Tag Archives: sequence

Unintended Consequences

“I thought we had it fixed,” Luke shook his head. “We had a problem. We solved the problem. We implemented the fix. But, the fix caused two other problems.”

“It’s always something,” I smiled. “What did you just learn?”

“I learned that the steps in our process are not just a sequence of things one after another. The steps have an order, but each step has an impact on things around it.”

“And?” I asked.

“Two things,” Luke replied. “Each step has an impact on the work flow with what immediately precedes and comes after. But, a step might have an impact on something far away, that you cannot see or that you might not connect.”

“So, how do you most effectively make a change in your system?” I wanted to know.

“Obviously, our attention is riveted to the immediate area, but we also have to widen our picture to include the whole system and have metrics at key points that let us see unintended consequences.”

Out of Sequence

“I’m having a tough time with my team, struggling to meet the project expectations I set for them,” Sheila explained. “It seems they have different interpretations of the project deliverables, a bit of confusion, making it difficult to nail down accountability.”

“So, tell me what you told them?” I said.

“We had a team meeting about the project, making the message consistent to everyone on the team, so, I’m not sure how people got off track. I’m not even sure how what they are thinking, I just know each of them has a different take.”

“How so?” I pressed.

“It looks like everyone started at a different place in the sequence. This is a linear project with specific steps, one after the other. But, one person is starting on step three and another on step eight. They told me they were trying to think ahead, so when we got to that step, it would already be done.”

I wasn’t skeptical, but wanted to more detail. “And, the problem is?”

“Step three depends on the outcome of steps one and two, it’s a dependent step. We might even be able to skip step three depending on how steps one and two turn out.”

“And, I am sure you clearly described this?” I smiled.

“No, I just assumed the team would figure that out,” she explained.

“So, if you had to do the meeting over again, what would you, as the manager, do differently?”