the need for speed
In the world of athletics there is a widely accepted principle that says: “Speed kills”. In most sporting events, speed will prevail over strength and many times speed will end up being the deciding factor between victory and defeat. As important as speed is on the field of play, in my experience, it’s even more important in the business world. While there is little debate that speed can create extreme competitive advantage, it is not well understood that a lack of speed can send a company (or an individual’s career) into a death spiral. Agility, fluidity, decisiveness, commitment and focus lead to the creation of speed that translates into a certainty of execution. In today’s blog post, I’ll discuss why you should feel “The Need for Speed.”
General George S. Patton said it best: “A good plan violently executed today is much better than a perfect plan tomorrow.” The search for perfection is one of the great adversaries of speed. In fact, at the risk of being controversial, I’m going to take the position that perfection doesn’t exist. I hate to break it to you, but those of you who consider yourself perfectionists are simply exhibiting perfectionist tendencies in an unrealistic attempt to achieve what you can’t have. The pursuit of perfectionism does not result in an increase in quality, but it will result in time delays, cost overruns, missed deadlines, and missed commitments.
Some would argue speed in undisciplined decision making, but I would caution you not to confuse speed with reckless abandon… I’m a big proponent of planning, evaluating, analyzing, and strategizing, but only if you conclude timely. Fashion. “Analysis paralysis” leads to missed opportunities and failed initiatives.
Earlier in my career, I served as the Director of Internet Strategy for what was at the time the largest web enablement company in the world. While in that position, I coined the term e-velocity, which we recorded and used to describe the influence technology was having on the pace at which business had to be done to remain competitive. It used to be acceptable to take 12-18 months to implement an initiative, but in today’s world it’s better to be able to do it in 90 days or it will be obsolete before it hits the market. When I first started in the business it was customary and customary to produce 5 and 10 year business plans and today I work with 90 day tactical business plans.
The latest advances in Business Process Management (BPM) have led to a reduction in the planning and budgeting cycle from 120 and 90 days to 45 days. But is 45 days good enough? How many days constitute a response cycle time? Many believe that the correct number is between 5 and 10 days. Why is cycle time reduction important? Because planning shorter and more budgetary processes facilitates greater flexibility and responsiveness. Email used to be the flagship application and now it’s become obsolete… My digital communication preference (along with most of my colleagues) has shifted from email to instant messaging (IM) and instant messaging now makes up about of 70%. from my messaging activity (see a previous blog post titled “The Power of Instant Messaging”).
In today’s competitive business environment, you need to be able to quickly assess risk and make timely decisions. You cannot succeed by being guided by fear and hesitation. When in doubt, remember that “Speed kills” and that “he who doubts is lost”.
