A Service Design Principle to work not more but smarter
I had to organize the Christmas party for the whole family. And usually that's a daunting task, lots of cooking, lots of organizing. It takes a shit load of work.
But then in a discussion with my wife, we said:
What's the real important thing here?
It's just that we meet, eat something and have a good time together.
So it doesn't make any sense, if I'm cooking for long hours, and I don't even get to meet the family. So, what did we do? We did a very simple thing.
We just decided that for Christmas, we will order pizzas and bring them for our Christmas party.
Was it the best Christmas party ever? I'm not sure. But did we get to spend some quality time as a family? Yes!
This tiny anecdote reminds me of a piece of advice that I read in the book Tribe of Mentors. Tim Ferris motivates us to ask ourselves the following question:
What will this look like if it were easy? (1)
And that's a very powerful question (obviously not only to make Christmas parties easier), but also for services and projects and the workplace.
Indeed often we get very excited and want to throw all the energy and everything we have at a new project. We want to create the best experiences and we assume that we need a lot of work to get there.
But again, ask yourself:
What would it look like if it were easy?
How can you make the "What would it look like if it were easy?" a routine whenever you start a new project?
To give a bit more context, here are two quotes from the book Tribe of Mentors about that question:
Then, I did what I often do—whether considering a business decision, personal relationship, or otherwise—I asked myself the one question that helps answer many others . . . What would this look like if it were easy?
Would it work? I had no idea, but I did know one thing: If the easy approach failed, the unending-labor-in-the-salt-mines approach was always waiting in the wings.
This is a first draft of a principle that might end up in a book of the "Service Design Principles" series.