“Pull the boat out of the water before you try to repaint it.”
One of my Hoover’s co-workers uses the turn of phrase in the title when she suspects that a project needs a rethink. Without some kind of signal to pause and reflect, it’s all too easy to bull ahead and try to fix everything on the fly — even the parts that need a real overhaul.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m a big fan of forging ahead when things are imperfect. But one of the signs of maturity — as a person, as a manager — is developing the discernment to know when it’s time to pull the boat out of the water.
What are the signals that tell YOU it’s time to pause and rethink a project?
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(Photo by Enrico Matteucci.)
Category: Management2 Comments so far
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It’s time to pull the boat out of the water when you keep producing the same results time and time again. Maybe it’s an issue of creativity… The point being, if you keep producing the same results over and over, you’ve plateaued in the direction you were headed and it’s time to recollect!
Ribeezie — I like the stop-and-reflect nature of what you’re saying. Too easy to do the same old things, only harder; much wiser to develop the radar (the discernment) to know when it’s time to stop trying to shove things along, and instead unstick them so they can *flow* again.