Problem Creep: Scope Check
Yesterday, I wrote about stopping results
If the team doesn’t stop to fix the on-boarding problem, the next option is to ask:
How big of a problem is the on-boarding problem? Who else does this affect?
This seems like the democratic thing to do. Measure how big of a problem it is now. What’s the scope of the problem?
Doing this is a trap.
Why? Because the answer will always be:
The problem is not big because everyone’s system is working and it only affects one person on the team.
If a leader does not investigate further, they will take this answer at face value and let the one team member deal with the problem while the rest of the team keeps delivering results.
Win-win, right?
While this may be the case - the answer is accurate and honest - at the same time, deceptive. The problem does not come up for that same one team member or even computer.