REASONABLE TECHNOLOGIES

I recently took a road trip to a client’s location. As I was driving in reasonably heavy traffic, I noticed I was driving over the speed limit and yet on this stretch of highway I was getting passed by vehicles driving much faster and weaving in and out of traffic. I didn’t see any terrible accidents but as I was pondering this, I realized that drivers who practice this method of aggressive travel drive by 2 assumptions:

• I can read the minds of everyone in traffic and assume traffic will continue in the same pattern while I introduce additional variables.
• My response rate is quick enough to respond when the pattern changes. When the pattern changes and I don’t respond quickly enough, then accidents happen.

Our mind is a pretty good difference engine and we can usually spot patterns if we look long enough. The trick is to be able to forecast the pattern change. In business, it seems that we live in a chaos system because there are so many variables, it looks like chaos. But successful businesses have mastered that and do the research, variables and metrics that allow them to see the patterns that are critical and respond accordingly. Then their business model is flexible enough to pivot when the pattern changes. How can I do that?
My daughter, who manages an financial audit team told us that early in her career she would schedule “wonder time” after she finished an audit and play the “what if” game. That game is to ponder the variables that make up the audit and allow herself time to think through the “what ifs”. Her goal was to think through the controls and how they might be circumvented. Wonder Time is a lost art but it’s necessary to stop responding to outside stimuli and chose how you will respond.

When is your next “wonder time” ?