If You Think You Have The Answer …

… you may not fully understand the question. We are all tempted at times to be armchair quarterbacks; quick to snap the ball, assess the field, and provide the answer that wins the game. But real life is much more complicated. It requires a well studied assessment of all the factors that play into a problem, a fully developed portfolio of potential solutions, a meticulous test plan for determining the value of a solution, a prototype to quickly get a feel for what will be involved with your potential solution, a collection of testing scenarios that represents all the environments you will be solving for, and well studied results from the tests you run. Only then you MIGHT have a solution that can be expanded to a larger test population, and hopefully later to your target population. And all of this requires a team that is willing to work together, patiently, with a desire to find the right answer, not just the quick answer. So the next time you get the urge to judge a problem too quickly, ask yourself, how far have I followed my game plan.