When great plans take time to implement

This afternoon I read an excellent article in RFID Switchboard that brought to mind how important it is to put time and time management in perspective in our industry. The article, written by Carl Brown, President of SimplyRFID, discussed the timeline of implementation for the DoD (U.S. Department of Defense) RFID rollout. (Read the article here) The DoD recently announced a timeline of 2015 before the full rollout of RFID is complete and it seems the concern was by some people in the industry that the timeline was too slow.

In his article Carl made some great points about how new technology like RFID in complex situations requires some things that it feels to me are in short supply these days – processes and patience! He did such a great job explaining why time mattered in this instance that it inspired me to talk a little in today’s blog about time and what it means in the high tech industry of late.

To me it seems that we rush so much to make things happen that we often miss what could have happened better along the way. We are in such a rush to close that prospect, launch that new product, finish that meeting, and complete that project that we miss the networking opportunity that could have provided us with 50 sales, or the application that already exists that could solve a pressing issue for our best customers. Why? As I said earlier I think we lack the processes and patience to effectively work things through to their most successful conclusion!

So now here is this major government agency undertaking an important new technology like RFID, educating an entire market on the processes, and trying to keep their buying processes competitive (all I might mention while fighting a war) and there are questions about the timeline? Only in our industry!

It’s almost as if we have some kind of time recognition disorder; whereby we distort the time that would be reasonable for a normal company or a normal person to get something done and just pick a time we think sounds right. Then we take that and insist that things get done on that timeline; a timeline we pulled out of thin air! I guess we must figure if a new technology can come out every time you blink and the computer you bought last month can already be the “older version” that all of us have to keep the pace and run a little faster.

Think about it for a minute in a context outside our industry:
In my school district here in NJ it has taken over 7 years for us to select a new math textbook for our middle school because our old “everyday math” was creating “unable to do math” children. Our educators feel they are moving just as fast as they can.

It’s taken the car industry over 100 years to figure out a way to tell you before you back up and hit something; and everyone seems tickled pink by that one coming to market never heard “what took them so long”.

So today as we approach April 15th – tax day here in the U.S. – let’s take a minute, take a look at our jammed calendars and our goals that all have to happen and reset our expectations just a little for 2008. I’m not saying slow down so much that you are behind, I’m just saying get a little more realistic about how much time things will take to achieve and keep in mind that not everything can happen in the next 30 days!

If you balance your time this year like you balance the money in your checkbook (never spending what you don’t have and occasionally checking the balance to make sure you have enough to cover what’s coming due) this year you will be far ahead of your competition!