“Capital isn’t so important in business. Experience isn’t so important. You can get both these things. What is important is ideas. If you have ideas, you have the main asset you need, and there isn’t any limit to what you can do with your business and your life.”
Harvey Firestone
Ideas are important in a business.
Progress, innovation, new programs, new services, remodelling are also important in a business.
Why? There is no such thing as status quo. In other words – the only thing constant in life is change.
And we like that! We like that there are new products, new ideas, new resources.
And sometimes we are absolutely frustrated by the exact same thing.
Think of the last time that you launched something new in your business?
- A new marketing brochure?
- A new program?
- An updated website?
- A new product or product line?
- Added a new position to your team?
- Expanded (or moved) your offices
- Worked on a remodel or renovation?
How did it go?
Chances are, while in the end it may have been a positive move for your business, the process to implement the change was both challenging and costly.
And yet innovation and change are as essential to the health of our business, as breathing is for us.
Without it we stagnate.
So how do we decrease the cost, challenge and frustration associated with any kind of change or innovation?
Believe it or not the secret is actually very simple.
Set the Project Deadline, and the Project Budget and hold true to both. Then scale the project to fit the Deadline and the Budget.
Why is that such a big deal? Because we usually do the exact opposite!
Generally we determine what the project is and focus on accomplishing that.
In the mean time we blow through our budget, and often completely miss the deadline.
The problem is that when we set out to launch something new – something that we haven’t done in the past – we don’t know at the beginning what it will really take to reach it.
We don’t yet have the experience!
And the very action of working towards the outcome opens up new ideas, new experiences and often alters the project.
And then we are back to blowing our budget, missing our deadlines and not yet having something viable for the market.
The answer is to flip what you are focusing on, and what you track.
- Determine the outcome you want to accomplish
- Identify the time frame you think it will take and set the Deadline
- Create a Budget for the project
- Manage the Project so that it is On Time and On Budget, and Scale the Outcome to the Deadline and Budget
The next question I often get asked is “Won’t I be missing the point, or the opportunity, if I don’t produce the original intended outcome?”
My answer to that is “No!”
When you launch something new, expect that it will take several repetitions (or rehearsals) to reach your desired Outcome.
With that approach you will get your new ideas out into the market faster, get feedback faster, and will accelerate how quickly you turn an idea into tangible results.
That’s it! The simple secret is to put your focus onto having your projects be On Time, On Budget, Scale your Outcome and allow for a next time.
Where projects do you think you can apply this to right now?
