Friday, January 03, 2020

Wanna Screw Up?

round silver-colored and black pocket watch displaying 1:15


Some time-tested techniques:
  1. Don't assemble a highly competent team.
  2. Don't have a clear goal.
  3. Ignore potential allies.
  4. Push for rapid agreement.
  5. Rush through the complicated subjects.
  6. Procrastinate. 
  7. Underestimate the time needed for completion.
  8. Assume you have all the time in the world.
  9. Have inadequate resources.
  10. Fall in with bad companions.
  11. Create unnecessary enemies.
  12. Underestimate the competition.
  13. Ignore the feeling that something's wrong.
  14. Give up after a setback.
  15. Tolerate haziness in planning.
  16. Blur accountability.
  17. Measure nothing.
  18. Don't use interim deadlines.
  19. Assume that your associates remember the mission.
  20. Fail to focus.
  21. Fail to delegate.
  22. Trust initial reports.
  23. Run with an analytical framework that has not been challenged.
  24. Squelch dissent.
  25. Disrespect people.
  26. Tolerate lying.
  27. Over-reach.
  28. Under-communicate.
  29. Assume facts that are not established.
  30. Don't search for weak spots.
  31. Rely on old plans.
  32. Fail to insert flexibility.
  33. Isolate yourself from the action points.
  34. Exhaust people.
  35. Ignore mission-creep.
  36. Don't think beyond achievement of the mission.

[Photo by Jonathan Pielmayer at Unsplash]

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