sho(r)ts: process vs. goals
Process vs. goals (execution vs. idea) is a non-debate. Both are important. You don't need to read the article, this is enough. But you can, it's very short (it's a shot!).
(above, things changing. How do you set up a process for that? Do your goals hold when the context moves like this? Original artwork by the author)
Let me inaugurate with this post a series of short reflections / shots (hence sho(r)ts) on thoughts that emerge when dealing with everything I read about.
Process vs. goals. Goals are important: why are we doing this? Process is important: how are we doing this? If you have a bad process, you don't get your goals. If you have irrelevant goals, a perfect process is useless.
In my career I have seen people defend fiercely the notion that execution (process) is always more important than the idea. In the startup world this approach abounds: execution, execution, execution.
I have also been on the side of the disruptive innovators, where the idea has to be profound enough to spark change across an entire industry.
The truth is that both are equally important. Please stop arguing, and let's learn that investing heavily in one vs. the other without an appropriate dynamic balancing mechanism is a recipe for creating rigidness and therefore fragility. We are at times when the ability to adapt to a fast-changing environment is more important than nailing a process to execute very efficiently. Your efficient process will be useless when the conditions change. Your idea will be useless when the conditions change. So just make sure you are aware of your environment, and tune your ideas and processes in such a way that both can change accordingly.
Now back to work.