Hi – Been pondering the posting on Broken Window theory a little while back that came out in a discussion on labelers (by the way, a whole chapter is devoted to Broken Window theory in The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell – excellent, thought-provoking book).
Here is the post...
Anonymous wrote:
Here is another reason why the labeler might be important.
The Broken Window Theory
http://www.artima.com/intv/fixit2.html
Forgot to login
- Chariot.... (you can read the whole thread at http://www.davidco.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1325&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15)
The gist of it is that once things get a little bit out of control, then it they easily can slip into being VERY out of control because people get the message that you aren’t paying attention.
I’ve noticed this with projects….if they go past a milestone date by a day or go over budget just a little bit, then the attitude of the people involved can become: “we are late anyway, so why try keeping this on time” and then it becomes a project that gets very behind. I know some companies have a philosophy that no matter what, you have to stay profitable because as soon as you are in the red $1, then people adopt the attitude “we aren’t making money, so bother watching costs, etc.”
This isn’t strict GTD, but I know there are some great project managers out there. Do any of you have ideas out there on how to “containerize” small problems like that – put the proverbial “crime scene” tape around it. …so if something is running a day late, it just stays a day late rather than getting further and further behind. I’d love your thoughts.
Here is the post...
Anonymous wrote:
Here is another reason why the labeler might be important.
The Broken Window Theory
http://www.artima.com/intv/fixit2.html
Forgot to login
- Chariot.... (you can read the whole thread at http://www.davidco.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1325&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15)
The gist of it is that once things get a little bit out of control, then it they easily can slip into being VERY out of control because people get the message that you aren’t paying attention.
I’ve noticed this with projects….if they go past a milestone date by a day or go over budget just a little bit, then the attitude of the people involved can become: “we are late anyway, so why try keeping this on time” and then it becomes a project that gets very behind. I know some companies have a philosophy that no matter what, you have to stay profitable because as soon as you are in the red $1, then people adopt the attitude “we aren’t making money, so bother watching costs, etc.”
This isn’t strict GTD, but I know there are some great project managers out there. Do any of you have ideas out there on how to “containerize” small problems like that – put the proverbial “crime scene” tape around it. …so if something is running a day late, it just stays a day late rather than getting further and further behind. I’d love your thoughts.