaces are getting 3 coats due to a color change. Inevitably, we keep going until...
View ArticleDoes Your Process Cause Panic?
I am struck by the wisdom of this post by Seth Godin. He talks of the loss of efficiency of a system when “panic” is injected: The movement of cars on a highway The interaction with police at a...
View ArticleWhen NOT to Diagnose the Problem
When a project goes sideways, we must always diagnose the root cause. What happened? When did it happen? Why did it happen? What could have been done to prevent it? Who should have acted on the...
View ArticleDo You Force Interruptions?
I’m in a conference in Phoenix, Arizona that I agreed to attend some months ago. As the time approached to pack and travel, I was overcome by regret over the “waste of time” in my schedule. This is a...
View ArticleChain of Command
The “Chain of Command” in an organization is important, but it isn’t always effective. It is useful when rapid fire decisions are needed, because chain of command specifies who makes a decision when...
View Article“I Hate This Project”
A co-worker said that to me yesterday. He was reflecting on a recent project that is nearly across the finish line, and said “In all my years on staff, I hate this project more than anything else I...
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