The Tyranny of Not Picking
Not choosing is one of the biggest problems in organizations.
These sentences are red flags to watch out for:
”All of these things are important and crucial. We must deliver them all."
”We can't set a single goal because we have to work on many things at once."
“Everybody is too busy to help us when we need their help."
The tyranny of not picking is strong.
We’re like a little girl who can’t accept they can’t have all the candy from the candy store because it won’t fit in their bag.
We want to do it all. As a result, all the things we want to do end up cannibalizing each other.
Except we feel that blow much later after all the dust has settled and people forgot how we ended up in this mess.
If you don't decide what to sacrifice, the choice will be made for you.
The question to ask: do you want the power to decide or do you want to leave it up to chance?
Do you want the illusion of progress that a high Work In Progress (WIP) provides, or do you want to make actual progress?
To make matters worse, our brain often works against us. Not making a choice is less scary than the fear of making the wrong choice.
The next time you present those 100 OKRs, please ask yourself: what the hell are we doing?
Why do we keep subjecting ourselves to the tyranny of not picking?
The worst choice, despite being the least scary and making the most people feel good, is to not make a choice at all.
For some reason the bag can always fit less candy than your eyes want.
"Do you want the illusion of progress that a high Work In Progress (WIP) provides, or do you want to make actual progress?" - one of the fundamental things that too often organization get wrong!