How to un-stick a project

Have you ever encountered an area that seems stuck? Half of the smart people think one thing should happen and the other half think a different thing should happen. In these cases there likely isn’t one magic perfect solution, otherwise it would have already been done.

If all of this is based on opinion, start by getting data.  Sometimes it’s as simple as stopping and doing an experiment, talking to customers, or looking at data that is already there.

However, there’s a good chance the data isn’t complete. Otherwise, a decision would have already been clear.  So what can you do?

I like to create an all-in-one scorecard that includes the quantitative data along with the qualitative options.  Meaning I might have rows around performance, user metrics, quality metrics etc. and others around anticipated risk, complexity, or bug tail anticipated.

The reason this works so magically is that by capturing everyone’s favorite concern, you free them up to look at other aspects.  It allows you to leverage the value of experience without ignoring the rest of the data.  Whenever you can better articulate someone’s concern than they can, they will trust your view on the larger project.