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October 27, 2005
Outcome thinking rocks!
Love it when we get this kind of feedback. Simple as it is, just training ourselves to think about what the outcomes we are working toward really are - really - is something that doesn't necessarily show up by itself... [This is from my insurance agent - great guy, runs the Carroll Insurance Group in Westlake, CA.]
David - As we have discussed in the past, so much of what you teach goes beyond productivity and GTD. Here's a true life example: Earlier this year, I was working on a new business launch with a team of people that were all new to me. We were discussing a critical aspect of the project that I thought we all understood. At the end of the meeting, almost as an after thought, I asked "So, how will we know that we've accomplished our goals? What will this look like when we're done?" They replied "Well, we'll know we're successful because we'll have X, Y, and Z in place". The only problem was, I thought that the project required A, B, and C. Turns out that, after two hours of conversation about the same project, we were operating under entirely different assumptions. It took us another hour, but everyone finally got on the same page. The point is, had I not asked this key DavidCo question, we would have had a major trainwreck that could have severely impacted the launch of the company. Thanks David! - Patrick Carroll
Posted by David at October 27, 2005 07:23 PM
Comments
I believe that this is critical to success of any project, not just having the right Next Actions, but instead having the correct intent on Outcome (especially in a team environment)! Steve Pavalina takes this a step beyond the Next Actions (the causes and effects) to the level of the Decision which is the first 'Next Action' in any project!!! This is a very interesting read: Intention Manifesto
Posted by: Tim B at October 28, 2005 07:53 AM
That?s the problem with knowledge work: your workbench is basically inside your head where only you can see it. We all try to get a fix on what?s in the other guy?s head, but if his conversation is not clear, we start to make assumptions ? and often we don?t notice ourselves making those assumptions.
Much better to get the goal out in the physical world where we can all see it and agree on it, and then go ?back inside? to make sure our intentions are leading towards that target.
Posted by: Dave at October 29, 2005 08:45 AM