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Transcript

It Works. That’s the Problem. · The Search

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: It works.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's the problem.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes success gives us no reason to look again.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Years ago, I built an application that worked perfectly fine.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Later, with more experience,
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: I realised it could have benefited from tools I already knew about when I built it.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: That was the strange part.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: I already had the tools, I just didn't recognise when to use them.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: And there wasn't much reason to.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: What I had built worked well enough.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Recently, I noticed the same thing somewhere completely different.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: I was playing pickleball and wasn't enjoying the game.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Before long, I had constructed an explanation for why.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Then I noticed myself cutting the other players down in my head.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: That made me stop.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: I realised I was reaching conclusions that were abrupt, unverified and unchallenged.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I already had tools for dealing with that.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: I just hadn't thought to use them.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Both situations expose the same problem.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: When something works well enough, there's less reason to question it.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes that's perfectly fine.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Improvement has a cost.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Changing something that already accomplishes its goal isn't automatically worthwhile.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: The problem is when local success prevents us from evaluating the larger goal.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: A process can accomplish its immediate task without serving the larger business.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: A conversation can resolve today's disagreement without improving the relationship.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: The habit can get us through the day without taking us where we ultimately want to go.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: The pattern is the same.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Something can work for what we're doing right now without working as well
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: for what we're ultimately trying to accomplish.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: That's where triggers become useful.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: A trigger isn't a reason to change something.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's a reason to reconsider it.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we build those triggers ahead of time through metrics, tests, checkpoints or feedback.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes experience teaches us what to look for.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes we create our own.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's what abrupt, unverified and unchallenged has become for me.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: When all three appear together, I investigate.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean my conclusion is wrong.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: It means it's worth another look.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes that second look reveals a better approach.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it confirms that what we're already doing is good enough.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Both are useful.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: The goal isn't to optimise everything.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's to recognise when something that works locally deserves to be reconsidered globally.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes the thing preventing us from finding a better solution isn't
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: a lack of tools, knowledge or resources.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: What we're already doing simply works well enough that we never think to look.