Dateless but not desperate
By Tony Fifoot
I find it interesting that in the fast-paced world of modern business, many organisations still cling to a date-driven approach to managing projects and initiatives. For well over a century, dates have been the primary metric around which work is organised, with fixed deadlines set at the outset and everything geared toward meeting those dates.
This industrial era thinking is… well… out of date!
As the landscape of business evolves, with rapid changes in technology, customer expectations, and market dynamics, this rigid focus on dates actually hinders progress. We need to unlearn the old ways of getting a date, then awkwardly hoping that will lead to success.
Shifting away from a date-centric mindset allows companies to focus on what truly matters: delivering value to customers. Instead of starting with arbitrary deadlines, organisations can begin by exploring the problem space and understanding the needs of their customers. This approach enables teams to prioritise work based on its potential impact and value, rather than simply on when it needs to be completed. By adopting a more flexible and adaptive approach, companies can respond more effectively to changes, reduce waste, and continuously improve their processes.
Reducing the focus on dates fosters a culture of innovation. When teams are not bound by strict deadlines, they have the freedom to experiment, test new ideas, and iterate based on feedback. This iterative approach leads to better solutions and more meaningful outcomes, as teams are able to learn and adapt throughout the process. Moreover, by focusing on delivering value rather than meeting dates, organisations can empower their teams to make decisions that drive long-term success - and we want the decisions made close to the work, not in a meeting room with different people who are distanced from the actual work.
In today’s business environment, where speed, adaptability, and customer-centricity are key to success, reducing the focus on dates can unlock new opportunities for growth and innovation. By prioritising value delivery over arbitrary deadlines, companies can create a more agile and resilient operating model that is better equipped to navigate the challenges and uncertainties of the modern marketplace.
When you’re next prioritising, planning or scheduling, here’s a few options to try to become dateless (happier and more effective that way):
Understand the problem you’re solving - use a structured approach
Slice the initiative, identifying key value drivers and assumptions
Test the riskiest assumptions first, learn and decide
Use Cost of Delay to prioritise (yes, you can do CD3 without fixating on dates)
Get something to market quickly and test it in the real world
Focus on improving your operating model and how you create value
Reduce waste (remove the imbalance and overburden that come with date driven delivery)
#I don’t want to date anymore