GO FIX THAT BROKEN WINDOW, EVEN IF WITH DUCT TAPE!

Over the last few weeks a few incidents occurred that, to me, seem connected. Maybe there is confirmation bias at work and I am seeing what I want to see. Nevertheless……

I was watching Erich Brechner explain Kanban https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKWvmiY7f_g and when a member of the audience asked how he should tackle a large backlog of things to do, Erich said “Don’t sweat it, do them one at a time!”

Then a few of days back, Bibhu https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/bibhu-prasad-satapathy-406177182/ recounted the advice he gave to a lady colleague about reading books. Bibhu said that the reason she was unable to begin reading regularly was because of the enormity of the task in front of her (in this case the large number of books she had bought and many others that she hadn’t read). So he told her to make a vow to herself to read five sentences every day. Not five chapters or five pages, but just five sentences. And she was not allowed to carry forward any excess of five sentences she might have read the previous day. Since she would, in many cases, not stop after five sentences the reading habit would pickup. Today the lady is reading one book a month and is grateful for the life changing advice!

A couple of days back, my colleague Ajai https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/ajai-r-0929617/, while he was reviewing the book “Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell talked about “The Broken Window Theory” which says that visible signs of crime create an environment that encourages more crime. It struck me that during the periods that I don’t exercise for whatever reason, I find myself also letting down my guard on the kind of things I eat. So, did it mean that even if I couldn’t exercise to the intensity I am used to, I should just go for a short walk, do a few push-ups or something? Not to burn calories but to keep that ‘broken window’ fixed? Does the broken window theory apply to any other endeavor we choose to pursue?

When I am coaching teams on Agile, I am often encountered by questions like “Oh it will cost a million dollars to automate all tests, so where is the budget?” Then out comes the formula 1.01^365 = ~37, which says that if you improve by 1% everyday, you would become 37 times better in a year. This does open a few eyes!

And finally Carol Dweck in her book “Mindset” says that if you believe your abilities can be shaped by effort as opposed to believing that they are carved in stone, you will improve.

These disparate incidents reinforced the power of incremental change. We are living in a generation of the instant and there might not be many takers if you dole out advice about small improvements every day. Nevertheless, it is true that legends who have accomplished great things have done so more out of effort than just ability. Who else better than Edison to quote “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration”. Inspired by the thoughts I have been having about incremental change, yesterday I ran 14 miles as opposed to the 13.1 miles that I do on a weekend. 13.1 miles is the distance for the half marathon and I used to stop soon as I finished that, but no more! Oh boy, a mile more every week and I’ll be ready for my full marathon in a few months!!