It’s such a simple question.  So simple, apparently, that it is often skipped over.  Or if we do think about it at the beginning of a project, or effort..do we remember it as we get into the fray of doing?

What are we trying to do?  What is our purpose?  What is the goal?  What problem are we trying to solve?   How will we know we made things better?

These are all versions of that simple question, that we frequently skip, forget, or worse yet…assume everyone already knows the answer.   (usually everyone knows AN answer, just not the same answer as everyone else)

And yet – think back on frustrating times at work or in any organization that you participate in – school, church, civic organization, club…the seeds of frustration are sown when we skip over or make assumptions about that simple question.

3-P, A3 Thinking, PDCA, Strategy Deployment, Problem Solving, and whatever improvement tools and methods we find to help us (or pay consultants to help us with)…these all begin with a version of that simple question.

As we look forward to 2015, what better time to ask in all areas of our life:  What are we trying to do?

Originally published December 25, 2014