Substitute Fast Learning for Brilliant Planning
May 12th, 2003 by HalI keep hearing people say, "We spend too much time in meetings." The complainers often have a good point. Project meetings are often poorly run and don't result in action. On the other hand, there are people who complain about all meetings. Jeffrey Pfeffer, co-author of The Knowing-Doing Gap writes Don't Believe the Hype About Strategy in the May issue of Business 2.0.
Pfeffer argues that we spend too much time talking about what we will do and not enough time (and intention) on doing it. While the article is about strategy, he could have been talking about project management.
Talking replaces action, planning replaces learning by doing.
For a company to stay ahead of its competition, it must do things that others cannot easily copy.
What is difficult to copy…is the way a company implements and executes proficiently. Anyone can talk about…delivering software that actually works. But few organizations can really make good on such promises.
Pfeffer finishes the article encouraging readers
(I)nstead of sitting in meetings and producing fancy PowerPoint demonstrations, develop your strategy by using your company's best thinking at the time, learning, refining, and trying again. Under almost all conditions, fast learners are going to outperform even the most brilliant planners.
Projects are always about "implementing and executing." Let's substitute some fast learning on our projects for some brilliant planning.
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May 15th, 2003 at 4:09 am
I think there’s a predisposition for brilliant planning in our managing commonsense. Pfeffer’s advice moves us away from the today’s sensibility towards the practicality of more are smarter than one and the world is uncertain. Let’s try giving learning an emphasis for awhile.
BTW, if you haven’t yet read Purple Cow you owe it to yourself to do so. I reread it on my flight to the Future of Coaching conference. Seth’s distinction on ‘remarkability’ applies equally well to project teams and leadership as it does to marketing.