Envisioning Success
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Consider when Thomas Paine sat down to write 'Common Sense' in 1776 during the American Revolution. His ideas and vision drew out the direction for a new and possible life and rallied an entire group of people into action. It was the precursor to a new design for an entire nation. Can't help to wonder if he were to see the nation today, would this be what he envisioned?
Or perhaps consider what Dwight D. Eisenhower had in mind for the Interstate Highways. Could it not be seen that there would be large trucks for commerce? Why did he not envision a separate network of highways built solely for commerce? Why did he not anticipate the overwhelming demand for suburban life around key cities that would drive the need for automobiles?
Granted these two examples are most likely not comparable in complexity and scale as most of our projects. But they highlight the importance of vision as an enabler to progress. And vision too is a process that must be revisited.
Sometimes looking at the same thing from a different perspective opens whole new understandings.
The traditional method for envisioning success is to stand in the present and try to look into the future. It is often hard to do this because you are mentally constrained from all of the things you are aware of and instead this method frequently turns into an exercise in figuring out how to get around barriers.
Instead how about trying an alternative method - Try to stand in the future and looking back.
Wouldn't it be interesting to put yourself in the future (say even 3 or 5 years out) as a columnist or analyst and write a front page article about your company? And maybe how it compares to the competition.
While this method has been around a long time I find it rarely practiced on IT operational performance improvement projects. Thinking in this way might be easier for you to start to picture a new day. You can even think about some of the details using this same method.
This then sets the stage for a very productive design phase. Often times as you try this method, and move into the design phase, you'll start to see relationships and inter-dependencies better as the scope becomes clearer.
So, the next time someone asks you 'What does success look like to you?' for your program or project, you'll be able to answer that question with confidence and clarity.
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