1 Warp Speed Poisoning

So much to do and so little time—it’s the mantra of warp speed. Whenever we depend on others to help us deliver results by a deadline, which is really what projects are all about, the problem grows worse. It can feel like climbing up a wall of sand: the harder we dig in, the more quickly the ground crumbles away beneath us. Working this way can rob us of our joy, undermine a marriage, and destroy our health. Many of us have been working this way for so long it may seem inevitable. It’s not. In fact, this way of working is unsustainable. That’s why Christi and her team have asked to participate in my Project Master Class. They desperately need some help discovering a way out.

As I prepared the flip charts for our morning session, Christi Qwik whisked into the training room. From her red hair to the New York clip in her delivery, she was a woman who lived and breathed at warp speed, and, in her typical no-nonsense fashion, she wanted to get right down to business. As always she spoke in tones that were crisp and upbeat. But just beneath the surface you could feel the desperation.

“The constantly accelerating pace is killing us,” she had told me quite frankly during our first interview.

Christi faced a crisis. As director of information technologies, she needed to “whip her project teams into shape”—fast. Her people maintained the electronic nervous system of the entire organization, but miscommunication and constant firefighting were bringing them closer to nervous breakdown. Work quality had fallen, while repeatedly blown deadlines had become the norm. Key contributors complained about impossible workloads, unrealistic schedules, and unhealthy levels of stress. Customers, both internal and external, were unhappy and growing impatient.

The source of the problem, however, proved slippery to define. During prior interviews, every employee gave a different explanation for what was wrong.

According to Brenda, one of Christi’s top project managers, many of the problems began with endlessly shifting objectives demanded by both customers and senior management. Where, in her perpetually overloaded schedule, did they expect her to fit these additional requirements? She did the best she could by pushing herself harder and harder, but this strategy was quickly burning her out. It seemed like the faster she’d go, the slower things went. Somehow she needed more efficient production from her team—especially Al.

Al had a different perspective. He felt Christi created unrealistic deadlines that bore little relationship to the actual work that needed to be accomplished. And Brenda, by accepting these assignments without pushing back more effectively, was setting the team up for failure. He also complained that he rarely had a clear sense of how his task assignments fit into the larger goal. When I asked him if he had shared these concerns with Brenda, he laughed, “She’d never listen.”

Dave worked on many of the same projects Al did, but his analysis of the problem couldn’t have been more different. Finger pointing only made matters worse, as far as Dave was concerned. The combination of a constantly shifting economy and exploding technological growth seemed to make the current crisis inevitable, leaving little that anyone could really do about it. He just tried to do his job without asking a lot of questions that would only eat into Brenda’s already overloaded schedule.

While Dave accepted the status quo, Ellen was angry. As the team’s technical superstar, she questioned whether the time had come for her to make a career move. She felt trapped by her success and the endless game of “catch-up.” The more she accomplished, the more she was asked to do. Furthermore, she feared that the more dependent the department became on her efforts, the more reluctant they would be to let her move on to new challenges.

Now, as I sat with Christi and her team, I wanted them to see these challenges in a larger context.

“Would it surprise you to know that this same list of frustrations has been driving people in organizations crazy for over fifty years?” I asked them. “Imagine that. Despite all of our spectacular technological advances, your list of frustrations keeps hanging on with the persistence of the common cold. In fact, the faster the technology drives us, the more pronounced the symptoms seem to get. It’s a condition I call ‘warp speed poisoning,’ and I believe that the five of you have named just about every condition on the list.”

I then projected a copy of the Warp Speed Barrier Checklist up on the screen so they could see for themselves. I have compiled this list of chronic complaints into a tool I call the Warp Speed Barrier Checklist (see earlier illustration) to lighten the tone a bit. I shared with them my David Letterman–style version called “Top Ten Reasons Why the Job Didn’t Get Done”:

Top Ten Reasons Why the Job Didn’t Get Done

10. Were still in the meeting phase.

Too Many Meetings

9. I’ll get to it as soon as I extinguish the flames.

Constant Firefighting

8. I was constrained by the 24-hour-a-day limit.

Scope Keeps Expanding

7. I felt I needed additional criticism.

Blame & Finger-pointing

6. The rest of my team had a golf emergency.

Lack of Support

5. We didn’t think it would turn out like this, either. Poor Planning

4. I thought, “Are you crazy?” was a health question. Miscommunication

3. You wanted it when?!

Unrealistic Deadlines

2. We might have done better if we knew what it was. Poorly Defined Goals

And the number one reason why the job didn’t get done:

1. The doctor said he’s still recovering from the last project. Overload

“I’m not sure I get the warp speed part,” said Christi. “Like you said, these problems have been around forever. Sure the technology can be a pain in the butt, but it also makes us much more productive. Without it we couldn’t compete.”

“Right. It’s a double-edged sword, isn’t it? Going faster leverages our strengths, but it also increases our vulnerability. Think about what happens when you hit a speed bump going sixty miles per hour. At warp speed, minor annoyances become potentially catastrophic disruptions. It has wiped out our margin for error, making us more susceptible to failure and exaggerating the damage when it occurs.”

“It sounds like we’re trapped,” said Dave. “Obviously there’s no going back.”

“The trap can be sprung if we can identify who’s setting the snare and why they’re doing it,” I told him. “Let’s stick with the warp speed barriers for a moment. Who’s causing all these problems?”

As they considered this question, I quickly looked through the notes I had taken during my earlier interviews with each of them. I knew, somewhere, they had already provided the answer.