Motorsport and Business, Can we learn anything from each other?
I am an avid fan of Formula 1, in fact all things motor racing. However it wasn't until I started competing in motorsport myself a few years back did I realise how much data can be involved in a sport where horsepower is the king. Enzo Ferrari is famously quoted as saying "aerodynamics is for people who can't build engines" My evolution time in the sport has not been at any really serious levels of competition however I do regularly compete in timed events around Victoria and my competitive spirit is alive and well.
So my competitive spirit was never going to be satisfied just running around at the back of the field I wanted to win and to win I needed to get better.
Such is technology these days there are numerous applications available for your smart phone that do everything from basic lap timing to advanced data capture of every part of the car. Analysing this data and making use of it in a sensible way can be the difference between winning and losing. It can also make a huge difference in your budget requirements, and I was seriously budget limitted. For example to improve my lap times I could apply the Enzo Ferrari rule and simply add more power to the car, a route often taken as a quick fix to better lap times. Adding power can be one of the most expensive things you can do for 2 reasons.
- It requires a specialist engineer with lots and lots of expensive parts
- Inevitably when you add more power the reliability and maintenance costs goes up
So how do you get more speed without more power, well analysing the data can show you where you are not taking full advantage of what the car has to offer. you may be braking to soon or slowing too much for a corner. There is vast improvement especially early on in getting the best of what you have.
To go further looking at how the car is responding in certain corners can allow smaller modifications to things like suspension and geometry that can yield seconds of reduction in lap times and it really works. My decisions on what next were focused on one simple thing, "What can I do that costs the least that will make the biggest improvement"
Does that sound like managing a business? I think the question we are all trying to answer is "What is the next best thing I can do now?" Of course to add to the complexity in any large business there are multiple people who have input into a process or decision. So the question is how do I work out what to do next in collaboration with those on the team.
One thing I hear regularly is that "we need better data to make better decisions" or I hear "I don't have all the data I need". In a meeting the other day, a client told me that large IT decisions are often stalled by senior management because when they come up for approval there is insufficient information to decide which of the 15 things on his desk should have priority.
So what do you do next? well we need to plan, plan and then plan some more, by that I mean we need to look at more than one version of the truth. we need a plan that takes into account the things we think based on past experience will happen and we need to augment this with plans for best case and worst case scenarios and then we need to measure the results and course correct as we go.
We also need to plan as a team, a plan only becomes truly a plan for success if you have buy in from everyone involved and you get that buy-in through involvement in the planning process. Tell someone what needs to be done and you will get compliance. Ask them what they think and consider that input and you will get commitment.
Business planning is now more than ever key to business success. No matter what part of the business you are in HR, finance, sales, marketing or supply chain you need to be planning at a granular level, how granular only you can decide but find a solution that will let you plan at the level you need to. A solution that will manage the complexity of what you do and allow you to change as rapidly as you need to.