Message of the Day - Chaos is as Chaos does

Good Morning,

As my friend Justin and our daughters arrived at the concert hall for our long awaited concert earlier last December, we saw a lot of activity. People were moving around and people were doing stuff, but something just did not seem right. As we approached some doors, looking for an entrance, the people coming in and coming out of the doors seemed confused. When I was able to listen in, seems that there was a lot of ‘I don’t knows’ being slung around, followed by a few ‘not my area’ or ‘I’m not sure who handles that’.

Having one or two people in a few hundred like that is normal in most organizations. Newbies, or new rules, etc., often cause some confusion as they face the various learning curves they must overcome to become proficient.

Having most of the people in a few hundred not sure what is going on is a recipe for chaos.

We were able to finally find the main entrance and see what was supposed to go on, based on a few folks who seemed to have a clue. The sad part was that very little of what was supposed to go on, went on. One group was to go in early, so they lined up early, but never went in until the start of the concert. The lines to the doors were just going in all different directions, and then split several times so there were multiple lines going around in circles and along the walls, etc. It was quite amusing. No one was managing it, so it just happened.

When there is no control or brains in charge of an operation, or even a waiting line, entropy will enter. Left to its own devices, unless someone or something runs control over that operation, it will mutate and move toward chaos. What we end up with is often very different from what we start with.

When we lead a project or a team or an organization, there must be some form of control over it.

Otherwise we contribute to or worse open the gate to unleashing further chaos.

And once that happens, chaos is was chaos does and we spend a lot of time herding cats to bring it back under control, or let it run its course and hope our calls for help will garner some support and not further chaos from those who mean well, but all too often are not the most self-disciplined themselves.

And there are the control freaks who cannot let anything happen without their knowledge, approval and signed forms, in triplicate, but that is a tale for another day.

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net
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http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
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