I have learnt to say "No" when my team members ask me "Senthil, Are there any timelines or deadlines?". A difficult one to utter, when you know you are placing too much trust on some body's commitment and interest. But I have had my share of luck so far. Success rate of 1 on 7.
Deadlines force you to think of dates rather than the outcome. Deadlines are music to the managers, but not to the solution itself. Is any woman given a deadline to deliver a baby? She needs to deliver a baby. That's it. It is outcome bound and not time bound. But does that mean that you will keep waiting forever till the solution is reached. Not necessarily, unless you have the funding to do so. I don't have that sort of liberty. I just stop the project. If I don't see outcomes or any kind of progress, I stop it. If I don't see the truck moving, (the pace doesn't matter), I abort it. It was an experimentation. With this approach, either I have quality deliverable or no deliverable at all. I call them "Resultlines".
Let me know whether it works for you or not.
Deadlines force you to think of dates rather than the outcome. Deadlines are music to the managers, but not to the solution itself. Is any woman given a deadline to deliver a baby? She needs to deliver a baby. That's it. It is outcome bound and not time bound. But does that mean that you will keep waiting forever till the solution is reached. Not necessarily, unless you have the funding to do so. I don't have that sort of liberty. I just stop the project. If I don't see outcomes or any kind of progress, I stop it. If I don't see the truck moving, (the pace doesn't matter), I abort it. It was an experimentation. With this approach, either I have quality deliverable or no deliverable at all. I call them "Resultlines".
Let me know whether it works for you or not.
