The answer is no. Wrong question.

As our understanding of Fluid approaches improves, we’ve come to see more and more that it isn’t just the answers to traditional questions that are wrong, but rather it’s almost always the wrong question being asked as well.  And when you ask the wrong question, the right answer is nearly impossible.  It’s as if we’re discussing wealth with a mathophobe and they ask us the question, “If I want to get rich, what should I do with my life savings?  Should I go to Vegas, should I play the lottery, or should I invest in high volatility derivatives?”

The answer is no.  Wrong question.  You get rich by investing other people’s money.  And  you don’t do it in the lottery, vegas, or bankruptcy-immune derivatives.  Now…I’m not exactly rich, so I don’t have enough to say here…but I can tell you with confidence that with the question being so wrong…the answer can’t be right.

And so it goes with decisions in the business world.  Almost every question you’re asked will be the wrong question.  Which of course makes the answers insane.

What questions do we need to fix?

How can we get the right answer to our questions?  Should we rely on experts, or should we rely on careful planning?

No.  Wrong question.  The right question is:

How do we find out where we’re wrong faster?

Feedback systems.

————-

How do we assign responsibility to  individuals to get work done?  Responsibility to the individual, or responsibility to the manager?

No.  Wrong question.  The right question is:

How do we assign responsibilty to groups?   

You build a tribe.

————

How do we determine what is important?  Should we work in an interrupt driven (scheduled) system, or should we build bucket lists?

No.  Wrong question.  The right question is:

How do we determine what to do first/next?

Work from a queue.

——————

What existing business feature should we trust to bring us good results?  Should we trust the individuals and relationships?  Or should we trust our metrics?

No.  Wrong question.  The right question is:

What system should we build that we can trust?

Ceremony.

———————

The old questions are the wrong questions.  The old answers are nuts.

The new questions, with answers:

 

How do we handle error?  Feedback

What gets responsibility?  Tribe.

What do we work on?  Queues.

What can we trust?  Ceremony.

 

Finally, some good questions.