The emotional finale is here! Don’t worry, this isn’t about curling up in a ball and crying – we’ve already done that. This final installment of my series on project estimating is all about navigating the emotions of everyone involved and trying to avoid frustration.

If you’ve been following this blog series on project estimations, you’ve probably noticed one key theme: People. Estimating isn’t just a numbers game, it’s full of opinions and feelings. So, let’s dive into how emotions can sway our final estimates!

Partners or Opponents

There are many battle lines drawn when estimating larger projects.

• Leadership vs Sales Team
• Sales Team vs Project Team
• Agency vs Client
• Agency Bid vs Competing Bids
• Quality Focus vs Time/Financial Constraints
• Us vs Ourselves

It’s no wonder we all feel like we’re up against the ropes! Every round brings new threats – real or imagined. How will they react to the estimate? What will they consider an acceptable range?

To make matters worse, everyone involved brings their own personality into the ring. Some see negotiations as a game to be won. Others approach it as a collaboration toward shared goals. And then there’s the age-old playbook: start high, counter low, meet in the middle.

Planning the Attack with Empathy

Feeling pummeled while estimating? Tempted to throw in the towel? Don’t! The best estimates aren’t decided in the ring – they’re made by stepping back, planning, and understanding the perspectives of your partners.

Empathy is your secret weapon. It’s a tactical advantage. When you understand what motivates others, new paths emerge to meet eye to eye.

How do you wield empathy? By asking real questions. Don’t steer people to what you want, instead ask open-ended questions that encourage discussion. How does the budgeting process work? How will you report on the project? How do you handle unexpected changes? Even “this-or-that” questions can help: Do you prioritize on-time delivery or staying on-budget? Do you want quality, or just want to get it done? Let them be heard.

Studying the Playing Field

The good news? Things tend to get smoother over time. If you’ve gone a few rounds with the same group, you already know some of their preferences. But when it’s your first matchup, you’ve got to learn their style quickly.

With answers in hand, it’s time to plan your strategy. But check your ego – this still isn’t about you. It’s about finding the sweet spot where both sides feel like winners. Strategize for the win-win.

If they have a North Star, then determine what it takes to follow that journey. If budget is their weak point, consider ways to creatively trim without losing the project’s intent. If the timeline is the pressure point, then consider simplifying and phasing out the approach to deliver quick wins sooner.

Becoming a Champion

Victory isn’t about knocking your opponent out. It’s about both sides entering the ring as a team and excited to start. The client needs to feel understood, with clear expectations for the project. The agency needs confidence that it won’t constantly trade quality to remain profitable.

Things happen though. It’s inevitable. As in life, projects are imperfect. Things will go off-script. Partnerships are tested when hit hard by the unexpected. Were there contingency plans? Were changes handled properly?

True champions rise to the occasion. Even if the result is no longer ideal, your empathy and tactical questions can guide everyone toward the next best outcome.

Conclusion

Emotional tension almost always comes from a lack of communication. Expectations were not aligned and people felt unheard.

Everyone is different. Personalities will either mesh or clash, but recognizing this helps you bob and weave with precision.

Focus on partnership. Ask questions that foster understanding, and strategize to find a win for both sides. With empathy, clear communication, and a plan for the unexpected, you’ll look like a champion – even when things don’t go perfectly.

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If you are looking for a sparring partner who can bring out the best in your team, reach out to your Perficient account manager or use our contact form to begin a conversation.

In this third installment of my blog series on project estimates, let’s dive headfirst into the murky waters of assumptions and uncertainty! Think of these as the gremlins of project planning – they are full of secrets and laugh along the way as they trip you up. If you’ve read my other blog posts, you’ll know that I’m a huge fan of transparency. Those gremlins are hiding behind your assumptions, and if you don’t shine a spotlight in the shadows of uncertainty you’ll have some BIG holes in your project plan.

Making a Fool Out of You & Me – Assumptions

Identifying and removing assumptions should be a priority for all project planners. Let’s face it, if you are running on assumptions, then you are flying blind. And if you allow those assumptions to remain, then your whole project is going to go into a tailspin. Project leadership is not a place for stunt pilots!

Unresolved assumptions can take many forms. You often notice them when someone seeks clarity but doesn’t receive a clear answer. “We’ll figure it out later” can lead to a crash landing for your project estimate. Take time to clearly outline what’s out of scope in the SOW. Clients may have unspoken expectations around best practices, while agencies focus on budget constraints. Be explicit about what’s not included.

With assumptions in place, your project plan will be incomplete. Your project estimates will be ripped apart. So how do you avoid this turbulence? Ensure you map out your flight plan! Use a “discovery phase” or a “sprint zero” to make sure you cover details early before the project implementation begins. During these planning sessions, your team and the client can get a clearer view of the skies.

The Uncertainty Paradox

Like the fate of Schrödinger’s cat, certainty in project management and estimation is elusive. If you don’t manage uncertainty, you might get scratched!

After your team provides their best estimates, you often hear, “They’ll never go for that.” Then you reduce the cost before showing it to the client. Congratulations! Now you’re negotiating with yourself – cutting scope or profit based on a gut feeling. Your uncertainty limits the project before the client even sees it.

Negotiations with the client can also add a layer of uncertainty. The agency gives an initial estimate, but the client has their own view of the final outcome. The usual approach of starting high, countering low, and meeting in the middle may seem straightforward, but it often undermines the project goals because it is based more on financial desires than on clearing up uncertainty in the project. Once the contract is signed, other choices arise and the limited budget weighs heavily. Schrödinger’s cat is still purring, and the outcome remains unknown.

Executive Summary

Executives love to start project requests and then pull a disappearing act until it’s time for final approvals. When you hand them the packet, they’ll flip right to the end to check the bottom line – skipping that executive summary conveniently placed on the first page. It wasn’t added as a diversion tactic! Yes, their time is valuable, but an executive’s decision to skip the details comes at a cost.

Savvy business leaders know how to interpret estimates. The best ones coach their teams to expect overages – there is no crystal ball for the real world. Ideally, you’d include contingency lines for those unknown-unknowns, but if the bottom line is shown without contingency reflected clearly, the busy exec will be left with assumptions.

Some business leaders push for “not to exceed” contracts to avoid surprises. But imagine the shell game the agency has to play when the funds run out. The team will scramble to figure out how to balance quality with on-time delivery and prevent the project from losing money. There’s no fluffy rabbit to be pulled from that hat!

The winning strategy is to keep it clear and concise. Transparency is best. Show the bottom line, add a contingency allowance, and note the change management process for when the project unexpectedly shifts.

Conclusion

Don’t let the gremlins of project estimation hide behind your assumptions. Kick off with a discovery phase to remove uncertainty, include what’s out of scope, and ensure everyone knows how contingency is being handled. Your SOW should be backed by a change management process because even the best-laid plans can change. And remember, executives are pressed for time, so make it easy for them to review what their team is signing up for!

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If you are looking for a partner who strives to remove assumptions for the sake of clarity, reach out to your Perficient account manager or use our contact form to begin a conversation.

Continuing our dive into project estimating, let’s talk about two more problem areas: dependencies and project creep. These two can turn your pristine project plan into a tangled mess.

No matter the size or scope of your project – whether you have just a few dependencies or tight integration with multiple systems – you’ll be faced with sneaky requests. They may start out as good intentions but they can erode your plan, leaving your project teetering on the edge of a sinkhole.

Everything and the Kitchen Sink – Dependencies & Follow-Through

In large digital projects, the possibilities for functionality and integrations are endless – but time and money aren’t! Your team may dream of a high-end Mediterranean cruise, but the budget says you’ll be camping in the backyard this summer.

Trying to squeeze in “everything and the kitchen sink” can sink your entire project! In a client/agency relationship, this tension is real. Palpable. Clients want as much as possible, while agencies have to balance the extra work required – not just to build it, but to test and support it too. This is why many digital teams opt for MVPs (minimally viable products) and agile project management! Focus on the must-have dependencies and save the nice-to-haves for later.

Tough conversations are unavoidable – dodging them only makes things worse. Nail down expectations early. Spend the time upfront to follow-through on unresolved discussions (making sure the client feels heard) and setting realistic boundaries (ensuring the agency isn’t expected to perform miracles).

I’m a Creep – Scope Creep Management

In the immortal words of Radiohead, “But I’m a creep, I’m a weirdo. What the hell am I doin’ here? I don’t belong here.”

As a project leader, you have to be firm when a request doesn’t belong in the project scope. This is tough! Most of us are people pleasers, and no one wants to be the department of ‘no’. But we all know that “just this one little thing” can unravel an entire project. Beware of the word “just” – it’s sneaky!

This is where SOWs (statements of work) and CR (change request) forms save the day! They set clear boundaries: this is what we agreed on, and any extras will cost time or money.

I have seen new team members join after a website launch, making demands for flashy UI/UX, extreme accessibility, top-tier security features. They always make it clear that they expect all new sites to have these things. Without a well-defined scope of work, the agency is left with a black eye. But with a clear SOW it can be understood that this is what we agreed on and anything else is out of scope.

Conclusion

To keep your project on track, start by broadening early discussions to cover all possible dependencies, then narrow your final scope to avoid project creep from sabotaging your success. Perfection may not be worth the squeeze.

It’s not easy, but avoiding conversations will only cause more pain. As Abraham Lincoln said, “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my axe.” Enter every new project well prepared! It will save you time in the long run.

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If you are looking for a partner who is well prepared, reach out to your Perficient account manager or use our contact form to begin a conversation.

Estimating is a precarious business – part science, a lot of guesswork, and a bit of psychic magic! The goal is to forecast the effort, time, and cost of a project with enough accuracy to avoid disaster. Project managers use some go-to methods to estimate projects. Some approaches are scientific while others are based on gutfeel and experience. And if you know people…there’s a little humor in the chaos too!

Project managers (PMs) and business analysts (BAs) typically coordinate, and subject matter experts (SMEs) add their fears. These initial estimates get blended, adjusted for unknown surprises, and finalized – sometimes after fighting it out in a debate, or we might get fancy with an adjusted average from three-point estimating.

But everyone brings hidden biases to the table. The purpose of this series of blog posts is to dive into these hidden factors that shape estimates.

CYA – Sandbagging Estimates

Overestimating happens a lot. Sometimes it’s intentional, to cover your @$$ (CYA), which is known as sandbagging. But sandbagging throws a wrench in the system, messing up tracking and comparisons (as covered years ago by Perficient’s SVP of Corporate Operations and Global Delivery, Kevin Sheen). When multiple SMEs sandbag, you end up with a flood of unnecessary hours.

A better approach is transparently including contingency. This shows everyone the real estimate, highlights the allowances made, and gives better data for analysis.

Sometimes things just end up easier than expected, so the overestimation was not intentional. This is fine, it happens. But whether an agency bills for it depends on the contract. If it was written up as fixed fee (FF), then the hours may still get billed. But for time and material (T&M) agreements, the unused hours may get cut out before invoicing.

This’ll Be Easy – Lowballing Estimates

Underestimating is another problem. You’ve probably started to assemble some Swiss flatpack furniture, ignoring the instructions – only to realize it’s way more complicated than you thought. Even the Christian Bible warns against under estimating, with Luke’s tale of building a tower without counting the cost first. In this verse, it goes so far as to say you will be mocked for starting a project you can’t finish.

ERP migrations are a great example. Unfortunately, in the corporate world, many of us have seen an ERP project fall apart – the estimates blown out of the water! With past employers, I’ve seen multiple cases of this where the project is either scrapped entirely or drastically scaled back. If assembling a bookshelf can be tricky, imagine how off an ERP estimate can get! Millions of dollars spent before realizing it won’t work as expected. They should have used Perficient!

For larger projects, it is imperative to allow more time for estimating and built-in safeguards. You can do this by using the more scientific forms of estimation, gathering multiple perspectives, and allocating contingency time for those inevitable “unknown-unknowns.”

Conclusion

Early in my career, I felt terrible when my estimates weren’t accurate. I thought perfection was the expectation. But then a colleague who led our PMO group surprised me. He said he didn’t want all projects to come in under budget. He didn’t like to see his teams sandbagging. Instead, he aimed for half the projects to come in under and half over – reflecting honest, accurate estimating.

Speaking of honesty, I once had a client who overshared. He bragged about quoting a freelance project high – a yearlong engagement – which he finished in half the time and took the rest of the year off. He was proud of it! A few years later, he applied for a job at our agency, but we remembered that story. His questionable integrity caused us to pass on his application.

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If you are looking for a partner with integrity and honest estimating, reach out to your Perficient account manager or use our contact form to begin a conversation.

“Double, double toil and trouble,” is a line repeated by the witches in Macbeth as they lay out the ominous prophecies of greatness and dire consequences for the titular character. Macbeth’s ambition envisions a perfect ending though desperate actions and moral weakness ruin it. So too are the misguided actions in pursuit of perfection which can set expectations and pressure that lead to unwanted results.

The Tantalizing Idea of Perfection

Most of us love the concept of perfection. The idea that something out there can be perfect is comforting – the perfect diamond with the perfect wedding. We search for perfection in the world with symmetry, circles, triangles, and the golden ratio. Maybe you still try to stop the gas pump on a round number when you fill your car.

As a designer in my early career, I sought perfection. The dimensions in the design would be perfectly round numbers. The typography would be perfectly kerned, with hanging punctuation, and the proper quote marks and dashes! I’ve ruined my family members who now share the same disdain for sub-par designs we see. But honestly, no one else cares. Even many designers overlook the same nuances.

I remember hearing the story of a watchmaker known for exceptional craftsmanship. He would inscribe the smallest of gears with the words, “God is in the details.” This was seen by almost no one, left only as a testament to his meticulous nature. I had once admired this story – whether true or not.

A Perfectionist’s Agony

As we see in Macbeth, a desire for such perfect outcomes can turn sour. One can become so focused on perfection that the vision can’t be realized. If it is attainable, the cost may be too high.

An author, artist, or musician who endlessly adjusts their work and is never satisfied to release it to the world. It becomes a mental block where the vision is likely impossible to achieve.

There is always more to do and more that can be done. Perfection is a moving target, and the pursuit can be an endless endeavor.

Destructive Perfection

Much like Macbeth’s ambition leading to his downfall, a perfectionist can suffer the same fate if the pursuit gets in the way of the goal.

Apologies to Shakespeare for making a comparison between Macbeth (1606) and a goofy modern comedy, but I think it’s fitting here. I love the diner scene in the movie Tommy Boy (1995) with Chris Farley. Tommy is the main character who is trying to become a great salesman. In this scene, Tommy describes how he inevitably ruins his perfect sale. He destroys his chance of closing the deal because he loves the idea of the sale too much.

Here at Perficient, we do a lot of digital and web work, and the same can play out in this industry. I’ve seen groups focused so heavily on earning perfect scores from scanning tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, Siteimprove, or other validation services. Someone on the client team wants to arrive at perfect front-end performance, accessibility, or security marks. Any site you put into these tools will fall short of a perfect score. The effort devoted to trying may prevent other improvements from being made.

Not Perfect Enough

That’s not to say we shouldn’t ever strive to be better. Of course we should!

You may be familiar with the frequently shared idea around 99.9%. Two million documents will be lost by the IRS each year if 99.9% is good enough. Over a thousand phone calls will be incorrectly routed every minute, and twelve babies will be given to the wrong parents each day. I have no idea if these numbers are accurate, but you get the idea.

There is a time and place where the goal is near perfection. Risk, regulation, and legal compliance, for instance, need to be near perfect. But in all cases, there should be checks and balances to make sure that the pursuit is justified. Does the level of effort make sense? Is the juice worth the squeeze?

The Happy Medium

We want to encourage healthy ambition but not let it become a destructive obsession. With the pursuit of perfection, you do not want to cause more harm than good.

Are there times when something can be perfectly imperfect? I think so.

There is a popular meme format that describes the cycle of a beginner, an intermediate-level professional, and an expert. The joke is that a beginner will be naïve and not understand something important that an intermediate-level person obsesses over. But as one becomes an expert, they realize the obsession wasn’t that important.

Conclusion

“Out, out brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow…” is the line where Macbeth realizes the futility and limited extent of his achievements. Is the long path worth the result? Could the results be as sweet and sometimes attained more quickly if we let up on perfection just a little bit? Yes.

Facebook once publicly stated that they “move fast and break things.” But with more scrutiny around regulations, they’ve stopped saying that. There is a time and a place for both. Find your perfectly imperfect zone of success and ensure that you spend time where it makes sense (consider the Eisenhower Quadrants of Productivity).

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If you are looking for a perfect fit for your next project, reach out to your Perficient account manager or use our contact form to begin a conversation.

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In 1968, psychiatrist Stephen Karpman modeled what he called the Drama Triangle. With this, he illustrated dysfunctional mindsets that can derail social interactions. The three roles defined in this model are the rescuer (hero), persecutor (villain), and victim.

This is another view of the lies we tell ourselves. Since the dawn of history, we’ve loved stories. We entertain ourselves with fiction and non-fiction, dramas and comedies. Whether true or not, our imaginations search for these hero, villain, and victim storylines in our own lives – potentially to our detriment.

Sabotage by Projecting on Others

Things are seldom as dramatic as we see in books and movies, but some pieces align with real life from time to time. Occasionally we experience the angel who saves us, or we get to relish in satisfaction when the bad guy falls.

We end up projecting these roles based on what we THINK we should expect from others. Not often do we challenge our own assumptions or verify by asking the other party why they are acting the way they are. We avoid tough conversations that could otherwise lead to a true understanding of someone else’s viewpoint.

Our minds incorrectly associate brief snapshots of a role fulfilled as confirmation of our beliefs. However, people are multi-faceted and unlikely to always fill the same role we have attributed to them. We are complex creatures, and thinking we can understand without verifying is sabotage.

The Hero Role

In Karpman’s original examples he states that the rescuer role uses the line, “Let me help you.” However, he goes on to talk about how it can backfire. This role may remind you of the “I’m the Main Character” trope in modern memery [coining a new phrase here] – even the mental health industry references it.

When you label yourself as the hero in your story, then you run the risk of unfairly naming a villain so that you can:

• feel good about yourself
• always be considered “right”
• assume others are incapable
• receive most of the credit

If you label someone else as the hero in your story you avoid the responsibility of taking ownership yourself. You’ll wait for someone else to swoop in to save the day, but perhaps that day will never come. This is not good either.

The Villain Role

“It’s all your fault,” is the line that Karpman attributes to the persecutor role. Words associated with this might be controlling, critical, rigid, or even angry.

When someone fills this role in your mental story, they tend to be an authoritative individual, deemed superior in position but not necessarily intellect. This is a role that most people don’t assign themselves. If you are creating this role for someone else, it would be to:

• attack someone else
• avoid taking any blame yourself
• gain favor with peers and subordinates
• express pessimism (a safe way to always be right)

It is helpful to understand that the person you label a villain probably thinks of themselves as a hero or a victim. If they have a different goal or viewpoint, perhaps you are aiming at different targets. You can try to find a mutual North Star Goal.

The Victim Role

Karpman portrayed the victim role as saying, “Poor me!” Often viewed as helpless, avoiding risk, and incapable of affecting change (usually with multiple lackluster attempts). The victim will call out a specific villain and is likely waiting for a hero to arrive.

Most people don’t attribute this role to themselves. It’s not a desirable role and it’s a tough pill to swallow when you realize you are living in it. You might notice it in other lies we tell ourselves like the “us versus them” storyline. Here are some phrases you may hear from someone playing the victim:

• They would never agree to it.
• I’ve tried and tried, but it doesn’t work here.
• That is above my pay grade.
• Someone else is responsible for taking care of that.

Assigning this role to others can show a lack of confidence in them, even to the point of disdain toward them. You recognize a lack of intentionality with them. You don’t consider yourself part of that crowd, but you also aren’t willing to step up to be their savior.

Redemption Through Truth and Transparency

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll notice that none of these roles are good ones. A hero is egotistical and searching for praise. The villain is likely fabricated or misunderstood. Victims are weak and disorganized.

Are you any of those? Not likely. There are probably times when you fill one of the roles for a season, but no one should be pigeonholed to a role. Most of us experience situational uncertainty. We have good days. We have bad days. And that’s the truth. Our actions vary based on the circumstances. We’re all imperfect. We’re all emotional beings.

These comfortable stories fill in the gaps in our understanding and our imaginations go off the rails. It’s the easy way out, but it is unhelpful.

An unending search for transparency is the only solution. You should regularly step back and reflect, spotting when your mind is running wild with a hero-villain-victim story – but recognition is not enough. You’ll still need to push yourself (and others) to have the tough conversation required to align with others. It takes time to ask questions, consider the responses, and properly debate toward consensus.

Start with Optimism

What’s called out in this article are three very pessimistic views of relationships. There is little good to be found by labeling people in your life as described in this model. But Stephen Karpman created it because we do it time and time again!

In my experience, most people (not all) view themselves as inherently “good.” Most people hope for win-win scenarios. There are times when we happily label ourselves as difficult or mean. Sure. But this normally happens after these stories have run their course in our mind and we feel like our actions are a response to someone else being terrible. We just spiral downhill.

Don’t sabotage your team with these stories. My personal principle is that, until proven otherwise, we should start with believing each person wants others to succeed. Don’t assume you know why someone has said something, instead ask them specifically so they can explain it. Start with trust. Push for transparency.

Mirroring is a Simple Method to Use

The book, “Never Split the Difference” by Chris Voss and Tahl Raz, suggests that mirroring people’s words is an easy way to get them to elaborate.

I love this approach! It aligns with my belief that we should be optimistic about someone’s intent and then verify that we understand. Best of all, mirroring is super-easy!

When you are surprised by something said to you, try repeating the words back to the other person. Example:

• Presumed Villain: “I need this by tomorrow, and you haven’t even started on it!”
• You: “You need this by tomorrow?”
• Presumed Villain: “Yes! I’m desperate here!”
• You: “Desperate?”
• Presumed Villain: “Look, it doesn’t have to be perfect, I know this is last minute. What I really need for tomorrow is…”

Can you see how an intense situation is diffused by simple mirroring? The book has other strong suggestions too, I highly recommend reading it.

Conclusion

I hope the Karpman Drama Triangle helps you recognize stories that may be sabotaging you or your team. I’ve shared suggestions on how to fight our natural tendencies by maintaining faith in others and driving for transparency. Give mirroring a try as a quick and easy step toward that goal.

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If you are looking for a hero partner to fight your villainous competition, reach out to your Perficient account manager or use our contact form to begin a conversation.

Quality innovation is not for the weak at heart! Innovation myths may have you thinking it is for the lucky or the extremely talented – that’s not true. Pablo Picasso said, “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” Thomas Edison quipped, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

In this blog post, I want to focus on a different quote with the same intent. Linus Pauling was an American scientist who was awarded a Nobel Prize not just once, but twice! You might not recognize his name, but New Scientist called him one of the 20 greatest scientists of all time. He once shared, “The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas and throw the bad ones away.” Pauling’s career overlapped those of Picasso and Edison and included the same concept that working hard generates quality innovation.

Let me walk you through how steady effort (work) creates a lot of possibilities (quantity) and then how you can churn out great ideas (quality innovation) through your idea factory (innovation system).

Working for Innovation Quantity

In my experience, the level of innovation correlates to the effort put in. There’s a reason for this. Lots of people (your competitors) are willing to put in a little bit of work. Far fewer are willing to put in significant work – most people won’t.

Furthermore, what I’ve found to be true is that your first ideas are seldom the ground-breaking ones. Your first ideas are the easy connections. The first-round ideas are often the same solutions everyone else can easily produce. Your goal is to connect the dots that others have not.

Significant innovative solutions come from stress testing the ideas and iterating. Not once. Not twice. But continually. Have a hundred ideas and throw away the bad ones. Things aren’t going to be perfect anyway. Take the best ideas and try to poke holes in them until you can evolve them to be strong.

When Quantity Goes Wrong

I wrote another blog post on lessons learned while managing corporate innovation. Lessons #1 and #2 explain what can go wrong when you have a large quantity of ideas being generated by a team. Either people toss out ideas they don’t intend to pursue themselves (they just want credit), or others won’t search if someone else has already shared the same or similar idea (redundancy).

You don’t want the quantity of ideas to become another barrier. You’ll be swimming in a sea of half-baked ideas with no connection between related concepts. You’ll drown. It needs to be managed in order to be successful.

In this blog post, I won’t focus on the management of team innovation – that’s what my lessons learned post was about – so instead, I’ll discuss what Linus Pauling was referring to when he said you should have lots of ideas.

Your Idea Factory

The benefit of having lots of ideas yourself, rather than as a team, is that your train of thought inherently has some relation from one concept to the next. One idea begets the next, and then you can mix-and-match and quickly iterate without considering outside opinions.

This form of “lots of ideas” is fantastic because you can move fast and throw away bad ideas without worrying about what others will think of the concept. You can have really bad ideas that are simply not feasible, but then those unrealistic thoughts can spur others that will work.

Free yourself to experiment. Suspend reality without fear of failure. You’ll surprise yourself with the ideas you generate! Have a bunch of these ideas, then throw away the bad ones. It takes work but you can then find the signal among the noise.

Quality Innovation

The quality of an innovative idea is measured against what else is out there (competition). The quality is perceived differently when it first comes out versus years later when your competition has emulated or evolved in response. It isn’t just an initial effort, but an ongoing one.

There are stories from Apple, Google, Facebook, Tesla, and many more about their crunch times, trying to separate themselves from the competition. Even Thomas Edison talked about working through thousands of iterations to land on one good one.

And for good reason…consider the story of Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray racing to the patent office, only for Bell to file mere hours earlier, locking his place in history as the inventor of the telephone. Quality innovation is valuable, there is urgency, and you want to iterate through ideas as quickly as possible.

Conclusion

Quality innovation is a rarity, but it is attainable for anyone. If you view it like winning the lottery, then you can appreciate how buying more tickets (generating more ideas) gives you an advantage in finding the one that wins.

So, give it a try! If you feel blocked, I have suggestions on getting unstuck. They say that practice makes perfect, so hop in and practice generating ideas!

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If you are looking for a quality innovation partner, reach out to your Perficient account manager or use our contact form to begin a conversation.

We’ve all heard of servant leadership. The concept of “being a servant” to your teams and treating employees as critical individuals to be cultivated and empowered, has strong merit. However, many organizations fall short, with those at the top of the hierarchy viewing employees as interchangeable cogs in the corporate machine.

Instead of diving deep into the theories, practices, and benefits of servant leadership, I will focus on a specific, related principle or mind-set: being unobtrusive. This can help managers support their teams, clear the path, and improve productivity by stepping out of the way as much as possible. Then I’ll provide five obtrusive blockers to avoid as a servant leader or manager.

Being Unobtrusive as a Servant Leader

The principle at play here is that managers, leaders, and business owners realize the importance of individual contributors’ time. The leader’s position can help reduce unnecessary load and help the employee focus on top priority business objectives.

Deloitte reported in 2017 that payroll accounts for 50-60% of Fortune 500 spending. With that, it seems obvious to realize that leaders should help maximize the time of their employees. The opposite side of that suggests that you should remove as much redundancy and unnecessary cognitive load on them as you can.

Reduction of obtrusiveness can be in all areas: technically, procedurally, managerially, and even within the set expectations for the individual. It applies everywhere.

Falling in Love with the Concept of Unobtrusiveness

In the early 2000s, while studying design and web development, I learned to love unobtrusive practices. “Unobtrusive JavaScript” meant separating interactive code from static HTML, avoiding cluttered event attributes like “onclick” and “onmouseover” throughout the code. With dynamic, data-driven sites, we also had query string variables which made URLs longer and less readable. Now, some sites are using URL rewriting practices for “pretty URLs” that are cleaner and unobtrusive to us humans who use and share them.

As I then transitioned into manager and director roles focused on digital sales and marketing, I became further convinced of the power of being unobtrusive. Tracking conversion rates for sales and marketing initiatives showed a clear incentive. Our team used data to convince clients to step away from ego-centric approaches of what the company wanted, and instead help them realize that some of that was unimportant and prevented prospects from becoming paying customers. The customers had their goals, and they just want everything else to get out of their way.

In all cases, the customer just wants their experience to be unobtrusive. Everyone prefers unobtrusive! For the love of all that is holy, don’t make them read their account number after already typing it into the phone system!

Five Obtrusive Blockers

There are several types of things that leaders often impose on teams that can kill the productivity of the team. As a servant leader and good steward of the time being used by your team, it is best to avoid these types of mental drains.

1. Micromanagement – When I interview potential candidates, I ask them what the main thing is that they want to avoid in a new role. Across the board, people always say they don’t want to be micromanaged. It’s obtrusive. For managers that feel it is necessary, you are likely avoiding a tough conversation that needs to be had.
2. Lack of Clear Goals – Not giving your team clear goals is a sure-fire way to cause rework. It is demoralizing to them if they try to address what they think you want, only to be told that they got it wrong. Don’t put it on them to read your mind, instead consider a strong North Star Goal.
3. Poor Communication – You’ve seen it before. You ask three questions in an email and the reply back answers only one. Don’t do that to your team. I tend to over-communicate. I once offended a business partner because they felt like I shouldn’t have to explain everything in detail to them. For me, I view it as removing ambiguity and adding detail for posterity. If one of my emails is forwarded to someone who isn’t familiar with the topic, it should be clear to them too.
4. Inflexible Policies – HR departments do their best to provide meaningful policies that protect the employees as well as the company. It’s a tough thing to get right. As a manager, you probably have some “policies” of your own. Just be aware that countless hours can be spent by the employee at home and at work fretting about their interpretation of the policy and how it affects their unique situation. All that time and cognitive load is wasted before they even mention their concern to you.
5. Menial Tasks – “Busy work” is rampant in businesses. Not just assigned busy work, but the little menial tasks you assign your team members that you might not even realize. Have you ever sent someone a list of dates and times and failed to convert them to the recipient’s time zone? Or maybe a list of tickets logged in your work management system, but you gave them ticket numbers without linking to the ticket detail page? You are micro-assigning obtrusive tasks to others.

The Benefits of Being an Unobtrusive Manager

I know… You’ve read this article and are thinking, “Great idea, but I don’t have time to do anything more than I already do.” Yes, being unobtrusive to others means you have to take on that effort yourself. Just like in our digital projects, making something “easy” for the user takes a whole hell of a lot of effort for the rest of us. We don’t attain excellence by taking the shortest path.

This is an exercise in empathy and understanding. If you want to clear the path for your team, then you must make the effort yourself. The good news is that there is direct benefit in doing so.

Your goal is to complete projects on time, within budget, and (hopefully) exceeding expectations. You have a team with varying levels of expertise, different personalities, and certainly some who are more diligent than others. By taking a little more time yourself, as a servant leader, you can collectively save the rest of the team an untold amount of cognitive load. This can keep others focused on the important work they are assigned and even prevent errors before they happen.

Conclusion

Being a servant leader is a wonderful thing to strive for. No doubt you want to help others be their best, and to make a difference within your organization. As part of that journey, I encourage you to try to watch out for those obtrusive blockers that can slow your team down. Some are large, some are very small, but the goal is to get things out of the way of the team so they can avoid stumbling and simply do great work!

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If you are looking for a partner who can help remove obstructions for your team, reach out to your Perficient account manager or use our contact form to begin a conversation.

If you were to pop open any social media platform or news app right now and scroll through a couple dozen posts, you’ll easily get the feeling that everything is #%&$ falling apart. Everyone is mad at something. We now use the term “doomscrolling.” In the past we had Yellow Journalism and we are there once again. As humans we tend to get addicted to outrage and drama. Health.com says that it comes from a desire to stay informed and protect ourselves from dangerous situations.

We also have “trolling” which feeds on different types of addictive behaviors. We like to feel superior, release our own outrage, be the main character…and sometimes…we just like to cause mayhem and watch it all burn! While doomscrolling, you see things you don’t @#?&! like, and you have a nagging feeling to hop in and troll those you disagree with – even though you really don’t #%&$ need to.

Here’s the thing though… Most of what we see that’s irritating to us is just misdirected outrage. It’s all poorly focused anger and lacking true intent to further the discussion. We consume content meant to tear down rather than progress. We’ve all forgotten what true debate looks like, and instead want to @#?&! dunk on each other with one-liners and memes. #%&$, most of us don’t even fully read the clickbait articles with the headlines that upset us so much. We prefer to live in our echo-chambers of self-gratification. It seems to only be getting worse. But remember, we didn’t start the fire.

!&%#$ People. Amirite?

Emotions are the toughest aspect of people. Our feelings don’t have to be logical for them to be experienced and affect our behavior and decisions. We all tend to want grace and forgiveness when our own emotions go off the rails, but we don’t always grant the same leeway to others. I guess we believe other people are just @#?&! idiots.

Stoicism favors the absence of emotions. I lean heavily toward stoic concepts, easily removing emotion from situations. It serves me well in my project, account, and people management roles. I certainly don’t expect others to do the same – that wouldn’t be fair to them.

Being emotionless can go too far though. I rarely show it when I get upset unless you are seriously hurting me or those I love. My wife jokes that I’ll end up like Adam Sandler’s character in Anger Management, where one day I’ll just #%&$ explode. I guess it’s natural that I politely disagree with that.

@%#$! Positivity

Toxic positivity can be just as bad as misdirected outrage – two ends of a spectrum and neither is good. Somewhere along the line, we started learning that it was bad to have strong emotions, especially at work. You can get labeled a #%&$, @#?&!, or even an !&%#$ if you are visibly upset. Or if you’re a push-over and never disagree they might call you a %@$#!

From learning to mask emotions, we lost our backbone. We became fearful of causing other people’s anger. We have learned to avoid tough conversations, though we shouldn’t! The truth is that emotions are not always logical. We want to be able to control other people’s emotions, but we simply cannot. At the same time, we do not need to be responsible for other people’s emotions. Their emotions are for them to manage. We can only control our own reaction and response. Sometimes doing the right thing will upset someone else. That’s OK. We each must manage ourselves and accept the consequences if there are any.

I love the quote, “If you stand for nothing, you’ll fall for anything.” Having conviction is a good thing. Standing up for what you know is right, is a great thing! Being authentic but then allowing others room to be upset is good. Radical transparency is helpful. We should all strive to stop #%&$ lying to ourselves.

Harnessing this %#@!$

When emotions run high, we start to see some foul language creep in. But there’s no need to shy away from that. Several researchers have devoted their studies to understanding the power of cursing. One group in 2020 focused on how swearing can alleviate pain. The Harvard Business Review (2018) and the BBC (2016), as well as others, have spun off articles on similar research saying that business managers can be more effective when they use bad words from time to time.

Raw emotion draws attention. People follow passionate leaders. Being completely colorless and safe will grind excitement to a halt. We want to gain the benefit of true energy in our companies and projects. Rallying the troops doesn’t come from the status quo, it comes from a place of emotion – and emotion is not always logical.

As I mentioned before, I’m largely stoic – reason and logic resonate with me. Anger often feels misdirected and counterproductive. But outrage does not have to be negative! Passion for a north star goal, is something I absolutely love! And when your team gets passionate, they will get excited, they will blurt out #%&$ productive expletives in their disagreements! And that’s OK! Disagreements are great, they should be encouraged more.

When it %#@!$ Works

Benefiting from this type of passion and energy is more straightforward than it seems. We’re all just afraid of using it. But we gravitate to leaders, politicians, comedians, and friends who know how to use it well.

Misdirected outrage is where things go wrong. Like if you’re angry at a person you need to work with, or you’re faking emotion for sensationalism. If you’re outright mean to a family member. If you snap at an individual because of something else that puts you in a bad mood and has nothing to do with them. This builds contention and resentment.

Focused outrage is different. You’re upset at the current state of things. You know something can be better, and you’re passionate about getting others equally upset about it. You’ve had enough, and things are going to @#?&! change! You can live in this emotional territory and still be respectful to individuals. Mutual respect and a mutual goal are key factors in being able to debate a topic and use it as a catalyst.

Conclusion

I chose to write this article after a couple of back-to-back business meetings where an attendee let loose a curse word and immediately apologized for it. In both cases, the others quickly hopped in to say it was OK. In one case, they said, “You’re my type of person!” From there, the attitude of the meetings became less buttoned up and people laughed.

This is a case in point that some foul language can be productive. There was no disrespect in the use of such language and emotion, instead, it was a simple approach to bring passion into the discussion.

Even though we see misguided outrage and arguing all over the news and media, it doesn’t have to be the kind we see getting promoted by the algorithms. Instead, try to embrace constructive disagreement, allow for debate, and let a few %@$#! curse words fly to show your passion! Just do it with mutual respect for the people you are talking to.

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If you are #%&$ fed up with the current trends and ready to focus some rage in the right direction, reach out to your Perficient account manager or use our contact form to begin a conversation.

I get a lot of enjoyment from the creative and innovative side of the work I do. Helping clients or my teams break out of the day-to-day and explore the unexpected. I’ve discussed innovation myths before and how to use lateral thinking to expand your pool of ideas in unexpected ways. One of my favorite aspects is seeing how random great ideas can be! Even when you land on a great idea, don’t stop, because the opposite of that can also be a great idea.

You may have heard the phrase, “When everyone zigs, you should zag.” It is unclear where this quote originated, and many have tried to claim it as their own. Several books have been written on the concept, and many more refer to it when discussing differentiation and disruption within marketing and product development.

Where Great Ideas Come From

What makes a great idea? It’s common that people view novel and innovative, first-to-market groups as having great ideas. No doubt that is true. But what about derivative ideas or groups that directly compete by differentiating based on price or quality? Do they have great ideas? Maybe sometimes, but I’d argue that they have great execution more than anything. I think great ideas come from unconventional thinking. That can be through a new idea or within areas that improve upon existing ideas.

Astro Teller holds the title of “Captain of Moonshots” at Google X. He has said, “It’s often easier to make something 10 times better than it is to make it 10 percent better.” He’s saying that not only are moonshots more intriguing than incremental change, but it can also be easier to pull them off. Why? Because increasing by 10% means starting from where you are and being within reach of every other competitor trying to do the same thing. Ten times better means rethinking and differentiating significantly. You might have to suspend reality, but you also create something that rallies the troops and excites the stakeholders.

That brings us back to concepts of lateral thinking. When I speak to groups about innovation, I love to use random entry exercises. I have a few ready-made problem statements but also ask the attendees to come with some of their own. I then have them draw a random word out of a hat and ask them to come up with as many ways to solve the problem that relates to their random word as they can in five minutes. When I did this with a group of 25 for the first time, I was nervous because there is no way to plan for randomness – I had to trust the process. Every single time I’ve run the exercise, it just works! There are always some who struggle at first and can’t seem to find a connection, but I’m there to help them if they feel stuck. Not once have I had a group who wasn’t able to produce an intriguing idea within five to ten minutes based on a random word.

Great ideas abound! You just have to allow yourself to see them.

The Folly of Following Trends

Trends are, by definition, people following a current style or popular approach. The trend itself can be a great idea. But great ideas can be dampened when everyone does it, becoming short-lived because it loses its appeal when it no longer feels new and unique.

The book, Zero to One by Peter Thiel, covers advice for startups and those entrepreneurial-minded folks who want to build the future. In the book, Thiel gives an often-unpopular suggestion to say that avoiding competition is the better path. He describes competition as detrimental and unproductive. The analogy of the “red ocean” of a saturated market drives home his point. His advice is to create something uniquely valuable in an area where you can dominate and defend your market.

Companies can also get stuck in a rut following their own trends. Clayton Christensen’s The Innovator’s Dilemma is a must-read book that covers exactly how large organizations prevent themselves from innovating. In The Innovator’s Solution, he addresses how groups can try to get around their own hurdles.

The Art of Zigging When Others Zag

How can we foster this mindset to generate great ideas? History has shown us repeatedly that we humans tend to flock together and follow trends. We’ll all buy up the currently hot item until it is ruined because everyone has it and it is no longer special.

From what I’ve experienced and read about, those who seem to fare the best are those who think longer term – the proverbial chess players versus checkers. The leaders who can see the common pattern of currently hot trends and see it play out to its inevitable end – which is often a race to the bottom with reduced quality and profits.

Even after recognizing the pattern, it can still be a tough choice to either go with the trend (gaining predictable short-term revenue) or to choose a different path (with risk and uncertainty). The choice can come down to who your audience really is and where your North Star points.

The Amazon Kindle was released in 2007. In 2012, Jeff Bezos was interviewed and asked if the iPad would be a “Kindle killer.” Bezos responded with, “When people come to me and say: ‘You’ve got to have full-motion video and color on the Kindle.” I say: ‘Why? You think Hemingway is going to pop more in color?’… You don’t understand my audience.” In a report from 2020, the Kindle was 84% of the e-reader market share.

To be fair, the e-reader market has been in slow decline, where some correlate the rise of audiobooks to be a factor.

Real-World Global Examples – Gettin’ Ziggy with It

I want to share some real examples of companies who have zigged and zagged to success. They included innovators who went against the grain, rejected the status quo, and ignored the critics. In doing so, they achieved great ideas with remarkable results.

Over the years the video game market has changed dramatically. But if you step back and take a holistic view, you’ll see a lot of similar trends across popular consoles and their games. Nintendo continues to differentiate itself as more family-friendly with a focus on gameplay and portability. This has allowed them to retain a successful niche within a competitive market.

Tesla set out in 2004 to become the first all-electric automobile manufacturer. Many said it couldn’t be done, but after its successful launch of the Roadster in 2008, Tesla became a household name. Now several U.S. states have near-future plans to enforce electric vehicles as the standard.

A Real-World Personal Example – Zagging to Success

A successful “zag” with a great idea doesn’t need to be risky.

Atlas Van Lines is in the moving and relocation industry. I worked on many projects with them in my early career (2003-2013). We did amazing work together.

At that time, their industry was driven by government regulations and tariffs. The industry was witnessing others moving to the web and digital experiences, while moving companies were lagging in their digital transformations. This was largely due to mandatory in-person surveys before a moving quote could be legally provided.

Atlas, along with my agency’s team, set out to find ways to provide instant online quotes, which the rest of the industry said could not be done. With a high-level North Star goal rallying the troops, we did just that. We not only solved the regulatory concerns around doing so, but we simultaneously built a system that was conducive to their nationwide network of independently owned agencies – all of whom wanted to control the pricing that Atlas HQ was showing online.

By the time I left the account in 2013, Atlas had several years of being the only van line doing online estimates well, and their competitors were working hard and fast to catch up.

Conclusion

Black and white. Sweet and salty. Opposites don’t have to be “good” and “bad”, in fact both ends of the spectrum can be amazing in their own right! The interesting thing is that there are many problems out there being solved by one solution, and in almost all cases, there is another way to attack the same problem. Choosing to be different may be the competitive advantage you need. Just because one great idea is successful, doesn’t mean that the opposite can’t also be a great idea.

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If you are looking for a partner to commit to your industry “zag”, reach out to your Perficient account manager or use our contact form to begin a conversation.

We like being lied to. If you don’t believe that, then you’re not being honest with yourself! In this article I’ll cover some of the common self-deceptions, biases, and societal pleasantries we entertain. Then, I’ll cover why transparency, even when uncomfortable, is always the better option.

Self-Deception: We Lie to Ourselves

From ancient society working out tedious and sometimes harmful ways to look more attractive, to the carefully curated social media accounts and “virtue signaling” of today, humans certainly understand that perception is everything. Our vanity wants to look good, even if it isn’t entirely true.

Psychology gives us the concept of projection. This is another way we lie to ourselves, thinking we know how someone else feels about something or what they will say about something. We tend to just project our own beliefs or fears onto someone else. And then in turn, we can allow that unconfirmed assumption to affect our own decisions. Here, both vanity and laziness tend to win. In these cases, we find it easier to make assumptions than to dig in and find the truth.

Even in businesses, whether publicly traded companies or non-profit, this desire for looking good to others and to simplify or expedite requirement gathering for proper decision making permeates most teams, which can lead to incorrect analysis and ultimately poor decisions.

Who can blame us though? In some cases, there could be millions of dollars at stake for a company, it could affect one’s promotions or raises, or it could just make us feel crumby and we don’t like that.

Cognitive Biases: We Can’t Help but Lie to Ourselves

Illusions are all around us, and they are powerful. Magicians use sleight-of-hand and misdirection because our brains are built to find efficiency and to not process every bit of information that our senses pick up.

There are dozens of well-documented human biases that explain why we act the way we do. They explain why we fall for the same mistakes time and time again. If you dig further into the physiology and evolution of why psychologists believe these biases exist in the first place, then you can start to understand how powerful they are.

Most of us have been informed of common biases like the price-value bias. We can understand how companies use it when showing us $1.99 instead of $2.00. Or how words like “deluxe” and “premium” are used in marketing products that don’t really qualify. It still happens today because even when we understand the mechanics at play, we still can’t help but be affected by them.

Socially Acceptable Lies: We All Want to be Lied To

Then we have the lies we allow for the sake of remaining polite, fitting in, or for our own personal enjoyment.

These “little lies” often make people happy and keep the peace. We’ll compliment someone’s outfit even if we don’t really think it looks good. I remember once complimenting someone’s food that I didn’t really like, during an extended stay with them. Rather than having the effect I thought it would, they fed it to me two more times while I was there.

Conflict avoidance is another cause of this. We aim to save someone’s feelings and avoid an uncomfortable, seemingly unnecessary interaction.

Or in some cases we just like it! For example, the magical wonder brought on by the stories of Santa Claus. These spread joy for children of all ages, and so we continue the traditions. Or we have movie-magic and Photoshop manipulation that show a moon in the sky that is far too large – we like the added whimsy of it.

Business Lies: Perception is Everything

Then we have the more business-oriented portion of this discussion. This is difficult indeed. As mentioned before, there can be millions of dollars at stake. Between potential revenue, effects on stock prices, positioning for power, or even the more intangible aspects of whether consumers like a brand or not…these are all catalysts for companies to choose to bend or stretch the truth, or in some cases even break it off completely!

Marketing and Public Relations groups will spin things and edit to make the bad sound as good as possible. You may be familiar with the practice of bad news being delivered late on Fridays to lessen the impact of media coverage. Is this wrong, or is it smart?

When I was at another company, I had an Executive Vice President pull me aside after a meeting with the board members and tell me that I didn’t need to mention that a project was behind schedule. I was a bit surprised because the board members all already knew it was behind schedule. My message to them was that we’ve adjusted and are back on track with all stakeholders. Here again, the EVP wanted to look as good as possible by glossing over the bad and focusing on the good. But is that the right thing to do? Does it show that you are dishonest? Can it cause the board to make decisions or take actions that are not fully informed? Where is the line drawn?

It’s real though. We’ve all seen unsubstantiated bad news hit the press that causes a stock to dive hard. The court of public opinion works faster than the legal system. We’ve all also seen someone who gets promoted who seemingly just plays the system. This can happen because we are all human and we are susceptible to biases.

Transparency & Brutal Honesty: Growth Lies Here

Why do I bring all this up? Why not just live with the humanity that we have, where we all know that we do these things, and therefore it should be considered fine?

I bring it up because in my career and personal life, I have seen where bad decisions are made because someone doesn’t have the full story or didn’t bother to try and become informed. Avoidance is not a wise strategy.

Here are some references that back up my experience.

I’ve listened to interviews with Ray Dalio and read his Principles: Life & Work book three times now. He pushes for “radical transparency” and he successfully built that within his Bridgewater investment firm. That said, I have yet to work at a company that maintains that level of transparency. There aren’t many out there willing to do it.

Or you might like Never Split the Difference, by Chris Voss and Tahl Raz who discuss how the FBI changed their negotiations approach and became much more successful by being transparent, open, honest, and just listening more. He even covers how you can use those methods in business or at home with your kids.

If you prefer examples in music and movies… Have you seen the 8 Mile movie starring Eminem? A story where, in the end, telling the truth provides more power than trying to hide it.

Conclusion

When it comes to team communication and project management, we need to be aware of these biases and tendencies that all humans have. We need to try and manage our reactions intentionally. An understanding of the truth is far more valuable, even if you don’t like what it says, because then you can make informed decisions that are more likely to succeed. Clients and customers find it much more difficult to be angry because you told them what was going on as early as you could.

Deception leads to false understanding. This can eventually come to light, and it can be hard to recover from it. What was meant to save millions, could still lose it. It really is a short-term vision rather than a long-term one.

The path to growth includes embracing uncomfortable conversations and continually trying to uncover what is true. It won’t ever be perfect – all we can do is strive to improve our little corner of the world and effect change where we can.

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If you are looking for a partner that shares similar ideas and aims for project management transparency, reach out to your Perficient account manager or use our contact form to begin a conversation.

We’re just now finishing up the holiday season. At this time of year, I’m always intrigued by the magic of the holidays we celebrate, and the optimistic goals we set for the new year. Even the lies we tell ourselves. It amazes me how we collectively like to suspend reality for a bit, reflect, and forecast. And I wonder why we don’t drift into thoughts of the extraordinary more often.

Holiday Magic

The two largest December holidays are Hanukkah and Christmas. Both of these religious holidays have central themes based on miracles. Hanukkah celebrates the miraculous oil that burned beyond its natural limits. Christmas honors the virgin birth on the religious side, and the global travels of Santa Claus on the secular side.

Our souls desire the fantastic and the unimaginable. So why is it that many adults downplay whimsy as childish? Why have many company cultures allowed themselves to be so buttoned up and restrictive?

Storytelling

As I mentioned in my blog post about the Psychology of Innovation, we humans are wired for storytelling. Even 6,000 years ago, storytellers were highly regarded in society.

Zippia released some market numbers for the entertainment industries this year, that include a $717 billion dollar U.S. market size (6.9% of the U.S. GDP). This includes gaming ($160 billion), movies ($91.8 billion), broadcast TV ($63.2 billion), music ($43 billion), and book publishing ($26.8 billion).

It’s no wonder that we still find ourselves enamored by the fantastic stories of Alice in Wonder Land, The Wizard of Oz, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Fantasy draws us in. Comedy removes our worries. Drama keeps us nervously intrigued.

Some have postulated on whether or not science fiction authors have predicted the future. Though I’m keen to agree with the Big Think article that, instead, science-fiction inspires the people who shape the future. We can do the same within our organizations!

Disruptive Thinking

I’m a big fan of the concept of disruption. Let’s turn things on their heads! If the team believes that there is a constraint keeping them from pursuing a path, then imagine a world where that is not the case. Years ago, I found the book series by Jean-Marie Dru and it immediately hit home for me.

When I was in high school, I recall an assignment where each student in the class was given a character from a book we had just read, and we each wrote an essay on our character. I was assigned perhaps the least interesting character in the book. I had to write three pages on this character, so I needed to find a way to entertain myself. Like the crazy conspiracy meme, I found my not-so-obvious path. I got an A+ and a special note from the teacher because I connected the dots to suggest that without my character there wouldn’t be a story to tell.

I realized, even then, with a little unconventional thought, you can connect dots in interesting and unexpected ways. In fact, in my blog post about Getting Unstuck When You’re Not the Creative Type, this concept of lateral thinking works everywhere! Remember that the opposite of one great idea can be another great idea! You can entirely suspend reality (even introducing randomness), and then come back and complete the full circle in a way that delights.

The Big Groups Do It

Amazon is known for their “working backwards” approach. The first step in creating a new product (such as AWS, FireTV, or the Kindle) is to write the press release – the thing that is normally the last step for everyone else. In doing so, they’ve found a way to suspend reality at the very start. When all is said and done, what do we want to tell the world about this product? Doing this first bypasses all the real-world reasons to NOT do something and focuses on the end result of why people will love this thing if we pull it off. The second step is to write the FAQs for the product. Once again, taking something that is normally one of the last steps, and doing it early in the process. It’s like writing our own science-fiction!

Google X is known for their moonshots. The goal is to create a culture that allows radical breakthroughs. Even if they miss the moon, they land among the stars. They’ve entertained such radical ideas as teleportation, a space elevator, and climate adaptation.

Tesla and SpaceX are a couple others where they bucked conventional wisdom and pushed for the unexpected. Elon Musk has said that the only constraints (principles) he lives by are the laws of physics – everything else is a suggestion.

Suspending Reality in Your Organization

So how do we get there? How can we set teams up to run distinct threads for both long-term directional conversations and still also handle the short-term, must-do tasks?

I’ve written about other topics that can help understand related principles:

• Intentionality
• Eisenhower Quadrants of Productivity
• North Star Goals
• Having Lots of Ideas

But specifically, to reach our goal of allowing teams to suspend reality long enough to allow unexpected creative innovation that can then be turned into actionable effort, we’ll need to consider the following six steps.

1. Have Leadership Backing

Any effort toward innovation is going to fail without approval and commitment from leadership.

2. Commit Creative Time for Teams

Leadership then must agree to teams or departments investing time toward creativity. This requires a “leap of faith” in that there is no guarantee of a specific outcome. This is where the magic should happen. Allow the teams time to suspend reality.

3. Align to Company Vision and Goals

The effort toward creativity and innovation needs to align with the company vision or North Star goal. We don’t want the teams focusing on something completely unrelated to the company goals, however, some company goals are broad and can allow interpretation that can still fundamentally change direction.

4. Encourage Debate

Creativity can be messy at first. Everyone involved should know that rough ideas may not be fully refined and ready for prime time yet. The teams should allow and accept debates, critiques, and spin-off ideas.

5. Ensure a Clear Commitment Strategy

Even before the debates begin, try to make sure everyone in the process understands what it takes to get to a decision. How refined does it need to be? What analysis is required to make the decision? Who has the final choice and who all needs to commit to taking it forward? Who will fund the next steps? What early results need to be seen to continue?

6. Plan and Iterate

Establish the plan for funding, timelines, resourcing, etc. In most cases, we’re pushing the boundaries here, so a true agile approach can be a perfect fit for managing things. Expect to iterate on the idea and be flexible. Start small and build it up.

Conclusion

I hope this article is able to inspire you to try and suspend reality within your company. I’ve tried to provide you with the concept, examples, and steps to implement. If you have other suggestions, please reach out on social media (Twitter X or LinkedIn) or leave a comment here on the blog!

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If you are looking for a digital agency that can help suspend reality to envision an exciting future, reach out to your Perficient account manager or use our contact form to begin a conversation.