First Principles Friday: Leaders, You’re Writing Your Process Documents All Wrong
Operating a $420 million submarine showed me why you need specificity to hold yourself accountable to clear standards and improve performance.
“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” — Abraham Lincoln
As I’ve mentioned before, on the submarine where I served, everything was written down in excruciating detail. I rarely took action or made a decision that wasn’t informed by some type of policy, procedure or manual. Entire sections of the submarine were devoted to storing the volumes and volumes of reference materials and books we used for the day to day operation of the boat. I know this might sound cumbersome or robotic, like every step was already decided for me. But it was actually freeing! The detailed guides enabled me to focus on the context behind decisions. In many situations, the crew had to respond quickly and didn’t have time to read through the step by step procedure. But by understanding the context behind each step, I didn’t have to memorize them. I knew what the correct steps were because I understood how the system worked. And I still had the…
