Minimize the variables you can control.

I developed this mantra doing programs and it served the outcomes we were driving effectively.

But this is also a core tenet of the overall operations of operations; not just “ops” operations but sales, technology, R&D, etc.   Much related to our discussion yesterday about Safety Stock.

For example, I had extra time to write at Newark airport this evening.  (Newark becoming a contemplative as well as an Ops Mecca?). That’s because, especially after myriad travel mini-disasters on my last two trips, I leave at extra 15 minutes for Lyft/Uber so I can get a backup if they don’t show. If no car comes, I can drive to the airport; and I leave an hour for any security line meltdowns.  That’s all I can control.  The rest is up to the Port Authority, United Airlines, and the Travel Gods. 

Even so, I waited over three hours to get going last week.  But there was nothing I could’ve done to prevent that.

I used to drive everyone a bit nuts with this mania at work.  (In a good way.)  Yet I can’t overemphasize it’s importance.  

I’ve used the example of the Healthcare.gov catastrophe in the “Real World Project Management” one day boot camp I co-taught at Cornell’s MBA program.  Two massive failures involved backend performance and front end PC/laptop client problems.  If you’ve done this before, these are largely avoidable problems.  In fact, part of my (delightful) crazy-making was to inventory and test every PC/laptop/OS/browser/patch level combination, find the ones that sucked, and fix them.  Yes, a big pain, but easier to do before you deploy and your customer/users say: “it doesn’t work.”  And responding to things you can fix upfront abrogates your ability to respond to the unpredictable and unforeseeable.

I like to keep in mind our forbears who have made this observation.  It’s received wisdom, but a really valuable piece of it.  These are two of my favorites; there are surely lots more.

“Chance favors only the prepared mind,“ says Pascal.  

“Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference,” says Reinhold Neighbur.

This is fun once you get into it, determining what you can affect, or may be able to affect.  It’s part of the magic blend of art and science in planning.

-Chris