July 6

Two things that will quickly stall the creative process:

1. A lack of definition of success. 2. A lack of definition of failure.

If you haven’t defined (and agreed upon) what a successful project looks like, it is entirely possible that you’re aiming at a much different target than everyone around you. Or the target might shift in the midst of the work, and those micro drifts of scope could steer you far off the intended course.

If you haven’t defined failure, it will be difficult to know the difference between a bump in the road and a catastrophic sinkhole. How do you know when it’s time to give up? To try a new approach? To adjust your strategy?

To define success, ask these questions:

►What will it look like when we’ve succeeded?

►How will we know?

►What problem will we have solved?

To define failure, ask these questions:

►How will we know we are off course?

►What are the limits of the resources we can spend?

►What are we tryingnotto do?

Have clear definitions of both success and failure, and you are much more likely to steer your work successfully.

QUESTION

Do you have a clear definition of both success and failure for your current work?