It seemed like the end of the world to Raymond’s team. The beta tests were clean, but this was the first customer run with the prototype. As hard as the team had pushed, this project was still going south. As bad as the product was being punished, the thing suffering the most was team morale.

Raymond’s company was not in a mission critical industry. When his product broke, no one died. It was certainly inconvenient, but not the end of the world. It just seemed like it. Looking around the room, he could see the dejection on everyone’s face. They had worked hard, but this project wasn’t budging.

“What is the worst thing that could happen?” he asked. There was silence forever, but forever only lasted thirty seconds.

“Our reputation will be ruined. – The customers will sue us. – We will have to lay off people in our department. – It will probably bankrupt the company. – And our families, too.”

“Okay,” Raymond replied, “anyone else?” Gazing around the table, it was a sad lot. “Look, we have a long history with the two customers who have this product. They know this is the first round out of beta-testing. They have not staked the future of their company on this project. They are not going to sue us. The worst that could happen is that we would have to refund all the money, including the deposits and extend a sincere apology. That’s it. Refunding the money will not bankrupt the company and no one is going to lose their job. Okay? Now, if that is the worst that can happen, how can we improve on that position?”

The purpose of the speech was not to solve the problem, that would come later. The purpose was to move the morale of a beaten team to a position where they could dig in and move forward. When things look grim, determine the worst thing that could happen and improve on that position. -TF