Nothing is sacred

Nothing is sacred reminds us that all this stuff that we think is so important — the process, the documents, the meetings, the rigmarole, the whole system — is all just something we made up! Systems and processes serve important purposes, but they should never become more important than the outcomes that they are meant to enable.

So while we often focus on working within these systems (flow, not force), sometimes the system itself is the thing that needs to change.

And sometimes you need to raze it all to the ground.

• Maximum impact. You could toil away in a system for years and not have as much impact as you would if you tweaked the system itself.
• Climb the ladder. Most senior roles require you to understand and navigate between delivering stuff through the system and maintaining the system itself. Realising that nothing is sacred and building your skills here will open doors.
• Tweaking the system is a power move. Not everyone can see the system and comprehend all the moving parts. Positioning yourself as someone who can shows that you really get it — that you are not just blindly following best practice.
• Trusted advisor. Only psychopaths want yes men. Real leaders need people who can see beyond the way things are done and identify when the system itself is the problem. Being able to challenge conventional wisdom thoughtfully and to suggest systemic solutions makes you invaluable.

1. When you’ve hit a roadblock, or when things are going wrong, use nothing is sacred to remind yourself that maybe it’s the system itself that is the problem.
2. When there’s strong resistance to change, then you might need to work within the system first (flow, not force) to build credibility before attempting any system-level changes.

But remember that some systems are out of your scope. You’re only one human. I think we can all agree that capitalism has issues, but individually we have very little ability to influence it.

• Look for patterns. The same issue recurring time and again is a sign of a system-level issue. Frustration is a signal to look deeper.
• Start building your knowledge. Before you can change anything, you need to understand how things really work. Not how people say they work, but how work actually flows through the system. Pay attention to what really happens. Map it all out.
• Look upstream. Where pain is felt isn’t always where it’s caused. Don’t assume the part you’re looking at is the whole picture. Look upstream for the real cause.
• Gather evidence. Analyse the actual costs of the issue — wasted time, customer complaints, team morale. Quantify it. This data will be become the backbone of your case for change.
• Find allies. System change requires support. Look for others who see the same problems and want to solve them. The most frustrated people can become your champions if they believe that you are going to resolve their pain.
• Think long term. Take a long view. Changing a system takes time — you’re playing the long game here. Let changes bed in, assess, then refine from there.
• And do it all again!.

• Underestimating the cost of change. Change is hard. The hardest! Any system-level change will absolutely hit your delivery momentum, and will require solid planning, lots of support, reinforcement, and effort. Be very careful to ensure that you have a good business case for the change before pulling the trigger.
• Going it alone. Even with a solid case for change, trying to change a system by yourself is a steep ask. You need buy-in, support, and active participation from the people involved. Find allies rather than going solo.
• Constant change. System change takes time and effort from everyone involved — learning a new way of doing things, adapting related systems, building new habits. Continually changing everything, all the time, is highly disruptive.
• Overreacting. Seeing system problems can make you want to burn everything down and start fresh. But keep the raze to the ground option for when it is actually warranted!

• Question everything. Make it a habit to ask Why? regarding processes and systems with genuine curiosity. What are we doing here? What’s the purpose of this meeting? How does this template help us? These should become your go-to questions.
• Run thought experiments. Often the best way to identify things that could/should change is to entertain the alternative. Pretend you are dealing with a completely different system and imagine what difference this makes.
• Learn from others. Pay attention to how different teams and organisations solve similar problems. The more exposure you have to different systems, the better you’ll get at seeing alternatives to the way things are.

• Service blueprints (tool)
• Right-size the rigour (method)
• Flow, not force (method)
• The Map

• Some of the ideas behind this method are discussed in my article, Impaired Function: Understanding the Impact of Dysfunction