1 00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:09,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning, 2 00:00:10,760 --> 00:00:16,520 Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's 3 00:00:16,520 --> 00:00:19,920 Speaker 1: tip is that whenever you are about to begin a project, 4 00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:24,919 Speaker 1: think about the end of it. Today's tip, like some 5 00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:28,720 Speaker 1: other recent ones, was inspired by the book The Friction Project, 6 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:32,479 Speaker 1: How Smart Leaders make the right things easier and the 7 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:37,560 Speaker 1: wrong things harder. In this book, authors and Stanford professors 8 00:00:37,640 --> 00:00:42,360 Speaker 1: Robert Sutton and Huggy Row talk about how organizational friction 9 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:48,239 Speaker 1: can slow down productive output. However, in certain situations, they 10 00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:53,280 Speaker 1: note friction is good. Slowing things down can help teams 11 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:59,560 Speaker 1: make better decisions. One form of good friction is pausing 12 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:02,880 Speaker 1: before you start a project to think about how it 13 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:07,760 Speaker 1: might end. Team members can project themselves into the future 14 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:15,600 Speaker 1: and envision two scenarios, the project's success and the project's failure. 15 00:01:16,959 --> 00:01:20,640 Speaker 1: The imagined future success is a pre victoriam, if you will, 16 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:25,080 Speaker 1: and the imagined failure is a pre mortem. Now you've 17 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:29,880 Speaker 1: probably heard of a post mortem. That's Latin for after death. 18 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:33,920 Speaker 1: You can examine a project after it is over to 19 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:38,840 Speaker 1: understand what worked, what didn't, and why. This can be 20 00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:45,000 Speaker 1: a very valuable practice. But why wait to consider what 21 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:49,400 Speaker 1: leads to a project's success or failure until after the 22 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:54,160 Speaker 1: project is over. Sutton and Rouse suggest inviting the team 23 00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:58,920 Speaker 1: to time travel before a project begins and imagine the 24 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:04,080 Speaker 1: project's success. What events and behaviors led to that success. 25 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:07,960 Speaker 1: The team can then plan the project to make sure 26 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:13,000 Speaker 1: to build in those key factors. Sutton and Rau also 27 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:17,200 Speaker 1: advise imagining the project as a total failure. This would 28 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:20,760 Speaker 1: be the pre mortem, what happened that led to the 29 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:27,000 Speaker 1: failure and how can we avoid that? In real life. 30 00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:29,880 Speaker 1: When each team member tells the story of the events 31 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:32,400 Speaker 1: that led to the victory and of the events that 32 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:35,920 Speaker 1: led to the failure, the team is positioned to avoid 33 00:02:35,919 --> 00:02:40,959 Speaker 1: the bad stuff and embrace the good. Sutton and Raw's 34 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:44,640 Speaker 1: advice about thinking about endings from the beginning got me 35 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:49,320 Speaker 1: thinking about my recent conversation with Emily P. Freeman, host 36 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:52,680 Speaker 1: of The Next Right Thing podcast and author of the 37 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:57,000 Speaker 1: book How to Walk Into a Room. When I interviewed 38 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:01,200 Speaker 1: her for my other podcast, Best of Both Worlds. Freeman 39 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:04,040 Speaker 1: noted that even though we don't think about it all 40 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:08,200 Speaker 1: that much, pretty much everything in our lives will end 41 00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:12,320 Speaker 1: at some point, so we would be wise to think 42 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:18,360 Speaker 1: about that. Endings can be good or bad or neutral, 43 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:24,840 Speaker 1: but often we have some say over that matter, so 44 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:29,079 Speaker 1: best to consider the possibilities. I know I have been 45 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:33,040 Speaker 1: thinking about this with some upcoming projects in my life. 46 00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:36,800 Speaker 1: Over the next eight months or so, my oldest child 47 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:41,640 Speaker 1: will be applying to college. Eventually this process will be over. 48 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:46,200 Speaker 1: To me. Success is that he is happy with the 49 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:50,760 Speaker 1: outcome and that he felt supported during the whole thing. 50 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:57,240 Speaker 1: So that is how everything needs to be considered. What 51 00:03:57,360 --> 00:04:02,080 Speaker 1: about you? What are you start? How will it end? 52 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:07,000 Speaker 1: By thinking about this ahead of time, we might be 53 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:10,120 Speaker 1: able to shape the narratives in ways that make success 54 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:17,760 Speaker 1: far more likely. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks 55 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:22,680 Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our time. 56 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:34,080 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, 57 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:37,600 Speaker 1: or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura 58 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:47,000 Speaker 1: vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. 59 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:51,640 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, 60 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:55,160 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.