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Lack of Focus, Lack of Foresight

June 7th, 2018 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips

Jumping from one thing to the next may appear to be a lack of focus when it really is a lack of foresight.

We’re working on this great thing. It took longer than we thought to build it. As we came close to finishing, rats, we quit because we realized that this great thing was overcome by events. The world had moved on to something else, and this great thing wasn’t relevant.

BUT WAIT. WOW!  A new idea. We are working on this great thing. Repeat the loop infinitely.

Is this a lack of focus? We jump from one thing to the next without ever finishing anything.

Is this a lack of foresight?
Given the time required to build this great thing, what will be happening in the world when we finish? Will this great thing be overcome by events? Generally, builders of this great thing are rather poor at estimating the time it will take to build this great thing.
So, what should we build that will be ready for that time? And, by the way, by the time we finish this great thing, someone else will have built it and be selling it for $1.95 a copy. We spent a few $million building it.
Fiction? No, I’ve seen it several times. Names withheld to protect the guilty.

Tags: Adapting · Analysis · Change · Estimation · General Systems Thinking

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