Strategies for the Workplace

Running Out the Clock

This sports metaphor refers to the practice of shifting to low-risk, defensive, and time-consuming activities as a tactic to preserve a desirable position until the window of opportunity to unsettle matters passes. Basically, the goal is to keep what you have until the chance of losing it is over. In sports, a team that is ahead might slow the pace of play or assume a defensive posture to hold on to the lead until the game is over. Regarding personal or corporate conduct, it may be prudent to do little while exposed and wait for a better time to act boldly.

Project Scheduling

Project scheduling is a rich field, but in a nutshell: projects consist of activities that consume resources and have associated costs. An activity can be almost anything, although typically, someone does something. Resources are often people’s labor, though they can also be machines, facilities, etc. The start of one activity may depend on the completion of one or more other activities. Given that everything can’t happen at once, a project winds up being a succession of activities that consume time, resources, and money.

Communicating a Decision

Should you need to announce a decision to a team or organization, you have several options:
Tell each person individually, in private.
Tell everyone at the same time.
Tell some people, charging them to tell others.
Tell only those who need to know.
The point is not which method is best or that this is an exhaustive list. The point is to have a method and be transparent and consistent (as appropriate) about how communications are made.

Thinking About new Tasks

Analyze every task before proceeding.  If you have no choice, at least you know what you might be getting into.  If you have a choice, the analysis may lead you to embrace or avoid the work.
 

How to Decide

“I’d rather have spent more than I needed to than less than I should have.”
While this advice may seem self-evident and trivial, the point is to pause and evaluate risk rather than simply agree that risk exists and then dismiss adverse events as unlikely and therefore immaterial.  It never hurts to ask yourself, “What could possibly go wrong?”, to inform a decision.  Decision over-optimism is not good, and neither is decision paralysis.

Forecasting from Historical Data

Determine whether you might benefit from historical data and can gather it or whether you have a novel situation where historical data has no bearing on a forecast.

Standards and a Network Effect

By adopting a standard, each party, gains access to the other parties — no need to incur a customization cost for each integration.  As the network grows, competition reigns, innovation is rewarded, and efficiency is maximized.

Single Point of Failure

Recognize that single points of failure and other concentrated risk can exist and to mitigate them through redundancy, distributing authority, and so on.

Statistics Can Mislead

Approach others’ statistics with a degree of skepticism and try to understand what is being reported, and perhaps why it is being stated a particular way.  Similarly, consider how you should report your statistics.

Orchestration

As an exercise, before you are about to send an email, consult a thesaurus and throw in a few synonyms.  Substitute a few less-common words for ordinary ones.