Sometimes Things Can Outgrow Their Intended Purpose

Sometimes Things Can Outgrow Their Intended Purpose This Can Sneak Up on You Last week we discussed project numbering. I shared how it started as a simple spreadsheet called the Job List, how that tool eventually grew into the Production Tracker, and how it has continued to evolve over the years. We also talked about how good tools and systems help us know what’s going on in our business. As we use them, we find opportunities to improve them by adding information that helps us make better decisions. Change and gathering additional information is a good thing…until it isn’t. As we discussed last week, the Production Tracker wasn’t always called that. Originally it was simply the Job List, whose main purpose was to track proposals, assign project numbers, and keep basic information about each job. It also tracked information such as: - Customer’s name and description of work - Bid amount - Proposal date - Dollar amount of proposals - Dollar amount of signed proposals - Dollars collected from completed projects - Percentage of jobs signed - Percentage of dollars signed - Percentage of signed dollars collected Over the years, we began adding more information, including: - Average proposal amount - Average job amount - Average amount collected - Projected time required to complete signed projects - Projected completion dates One of the challenges in construction is that projects don’t begin and end with the calendar year. That made it more difficult to compare signed work, collected revenue, and our annual revenue goals. To solve this problem, we continued adding information to the spreadsheet: - Proposal signed date - Production amount - Proposed change order dates - Proposed change order amounts - Signed change order dates - Total proposed change orders - Total signed change orders All of this information was valuable, but it also revealed another problem. The more we added, the less the Job List resembled the tool it was originally designed to be. A good tool should have one primary purpose. When one tool tries to do too many things, it usually becomes harder to use and less effective. Sometimes small, incremental changes can cause a tool to outgrow its intended purpose. That’s exactly what happened here. What started as a Job List had become much more than a job list. It was trying to do two different jobs at the same time: track proposals and track production. Neither of those jobs was going away, they simply reached the point where each needed its own tool. Sometimes improving a system doesn’t mean adding more to it. Sometimes it means simplifying it by giving each tool one clear purpose. Next week, I’ll show you how separating one tool into two made both of them simpler, more useful, and easier to manage. We’re planning to add both tools to the Business BUILDing Toolbox soon. If you would like to explore the tools already available, take a look. And if you have any questions about building better systems for your business, feel free to schedule a free meeting with me.

Sometimes Things Can Outgrow Their Intended Purpose

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