Succeeding under constraints.
In the same conversation that inspired the post about when it’s time to kill a project, my friend said something about how sometimes we make the right choice (or back the right project etc.), but then don’t have the resources — or aren’t given the resources — to carry out that choice adequately.
We’ve all experienced this frustration, surely. But in that conversation I pushed back against the idea that we can make “right” choices that ignore the constraints we have.
My stance on this is heavily influenced by three lines of thought:
1. “Embrace Constraints” from the book Getting Real by the folks at 37signals:
Instead of freaking out about these constraints, embrace them. Let them guide you. Constraints drive innovation and force focus. Instead of trying to remove them, use them to your advantage.
2. Kathy Sierra’s great post on “How to make something amazing, right now.”
This blog and many others have talked about constraint-driven creativity a lot, but I wanted to emphasize again that it’s not just about inspiring (or forcing) creativity, it’s also about getting something done. How many of us keep planning to get around to writing that book… once we’ve got some free time? How many projects stay on the back burner forever because we just can’t seem to make it happen?
3. The broader creative application of these points by some of the most prolific writers in history. Consider, for example, what Neil Gaiman has said about his onetime writing partner Terry Pratchett:
At the time we met [in 1985], he was still working as a press officer for the South Western Electricity board. He wrote four hundred words a night, every night: it was the only way for him to keep a real job and still write books. One night, a year later, he finished a novel, with a hundred words still to go, so he put a piece of paper into his typewriter, and wrote a hundred words of the next novel.
(As I said in this post on my personal blog, Pratchett’s doggedness in the face of constraints is much like Anthony Trollope’s.)
The moral of the story
You will never have unlimited time, money, energy, or help to achieve all the projects that are most important to you. Never, ever.
But the experience of great creators — in the arts, in business, what have you — tells us that you don’t need all those resources anyway. You need to work with what you DO have, and use your constraints to drive creative, practical, do-it-now solutions.
How have you used constraints in your favor?
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Related post:
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(Houdini picture via Wikipedia.)
Category: Management, The working life2 Comments so far
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Tim,
I have two thoughts for you- one coming from my startup background, and one from my experiences in Aikido. First- over the last five companies that I have either been a founder or a founding team member, I have found that usually there is some way to leverage my community in solving the constraint that I am up against… As an example, there is always some way that the constraint of what I can not do directly, that someone in my network has a much simpler way to solve the problem- whether it be access to a customer base (and we create a affiliate relationship) or perhaps an engineering issue (someone has already solved the problem somewhere else in the world.) I like this concept so much that I called my last company Enterprise Teaming- the key concept being that we can team up together to bust up a constraint and create an opportunity out of it.
Secondly, I think that my perspective from being an Aikido practitioner gives me a special edge. Aikido particularly requires a long term view to master any of the techniques. George Leonard writes about this in his book Mastery- showing that to really master some subject- persistence and a long term outlook are required. Dealing with the constraint (perhaps a physical limitation in this case, although the metaphor works with regard to building companies) has been very valuable to me in my professional career… There are no short term fixes… but with a longer term perspective, most constraints can be overcome… leading to the path of mastery in whatever the subject be (business, martial arts, or life).
Thanks for your article.
Kevin
Kevin, thanks for this thoughtful comment. I’ve been pondering this, and I like your long- versus short-term view. My take: in the short term, we must often deal with the constraints we have, while building over the long term to transcend those constraints.
Maybe the secret is to keep pressing ahead toward results regardless?