The illiterates of 21st Century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.   - Alvin Toffler

Remember when you were 15 years old? You did some things well, other things not so well. You were excited about the future but uncertain of the path you would follow. You were curious, you often took risks and failed, but you were always learning.

Those attributes describe how, in my view, leaders of the corporate world are managing the process of digitally transforming their businesses. 

We read “Necessity is the mother of invention” and now actually “Reinvention is the mother of necessity” 

We need to shift our “Business As Usual”  Thinking 

• Lack of integration
• Legacy system of Records

to “Digital Thinking” 

• Digital and Social inside and out
• System of engagement
• Human Centric Designs 

We’re too focused on the technology rather than thinking about digital as a ‘whole of business’ transformation. As a result, we are failing to seriously incorporate digital into the fabric of our companies. While talking to some of my peers in the industry it also appears that the problem is as well with the approach we are trying to implement digital strategies. Digital and Agile walks hand in hand. We can’t have traditional implementation strategies to implement the Digital aspects which actually require an Agile approach. 

Few years earlier – I was frustrated - things at work and life were not moving as I was expecting but sooner I realized that it was all because “I was mostly playing it safe” and this thought struck my mind “Our best work only comes from bold decisions rather than playing it safe”.

In order to be the best and to keep getting better, we have to take some bold decisions in life or at work not because we have to, but because we got to. Be it our survival-instinct that drives us.

At some point in our career we all go through some tough times at work, when our job is at stake or we feel there is no career growth. Be it work or community we live in, just look around and you will find at-least half a dozen of reasons to feel afraid, “Play it Safe” and hope for the best. In the culture that prevails in our service industry (like IT) that breeds anxiety and urges caution, many are doing just that – “Playing it Safe”

Just imagine what would be the future of our IT industry if we always try to play it safe? It could be to save our name or position in the industry or sometimes even for the fear of losing job. Yet the Industries/People, who are NOT afraid to take bold decisions, handle their challenges better, adapt to change faster and seize opportunities with those in their head to take first difficult step towards the next big challenge and achieve success.

This contributes a lot towards the growth of any industry or success to any project.

The problem is "We try to estimate the size of risks and under-estimate our ability to handle them." Accordingly, our choices are often driven more by a fear of what we don’t want, than a commitment to what we want to do. But if we take the words of Andy Andrews – that “First we make a choice. Then our choices make us.” then we have to begin making more courageous choices – to take more risks and to step beyond the borders of our comfort zone more often because,

“Our best work only comes from bold decisions rather than playing it safe”.

In one of my recent leadership meeting, a Video was shown demonstrating success over survival. Something was missing !! , It focused on "Success" but not on the "Survival Instinct" which I feel is very much required to attain Success because whatever it is you do for the survival, over the time, the command you had when it all began, undoubtedly fades away as you already have lost your "Survival instinct" along the way. You must find ways to bring it back. Look to your left and right. Find ways to keep it there. Surround yourself with people that inspire and places that ignite your best work.

I am sure the amount of energy and focus you had at that time of your survival for completing a task was much more than right now even though it is important but is not for your survival now !! . But if you have had that survival instinct to drive you through your present challenges in life, you would definitely reach success not for your survival but with your survival instinct.

That survival instinct is what keeps you sharp. It’s what keeps you (truly) focused. It inspires you to deliver from a place of sheer dedication, not from a place of external expectations and living up the hype.

Just try to imagine, With your Survival Instinct if you put the same amount of efforts and focus [as you would do for your survival] in your regular routine !! - "Sky is your limit".

Remember when you didn't had any work it was your Survival instinct which got you here and it’s what will keep you on track to where you’re going i.e towards success.

You must have encountered a situation when someone walks up to you and asks, “How’s it going?” immediate reply “Busy”?  You’ve done it, I do it, and we all do it.

What resonates in the working culture these days is nothing but obsession with hard work. Because, like many people, I struggle with what happens in between being busy. “Managing a Project Schedule ” is a key aspect in the life of a Project Manager to the point that I have schedule [issue's to fix] to not scheduling anything[no issues]. And, like any addiction, I know it’s unhealthy. But I seek out more work wherever I can find it.
 
If you’re a Project Manager or a Project Lead  yourself, you can likely relate to the pursuit of constantly doing more and always trying to get ahead when you know damn well you can never actually, truly, officially, be “done” with work.

What I’ve learned over the years working for the client National Australia Bank (Nab)  is that you can’t really fight the fact that you’re going to work…a lot. It comes with the Release Management territory where you are surrounded by series of project deliveries and possible issues along the way. But successful Project Management truly is about working smarter and better on the things you’re best served to do rather than working hard on something which you are not good enough but you got to do because of a resource/time/billing constraint.

For example, I know that to help my client grow, I’m NOT best served to code for projects day to day or design projects —we’ve got specialists to handle each of these.

I’m much better served at managing real-time production support activities and implementations. Fixing high severity production issues. Giving feedback and editing rather than developing the code from scratch. Each of us here at Nab is constantly working toward those things that we’re best served to do. The work that we’re called and compelled to do. We are "Always On".

By discovering what that thing is and what those things are that you’re best at, you’re able to evolve from an unhealthy workaholic constantly trying to fill your schedule with stuff for the sake of being busy, to a motivated, focused, pursuer of your passion and craft.

Work hard, sure. But work hard on what you should be working on which makes you even Smarter !!

In Project Management we give lot of focus on the Term FTR (First time Right).

It's not Important but "Very" Important aspect with every Project Delivery because by not meeting FTR's would result in the doing things over at the cost of delaying a critical project.

The reality is that taking the time to do things right the first time will virtually always, in the long run, take significantly less time and result in a higher quality in project delivery than it does to do things over. By not doing things right the first time, you will not only trouble yourself (and look bad in the eyes of almost everyone), but you will greatly impact the lives of many others as well.  

Why do people make this mistake in the first place?
Clearly they don’t do it intentionally in fact they begin with the very best of intentions, to do their jobs to the best of their abilities in the very best ways possible. They will even often say to themselves, “this time I’ll do it right the first time and not get caught up in downstream problems.”

What changes that idealistic desire?
Pressure from a variety of sources is typically the cause. Such pressure will often cause people to take “shortcuts”, or “force” them to get “something” out quickly that can be “refined” later. We will examine the sources of pressure and how you can best stand up to these pressures.

Internal Pressure
One source of pressure is “Internal” and not based on external forces at all. You are asked to develop estimates of what it will take for you to accomplish a specific task. How much time will it take, including dependencies on others and to others? Being a knowledge worker, you tend to be fairly optimistic, the task looks fairly straightforward, and you think you can complete this task in fairly short order. In developing your estimate you think about the direct implementation of the normal functionality you are implementing and not of all the abnormal cases or error paths. You provide an estimate that you think is reasonable without thoroughly thinking through all that really needs to be accomplished. Once you have provided your estimate you are now, rightfully, expected to deliver on your commitment, and you pride yourself on delivering on your commitments. Then, when you are actually engaged in the implementation, all of the things you didn’t think through, including the exception conditions and error paths, suddenly become self-evident, and you recognise that you didn’t allow the proper amount of time to actually implement all of these cases. But by now you’ve committed to a delivery date and many others are dependent on your delivery. So you make a decision to deliver “something” that can enable them to continue their work, even though what you are delivering is not really complete. You tell yourself that what you have delivered is “good enough” for now and that you will have time to fix it before it will cause any real problems. Of course finding that time will become a problem because you now have many other tasks to deliver and you’ve estimated the time it will take to complete them in much the same way you did with this task. The net result is that you’ve delivered an incomplete “product” (and you know it), but now you’re even deeper in trouble because of this and even more similarly flawed deliveries. You’ve created a crisis of your own making and you’re embarrassed to admit it and don’t see a way to correct the problems.  You’re afraid to admit your mistakes and to ask for help.

This is just one example of internal pressure that can lead to not doing things right the first time. Internal pressure can also come from trying to meet team commitments so as to not let your teammates down, getting your task done quickly (even if incompletely) to beat your rival and show him/her up, trying to show off to your boss or others, trying to show that you are the best and the fastest or that you are not the worst or the slowest, simple laziness, or many other reasons. Regardless, you are just fooling yourself, and you’re about to pay the price. Unfortunately, you will also make others pay for your mistakes as well. This simply isn't right; you're supposed to be a professional!

External Pressure
Another source of pressure is “External”. This may be pressure from your boss or your peers to meet deadlines or stay on schedule, or to “show” progress, or to get “something” ready for a demo, or similar reasons. These pressures lead to making the same kinds of mistakes as with internal pressure, and after all, it is still your decision take the “shortcut” and to deliver “something” even though you know it is not right or complete.

So what should you do to avoid making such mistakes in the future?
First, you should resolve that you will not allow yourself to do this, and then stick to this decision. It is your decision to do it right versus doing it over, and you should force yourself to always opt for doing it right. Do not allow yourself to accept delivering half solutions or half-baked deliverables. Setting this frame of mind in yourself, and not accepting less is often a very good start.

Next, comes the “Synergic” Decision making approach, I am introducing a new term here: "Synergic Decision Making". There is a direct correlation between your project success and how many decisions you make that are Synergic. In other words, Synergic decisions are the best and only decisions you should make in life.

But what on earth are Synergic decisions?

Synergic decision making is simply letting your community (Project Colleagues, Mentors  etc.) always guide and help you in your decision making. You need to talk to them openly about everything. Transparency, honesty, and, most importantly, trust is key for this to work. Even though the majority of people aren’t that smart in this world, Synergic decision making is the reason why our projects cannot only function, but thrive. Be wise and learn this skill, or else a bunch of clueless people can easily leave you in the dust every time.
Finding the right people to have in your decision making is key as hiding the truth, deception, and nonbelievers (i.e. not believing your facts, ideas, or opinions on the matter) makes Synergic decision making impossible.

WARNING: If someone in your project has an ulterior motivate (deception), not only will it not work, but you will probably end up making the worst decision possible. If you sense someone has an ulterior motive (even if that person thinks it’ll be to your benefit in the end) you need to remove that person from your decision making process. Possibly even your life. In my experience, even confronting them about their ulterior motive doesn’t change anything. They’ll keep playing dumb and still try to influence your decision. If they can’t, then they’ll even start to lie and manipulate you to achieve their ulterior motives.

However, If the only person you have to discuss with has ulterior motives, I would say go ahead and do it. Just take what they say with a pinch of salt and be mindful of bad advice they are trying to give you. As the old saying goes, "Two heads are better than one even if one is a cabbage."

The easiest way to do Synergic decision making isn't to ask for their advice on a situation, but to tell them what has been on your mind lately, what is going on the project you have been working on. From there the conversation will naturally go to Synergic decision making.

Finally, for Synergic decision making to work, people must have a willingness to help. Besides sometimes having an ulterior motive (Internal pressures), they don’t care to hammer out the details like someone who truly cares about you or your project would.

"But I don’t have a colleague I can trust, or I have no colleagues at all."

If you don’t have a colleague or can no longer trust your own colleagues, the best thing you can do is trust your intuition. Your intuition will always push you towards your best decision, but the odds are low that you’ll make that specific, best decision (because the best decision always involves a lot of details and a lot of steps which you probably won’t figure out by simply following your gut).

But what you can also do is ask a stranger for advice. No, you can’t ask them your project specific questions as it is not compliant to do that[for legal reasons] but you can ask them general questions related to project management and stuff by illustrating your scenario in the project.
 
You may not necessarily get what you want, but you are starting a dialogue that will help guide you towards your most beneficial path. See how that works?

You can plan all you want, but it can never compete against Synergic decision making. Why?

Cause your little amount of research can’t compare to a lifetime of knowledge and experience applied to your specific situation. Now add even more lifetime of experiences (more people) and different ways of thinking about your problem that you cannot. Synergic decision making is your best bet. End of story.

Synergic decision making is really just open communication. If you can do this with people you can trust, then everything will be okay.

And if you still don't understand why Synergic decision making is so critical for your success and happiness, let me give you a quote by Tony Robbins: "The defining factor for success is never resources; it’s resourcefulness."

Synergic decision making is the ultimate form of resourcefulness. People will always think of things you won't.

And at the end, take the time necessary to really think through what you are committing to, and don’t make “assumptions” that are not thoroughly thought through and reviewed (when you ass/u/me, you make an “ass” out of “u” and “me”!). Be as complete as you can be when preparing your schedule estimates, and when you think you’ve got your estimate ready, go back and review it again, looking for flaws in your approach or assumptions. Have you considered all of the exception conditions and error paths? Have you included your dependencies on the deliveries of others and are they truly realistic? Have you included your deliveries to all of the others who will really need them? Where can things go wrong, and if they do, what are the ways around them? You can never be perfect, but that’s where Synergic decision making helps you to be as thorough and complete as you can.  

While this may sound easy and straightforward, very often it is not. It may require you to transparent/open and admit to your boss or others that you didn’t plan properly, or that you didn’t think things through or that you need help that you didn’t anticipate. Still, it is better to do this sooner rather than later. The earlier in the process that problem can be identified and corrected, the less time wasted downstream trying to find and correct the problems (doing things over) and the higher the quality of your work.

Conclusion
To Conclude not doing things right the first time is a false solution, regardless of the reasons. If what you’ve developed is not right, it will have to be made right at some point, and fixing what you have screwed up will almost always take longer than doing it right the first time, and will almost always adversely impact others along the way. Your guiding principle, at work and in life, should always be making Synergic decisions to do things right the first time!

A challenge for you:  Take a step back and think – on a scale from one to ten, how you would rate your team’s ‘Success’? As you’re thinking, what statistics do you factor in to determine the success of a Team? Is it about the number of project delivered? number of problems fixed? Average number of projects delivered per quarter? Does it all comes down to the numbers – the analytic and statistical information that ‘proves’ you’re on the right path?

Realistically, it’s hard to argue that the stats don’t come into play. If someone asks me what was my most successful year in IT? , I immediately point them to the year 2008, my ‘one hit wonder’ that brought many new faces through my neck of the woods – some of whom have remained and become regular admirers. It was one of the highlights of my IT career thus far, without a doubt. I was consistently focusing on delivering quality service to my clients.

That being said, it is not, and should not be all about the numbers. Measuring success in numbers, studying the statistics and neglecting the real value of product and its usage is flawed in practice.

Here are two things we should be thinking about when measuring our success:

Consistency

You’ve probably heard it, preached it, from time and time again: The most effective IT service providers deliver best practices “regularly and routinely”. Ask yourself this: Have you established a schedule? Do people know when to expect a new innovative idea from you? Are you ritualistic in your delivery? You would be surprised at the effectiveness of being ‘predictable’. I’m more likely to follow your work if I know that every Wednesday morning I can expect to see a email with your next action items.

Another factor to consider: Is your service consistently ‘good’? I use the term 'good' loosely as there is no clear definition of what makes a service ‘good’. Think about it this way: Is your delivery steady throughout the year or are you seeing peaks and valleys? Are you generating good interactive discussion on most of your meetings, or many of your meetings draw very little to no interest? If you’re struggling to maintain consistent interest, you may need to rethink the focus and direction of your meetings to determine your meeting’s target niche.

Quality

When thinking about the project’s success, one of the first factors that come to mind is the number of issues/new features which were addressed. But simply racking up abundance of new features or addressing the number of issues isn’t what’s important. Quality beats quantity, every time. At first pass, a project with 200 new features / addressing 100 issues may look ‘better’ – but if you have an one major new feature/issue addressed with a lot more usage, isn’t that more successful? I think so.

Success isn’t measured in numbers – it’s measured by consistent quality product by technology that inspires business and keeps people coming back for more business.

"The uncomfortable reality of a MASTERPIECE is that it encourages creative-sequestration: if you know you won’t be able to do something well, you’re less likely to try, in order to avoid failure (or less-than-masterpiece)...Today, masterpiece is a moving target. An idea that means something different for every single word you write." 

Have you ever found yourself glaring at a blank cursor blinking back at you on the screen, held back from writing the first word because you can't seem to find the right way to add your final period?

Usually, when this happens, I close my laptop and walk away. I chalk it up to a "lack of inspiration" and move on to something I'm more confident that I can handle without a pause in that moment. Web-Designing, Reading Books, PS4, to name a few.

According to the all-knowing Wikipedia, Masterpiece is defined as "a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or to a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship."

In the creative process, masterpiece is a lost cause. One man's "masterpiece"  is another man's "can we see it a different way?" - the path to arrive at a masterpiece, in our line of work, leads to nowhere.

Masterpiece is a moving target.

One that cannot simply be arrived at, but that with the right efforts at the right time, that sweet spot of Masterpiece can be found.

The trick then to hitting that moving target (blinking cursor), is to move with it (write along it). Because there's beauty in effort and there's much to be said for trying, failing, and trying again.

A wise woman named Cher once said, "Until you're ready to look foolish, you'll never have the possibility of being great."

I can't - and no one can - tell you where your pursuit will lead. But it will lead somewhere. And somewhere is good. Somewhere’ s much farther than the blank cursor blinking on a blank screen will take you.

Write down your first word. Look foolish. Redefine your work and keep tinkering, iterating, and dreaming toward the possibility of writing your “Masterpiece” !!  

I still remember when I started working in the IT (Information Technology) industry as a Mainframe developer , the prime focus was on learning the programming language to equip ourselves with the client’s technology  which latter evolved in understanding the IT frameworks and so on...But no one actually focuses on “Client Language!!”

With over 10+ years experience in IT industry, I walked along various roles in IT and realised there was always something missing to bridge the "IT" gap between Client and Vendor and sooner this thought nailed in:-

“Get closer than ever to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realise it themselves.”  ~ Steve Jobs

And that is only possible when the focus is on the “Client language”.

What is “Client Language”?
       It’s  all about understanding the Client’s “Business”. The way they interact , discuss their product and the way they think, Many businesses struggle to hire strategic partners because they don't feel they understand their business.  The only way for an IT service provider to reach that level is actual to understand the business of their Client in their language i.e. “Client Language”.

How do I learn “Client Language”?
    Well, At certain times it can be more specific to a client but there few general tips which I always try at work.

• Champion thoughtfulness in everything you do,  rather than focusing on jumping from project to project. For me, scaling doesn’t mean doing more but it means being better.
• Most of the time focus on the path of growing well, not fast.
• By making sure we’re not just developing “what we think is best” but we should also make sure that everything created supports what’s relevant and proven.
• Most importantly take the time to genuinely collaborate with the client.

Yes, above all we need to "genuinely collaborate with the client" because collaboration results in interaction and  it is really important to interact as You can’t learn a new language if you don’t use it.

If you study any language . If you don't use it often, You can probably conjugate vowels, but can’t speak a word of that language  because  you didn’t use it. Same rule goes for the "Client Language". 

I started to focus more on my client interaction and by listening to them helped me in understanding their business. And sooner I got acquainted with their Business Language i.e "Client Language".  At the later stage, this even helped me adapting their business to my IT service.

Tip :- As you interact with your client, take note of the words, phrases, examples, metaphors, and stories they share. This is their language. Adapt it into your own and experience the result yourself

In Nutshell, Learning the language of your clients, getting to know their culture, and being an “extension of their team” [rather than being treated as another Vendor or IT service provider] is where more focus should be put rather than focusing on just delivering more and more.