Check or Checkmate - doing things with the end in mind

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the terminology taken from one of the greatest board games of all times, Chess, basically:-

Check - to directly attack the enemy King.
Checkmate - same as above, except there is no escape. In other words, GAME OVER.

In the game of chess, the only way to win the game is to Checkmate the other player's King. It doesn't matter if you have more pieces remaining, or if you cumulatively say "check" more times than your entire restaurant-going life.

Before this gets too abstract to non-chess players, let's bring back the analogy to our everyday life. Suppose an important job, task or project is like a chess game, where each move you make represents your steps or activities. Likewise, each move your "opponent" makes is a challenge or problem that gets in the way of success. Actually, even doing "nothing" is an obstacle, which can lead to delay of a project (if you've done any project management work, you'd know that the cost of delay can sometimes rack up big bucks and earn the wrath of the stakeholders).

Now, in an ideal world, there would be all the resources and time in the world to explore each and every possible action (even if the action has absolutely no contribution towards the actual goal). In an ideal world. In other words, not in the REAL world....

In the real world, time is limited (remember the schedule or deadline that they ask for BEFORE you actually start working on something?). Every action that needs to be taken takes time and money. And again, budget is limited. To work on something (at least now in the 21st century), some humans need to work on it. The number of people in the team are limited. Therefore, just like if you ended up shipwrecked on a deserted island with two matchsticks and a can of tune, you will have to make the best of the given situation with the limited resources that you have in hand.

Particularly susceptible to "defocusing" are:-

1. The Clueless - these are the people who haven't the faintest idea what to do, and don't know how to go about finding out what to do first. Those who swear by carpet-bombing or "one policy to suit everyone" usually fall into this category - just fire away and hope for the best! When you're lost, consider getting help from the team, or someone with more experience. That's what teams are for - the whole is greater than the sum of its' parts!

2. The Perfectionist - getting things done is never enough. It's getting things done perfectly that matters the most to these guys. Often guilty are those who take great pains and pride in writing flawless reports and those who "reverse-engineer" simple projects so that they conform to some pre-defined project management template (Six Sigma, APQP). Sometimes, if you're working on a product, and won't release it to market until it is perfect, you will end up never releasing the product at all.

3. The Paranoid - the strange nature of things is that every new solution that comes up will give rise to several new problems. Another reason to keep things short and simple. Just to illustrate, putting more electronics into cars these days seem to give rise to more car problems that before when cars were more mechanical than electronic gizmos.... :) Just like a chess player that sees a couple of possible moves ahead (again, sorry to those who don't play chess), the paranoid guy will put in great effort to solve problems that arise as the result of solutions that have not been implemented yet (got that?). There is a difference between accounting for something that may indeed happen (like putting in more life boats on the Titanic) and spending time to safeguard against something that would probably happen only when all nine planets are in alignment (or maybe in the latest Michael Bay movie).

4. The R&D guy - ironically, those who really like to learn new things are the ones who are guilty of this sin of scope creep. As the saying somewhat goes, there is never a wrong way of doing something, you are just getting a different result from expected. The R&D guy would really like to map out, for every input(s) what are the output(s). At times, the learning potential from a given situation may overshadow the actual desired outcome itself (excuse is, unused results will surely come in handy someday).

Remember that in the end, the end result is what really matters. It doesn't mean doing things the long, hard way won't yield the same results - it just wastes precious limited resources that are better spent on other projects.

Hence, at the start of any project, the important thing is to define a S.M.A.R.T. goal (that's Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely). If a goal is missing one of the five S.M.A.R.T. attributes, the goal will be ambiguous and open to free interpretation (which can lead to scope creep, misunderstandings and disputes). Once the end result or desired outcome is clear, map out the required steps that will systematically lead the project closer to completion. For each step, ask, how will this step contribute towards the overall goal. What if we skip this step, can we still accomplish our goal? If the answers give a clear indication, don't hesitate to redeploy your resources accordingly.

With each step, especially when doing evaluations, or feasibility studies, the outcome of a particular step may yield some useful insight that may change the course of previously defined steps, or even the entire remains of the project! If such a turning point has appeared, immediately take action to re-plan the project, in light of recent developments. This flexibility is essential to respond to the dynamic nature of things (in my years of project management, seldom does a project plan execute exactly as per its first draft!).

This simple agreement can be applied not only to managing epic project of gargantuan proportions, but to mundane, everyday tasks, such as:-

1. Driving to a particular destination. You don't just get into your car and drive. Essentially, plan the route that you're going to take, if other short trips on the way can be combined, and be prepared to reroute on the fly if there's a nasty traffic jam or road closure.

2. Shopping. Unless you're looking for an excuse to spend your hard earned income, before you go shopping, always make a list of what you plan to buy. This will curb "impulse buying" which will result in a large inventory of less-used items (a nicer description of items which you use less!). You'd be amazed how much time can be saved if you have an organized shopping list (especially nice in places where they charge parking by the hour). Of course, a back-up plan in case something you want to buy is out of stock.

3. Career. To get a job or get a better job, you should plan where it is exactly you want to be heading. Realistically (remember the R in S.M.A.R.T.). Knowing where you want to be would help you plan the steps that need to be taken to get there. Of course, don't forget that there is the Circle of Concern, and the Circle of Influence (that you should focus on, because the rest outside is really beyond your control). So, you want to get to a higher level but all posts are filled, don't focus on something you can't influence (you can't make the people there disappear so you can get promoted). Instead, you can source for an opportunity elsewhere. If you need to build up experience in a certain field, say, Safety, then plan to involve in Safety-related activities, accident-investigations, first aid training. In such a scenario, going for training on ESD or Six Sigma would not be contributing to the end as initially envisioned.

Well, enough said on the subject matter, which I first heard from my ex-boss a couple of years ago. Sounded simple, but then again, life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated (quote from Confucius)!