It’s planning time. It’s time to define the projects, the resources, and the timelines for next year’s work. Planning is exciting because you get to imagine what could be and make lists of projects you’d like to do. It feels good when the opportunities are meaningful and the project ideas come easily. It’s stressful when the set of projects outstrips our capacity to do them, but that’s how it goes because resources are always limited. The result is we must say no to a lot of important projects.
Saying yes is easy, and it feels good. No, on the other hand, is difficult, but it’s far more important. No helps fight public enemy No. 1—dilution. In our desire to do the right thing, a common failure mode is to say yes to too many projects and dilute them beyond effectiveness. As a result, projects are behind schedule as overworked project teams limp along hobbled by insufficient resources. Where yes starves projects of resources, no concentrates them. The result is projects get done on time. More importantly, teams feel good about the projects and have plenty of energy to start the next one right away. With no, projects aren’t a yearlong series of daily sprints.