Sometimes things go wrong.
There are things in life you can control, and many that you can’t. In other words, sh*t happens.
When a project fails, do you know why? It’s a beautiful dream. Unfortunately, dealing with humans is complex. You rarely know what your audience are actually thinking, and outcomes are always subject to luck. There are no clear rules to the way people work together; success or failure has an endless number of possibilities that might effect an outcome. It’s worth looking up Infinite Games.
(Yes, I know Simon Sinek also wrote a book about it.)
The good news: this also means that when a project goes well, it might be down to luck. Not your great solution. And you might never know.
So we’re all doomed?
Hey there, not quite. Let’s consult one of the best in the business…
Decisions are bets on the future, and they aren’t right or wrong based on whether they turn out well on any particular iteration. An unwanted result doesn’t make our decision wrong if we thought about the alternatives and probabilities in advance and allocated our resources accordingly.
Annie Duke, Thinking in Bets
Failure, even if you don’t know the exact reason, might still have been the best option for you. Go back an re-read the last sentence of that quote. Appropriate planning & risk reduction can still end in failure. But it was still the best choice you could make. It was a bet.
Betting? Yes, we’re betting on the future. And that’s where consistency comes into play. (Also, prioritisation, but that’s for the next blog.) Professional gamblers, investors and successful CEOs all have this same thing in common: a consistent approach.
Spotting systematic errors
Consistency gives you the opportunity to know that when things go wrong, you can compare it other projects for a better comparison. Did you do everything you’d planned to in advance? How did that compare to the last time? What was different?
Not only does a consistent process help you compare outcomes better, it will also give you a spotlight on systematic errors. Systematic errors are the big ones. Like not defining the problem & success measures before going to production. If you do that every time, I’m hoping you’ll notice.
So, I’m trusting that you can design a solid design process with your team and stakeholders. And then the important thing is to apply it consistently. Not only will you get a much clearer picture of opportunities to improve, there are other huge benefits to a consistent process:
Your team can see what good looks like. In my experience, one of the best ways to help people develop is to show them examples of awesome work. Show the best, expect the best, support people to do their best. (Remember clear goals from blog 3?)
You can test things to see what might or might not work. More on that below.
And don’t forget how much something like a playbook will simplify customer education. I know I said we’re in an infinite game earlier. But you can bring some clarity and give your stakeholders a few rules. That way, repeat customers become more and more helpful.
Make your process your backbone
A consistent design process also plays a critical role in creative quality. Your backbone holds the whole body. And it is flexible. It gives humans the ability to amazing things. Your process needs to be consistent and flexible. Imagine if your process held up the quality of your whole team, and was deliberately malleable at certain points, giving your team permission to make smart choices & open extraordinary results.
Clarity, structure, and freedom. How about that for a paradox?
Agreed ways of working frees up your thinking; both time & brain capacity. More space, more inputs, more playing.
You’ll be able to spot the repetitive, low value activities that you can automate. And similarly see where projects will need additional support, or create tools that give your team prompts & help when they need it most.
Consistent. But flexible.
Reduce, Remove, Recycle
Going back to your process is an opportunity to do an end-to-end review and redesign. This might be a form of masochism for some - it can be torture to really investigate how you work. It will reap rewards.
Seeing your process from start to finish with every step highlighted is a sobering exercise. All you Lean Six Sigma & Digital Transformation experts will know how powerful it is. When you can see it, you can question, challenge & reform it. You can remove anything that doesn’t add value to what you’re trying to do.
A bit of effort upfront - and then you’ll be able to remove activities. Or replace them. And be confident that what you’re doing is aligned to what you’re trying to achieve.
I promise you that you will be able to simplify your process. That means adding the same value by doing less. Or even adding more value, yet with more time and resource.
End-to-end process mapping. It’s worth it. Simplification is the greatest innovation, and this is my favourite way to do it with teams. Plus, the output is a newly designed process that you can communicate across the business and apply consistently.
Don’t expect overnight success. Be patient. Be consistent. Repeats, review, refresh will lead to improvements and exponential gain on your investment.