Results x Methodology: DO IT!
I tend to believe that most of you already heard about the Egg of Columbus. The expression refers to an apocryphal story in which Christopher Columbus, having been told that discovering the Americas was inevitable and no great accomplishment, challenges his critics to make an egg stand on its tip. After his challengers give up, Columbus does it himself by tapping the egg on the table to flatten its tip. “That’s easy!” said the challengers. Columbus then answered: “it’s easy indeed, but only after I’ve done it and showed it to you”
Another historical legend: in Ancient Greece, it’s known that the Olympic Games were the biggest event of its time. In fact, it was so big that if a war was happening by the time of the Games, it would be paused during the period. It’s also known that the cities of Athens and Spartha were fierce rivals in everything. Athenians had the fame of being cerebral, ethical, philosophical, intelectuals. Sparthans were the fierce — and dumb — warriors, living their lives for war and combat only. The legend says that during the Olympic Games there was no seat available in a match between those two cities. At one side of the stadium we had athenians, and sparthans at the others, when a senior athenian citizen showed up, looking for a place to watch the games. He went to the athenian side of the audience, and no one budged. When the sparthans saw what happened, they called the senior and offered him the best seat at their side, and watched respectfully until the Games were over. When the athenians saw their attitude, they applauded the sparthans’ honor, to what the latter responded: “you might know it, but you don’t do it”
The keyword between those two legends is: DO IT!
How many times did we hear Voltaire’s quote “The best is the enemy of the good”? When a client requests a project, he/she is loaded of expectations, of desires, of — maybe — childhood traumas, such as “mommy and daddy didn’t pay me attention”, and he/she does NOT want to know about format; they want FUNCTION. I’ve lost count of how many times some excellent professionals get lost at the meanders on the latest trending methodology, all while the planned scheduled blew up. And then, the exit is to make up excuses, burn the midnight oil, overtime, rip the hair out, and last but not least, to lose the client. Every good IT professional LOVES to dig deeper, but there are times where excessive formality is only a pain in the… schedule. I’ve worked with an IT director who loved the quote “don’t leave for tomorrow the work you can do the day after tomorrow”, and unfortunately this is a reality at this market. The probability of success is proportional to the relevance given to their OBJECTIVES
As I always say, planning is by far the most important part of the project, but planning without execution means nothing. Knowledge without application ir mere curiosity, it does not deliver. And you can bet that the client won’t buy your ideas, instead they will buy your deliverables
My advice to you is: DO IT. Don’t EVER forget to plan, but don’t STOP on the plan, and most of all, don’t bother applying the 2543 rules of the chosen methodology. By being used wisely, intuition and feeling may guarantee the success of your project, ONCE you start executing it, and ONCE you make sure that everyone involved is engaged, and not only forwarding the eternal chain of follow-up e-mails, setting up useless meetings and overall avoiding responsibility. In the end, you cannot think that the methodology or your certificate will think or do things FOR you. Everything comes to a hands-on behavior, and there is nothing wrong or dishonorable about it. Methodologies HELP, but don’t SOLVE THE PROBLEM alone. Remember that in soccer, even a goal scored with your stomach is a valid goal.
DO IT!
