Speed Can Be Dangerous

Driving too fast can lead to mistakes, it causes accidents, can be deadly, and at a minimum excessive speed breaks the rules and can lead to ticketing or perhaps the loss of a license.  You have a better chance of reaching your destination successfully at an appropriate speed (and ofcourse without talking or texting on your phone!) 

One of the trends I have noticed over the years I have been delivering project management training is that more and more the focus in the private sector seems to be almost exclusively on the SPEED of delivery.  Some of the comments I hear are "We don't have time to plan, we have a schedule to meet."  "Spend time on team building, impossible, we have deadlines to meet."  "You don't understand, there is no time for that, meeting the schedule is our focus."  "Quality, does anyone do that anymore? Our management only seems to focus on the schedule." 

Now don't get me wrong...meeting a schedule is important, but have we forgotten about quality and meeting customer expectations?  Yes, timeliness is one of their expectations, but getting a quality product that meets specifications is also imperative if we are to keep our customers satisfied and coming back for more.  And no one keeps us in business like our customers :-)

No time to plan?  Really?  If there is no time to plan then where will you find the time when your product fails either before or after it reaches the customer.  If it fails before it reaches the customer it will take rework to bring the product into specifications or perhaps the product will be scrapped and a total loss.  If the product reaches the customer and then fails the consequences are even more significant.  The need for so many Call Centers is a direct result of poor quality which often is a by-product of poor planning.  Call centers and customer service reps are required to take customer complaints and provide support for products that have failed!  (No time to plan...hurry to meet an unrealistic schedule pulled out of the air...and now excessive costs to run our call centers...oh yeah, we saved money because we outsourced them overseas somewhere.)  Then there are recalls, loss of business, and loss of reputation.   And reputation as we all know is everything.  Without a favorable or exceptional reputation companies don't stay in business for long.  "Fail to plan and plan to fail." 

Planning does take time, absolutely.  But proper planning is not time wasted, it is essential to avoid the pitfalls and dangers associated with only focusing on the speed of delivery.  Meeting schedules are important but creating unrealistic schedules without planning time built in will eventually be fatal.  A successful project requires attention to cost, schedule, scope, quality, and risks. 

And...successful projects are only delivered by productive, high performing teams where people communicate and plan effectively.  Building a successful team requires time to establish trust and rapport so the team will not get stuck in "storming."  No time for team building?  Then plan to spend excessive time managing conflict!  How are your conflict resolution skills?  If meeting a schedule is truly important to you, then I suggest taking time to build a team that will move quickly through "storming" to "high performing."  Team building is time well spent and not wasted time; it is essential to meet a schedule, realistic or unrealistic.

I will tell you what wasted time is...it is focusing only on the schedule; "the need for speed."  In the haste to move quickly without regard to planning and building a team where people trust each other and communicate openly, honestly, and work together effectively, there will be mistakes.  There will be errors, there will be rework, there will be scrap, there will be waste, there will be frustration and conflict, and ultimately it will take more time!