What to do about Analysis Paralysis.
Do you ever find yourself in a position where, you seem unable
to take any decisive action, due to over thinking about the details
or over planning. This is due to one of the best action killers we
can find when applying Improvement strategies, and known simply as
"Analysis Paralysis".
Planning is essential when starting any new endeavour, it should
however, not be to such a level that it overwhelms us and therefore
prevents us from making a decision or worst case cause us to
abandon action.
I have come across this particular problem on many occasions
where organisations have failed to take decisive action because
they were constantly planning what to do, and were also fearful
of the potential pitfalls, of taking action.
Here are one or two tips which may help you to overcome
Analysis Paralysis.
Plan
You will obviously still need to plan, however this time round,
over-planning is forbidden. Decide what you need to know before you
start and get a grasp of the current state. Brainstorm and decide
what would be the most painful to change, get more information and
make a more informed decision. As far as possible make plans for
the most likely things that could go wrong and seek to avoid
them.
Deadline
Set a Planning session deadline and be strict about it, only
spend that amount of time planning, this forces you to only take
account of the necessities and prevents over planning.
Get on with it
When you have finished your planning session, stop looking
for reasons, why not, and just get on with it. Instead of "what if"
scenarios, you will have real time opportunities as you learn by
doing.
Don't seek Perfection
By taking action, 50% of targeted improvement is better
than, the 0% which can be gained by inaction. Forget about
perfection, it is extremely unlikely that everything will turn out
just as perfectly as you wanted it, so just do it and adjust your
plan as you go, do not expect to cover every eventuality during
planning, trying to do this can also kill your project stone
dead.
Keep Going
Once you have started, don't stop to think (re-think) again.
Just have a to do list and carry on towards your objective,
(obviously checking at each stage to ensure there have been no
detrimental side-effects), and complete the tasks.
Make Decisions
Do not dilly dally when a decision needs to be made make it, try
to speed up your decision making by practicing on normal everyday
decisions, set a 5 second time limit and make the decision, e.g.
Shall I have a cup of tea or a cup of coffee?
Find a Mentor
Find someone who appears to be able to take action in their
stride and to achieve results. Whenever you find yourself in the
Analysis Paralysis trap, find your mentor and talk it over, you
will probably get a positive action plan from the discussion and
generate the momentum required to overcome the inertia.
And Finally
Always remember Analysis without action will not help you to
achieve any kind of positive results, why don't you go and start
something that will help to enhance your life. Stop thinking about
it, go and do it today.
Jargon Buster:
"Chaku-Chaku" A method of conducting a single-piece flow in
which the operator proceeds from machine to machine. Means
load-load in Japanese.
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