The Simplest Thing That Could Work
After I returned home from the Sweden PSL, I had a cold, and then have been redesigning simulations for my upcoming (tomorrow!) customized project management workshop.
At PSL, we invoked one idea repeatedly: the zeroth solution. The zeroth solution is the simplest thing that could work. So, if you need a simulation for a workshop, you look at what you have already: could one of them work? That’s your simplest solution. I had several that could work, but I wasn’t thrilled with them. But I had one, a fallback position. (If you don’t already have one, what’s the simplest simulation you could create?)
As I iterated on the design, I kept asking myself, what’s the next simplest thing that could work? Is there something else that would allow me a new zeroth solution? That allowed me to build the simulation incrementally and iteratively. (No, I didn’t timebox myself :-)
You’ve heard “The perfect/best is the enemy of the good” (Voltaire). The same thing happens at work, in projects, in any sort of endeavor. If you try for perfection at the beginning, the pressure is too much. Instead, try for a zeroth solution, the simplest thing that could work, and better it over time.
Esther, Jerry and I are teaching another PSL March 22-27 in Albuquerque. Email me for more information.
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