Change Management and the art of going fast
“If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough.” – Mario Andretti
I wrote an article or two about change control some time back. I called it “change control” because that’s what you were doing right? You were controlling change. Only, I didn’t really stop to think about what I actually was trying to control. Changes are a necessary part of any operation and when changes can’t happen that’s not good. Changes that happen fast aren’t usually bad unless something goes wrong. It’s not the change that you are fundamentally controlling. What you are actually trying to control is the risk of change and there are lots of aspects to doing that.
The race car driver going around the track isn’t trying to never slip or trade paint, she’s trying to be fastest and stay in the race. You can’t do that and guarantee you will never hit the wall – so you adjust your acceptance of risk to the point that you make good time around the track without getting knocked out of the race most of the time. Bad things happen sometimes, but you are doing ok if you come out ahead on average. Guys like Andretti are really good at this balancing act.
If you drive an ambulance, the math is completely different…
