Urgency Towards Action #

The calm pursuit of moving aggressively towards tangible solutions while maintaining a high standard for quality. This is not about rushing the work just to get it out the door in hopes no one notices. A high degree of autonomy, and implicitly high trust, provided by the context in which one operated and personal agency at an individual level is required.

If one has a viable solution for the problem at hand but it is not sure that it will work, one should discuss with a trusted colleague on helping to find unaddressed issues. A viable solution that can be put in front of the customers in two days is better than a perfect solution in the next two months as it will allow for faster iterations with actual feedback from the customers and avoid building in the dark in hopes that we are building the right thing.

When the solution to the problem is clear and works because there is a track record of success then one has to implement that solution and move the project forward. It should be implemented with as little oversight as required and work can begin as soon as one can make time for it.

At times there will be some dead times in between when work can happen or in between meetings, it is best to use this time to solve those little bothering things that one never seems to have time for but would appreciate if those things were no longer present and it doesn’t have to be hands on work related but anything around you. It can be cleaning your desk, changing a piece of code, rewriting some internal process to make it clearer, etc; if one pays close attention, the list can become very large, very quick. Any voluntary action is good as long as it is not about waiting for time to pass.

To have urgency towards action is to have the resolution to see things through from start to finish. Having many open ended projects going on will negatively impact one performance because working towards and never achieving a finish line makes the work seem endless and no matter how much effort goes in it seems to never be enough. If this is not addressed in a timely manner the performance will worsen because of lack of motivation which leads to even worse performance which leads to even less motivation.

Working products and services in the hands of the customers is the end goal and should be pursued with all the energy and capabilities at our disposal. Dead time hinders performance by dialing down the intensity with which we perform our actions which results in extra effort when we need to get back to performance level.