Don’t Deliberate, Iterate

As a verb, deliberate means to engage in long and careful consideration. To the extreme and for this discussion it can also be a means of procrastination. Meaning at times it can seem as if I’m carefully considering something, but considering, doesn’t mean acting. We can consider crossing a road, but we remain on the side we’re on until we take action. Looking without leaping has its merits as well, but in this case some discernment is merited.

With this particular project I’ve been working on for a few months now, I deliberated or carefully considered a plethora of options. After all the research, I made a decision on the best available tools at the time. Now, a couple months later some additional tools are on the market and quite capable, and perhaps better than the tools I’ve selected. I could begin considering the new tools again and start the entire process over. I could also move forward with the best option when I began and make an update at a later time.

The speed at which technology advances could have me with nothing on the market for the next decade. I could keep researching and considering various options, only to have those options out of date when the research is completed. If we amend our business model to iterate consistently then it’ll provide the best available continuously. I believe this will best serve our partners. Kaizen is a business philosophy of continuous improvement and applicable.

Adapting and implementing a system of continuous improvement should prove valuable to our partners and the clients they serve. The Dead Sea has little water coming in, salinity levels are toxic to most creatures, and that’s primarily because only a little comes in from the Jordan River. If it were a business it would have been bankrupt long ago. Constant improvement from multiple sources feed you and your business. Like the 17 major tributaries feeding the Amazon River, your organization will thrive and become complex while serving numerous entities and individuals.

That all being said, I hope, drills down on my point of making iteration a constant compared to deliberation. I can get “analysis paralysis” and keep thinking but not acting. Business is a life form unto itself and requires movement for its survival Stagnation means death. Move, act, grow, and thrive from where you are today. You can improve on things later, but you can’t change what doesn’t exist.

Today, Friday, July 12, 2024, I am grateful that:

Herb and I got a chance to talk yesterday. Not our typical conversation, I was out and about and it was raining, but a truncated call with a bad reception is better than no call at all.

I’m making progress on project completion. The first program should be finished today. I’ll begin work on the second tomorrow and the third on Sunday. Hoping to complete one per day for the foreseeable future. We’ll see how that develops.

I’m getting more acclimated to being back in the city. I didn’t know how much I fit in here until I left then returned. Living in the city is where I’d like to be the majority of the time.

The Kaizen philosophy came back to mind this morning. Iteration and or small improvements over a l

This is the first part of the entry.