That's what sales people are toldÑand that saying works well for sales. Getting people excited about what the purchase will do for them is a great way to get the sale. However, the focus on the sizzle has to stay in the sales department. Those of us who produce stuff have to focus on the steak. It doesn't work to produce a lot of sizzle and then show up with only half a burger. Keeping a focus on the steak is a difficult task, which is even more important today.
In this "slowdown", what constitutes meat and what is only fat is a difficult decision. We are being asked to reduce costs, cut departments, and speed up production all at the same time. In any situation, there are usually several obvious, easy choicesÑwhich are inevitably wrong. We need to have objective criteria by which to measure every effort.
Criteria for keeping projects need to start with what things are required to keep the business alive and then go towards the things that are needed for growing the business in the near term. For example, the items that are required by governments have to stay at top priority as (in many cases) ignoring them is taking the risk that the government will shut down the business. One way of ranking the criteria is:
However, this ranking only considers project importance and not the other aspects of doing business. For example, an internal project may have a major payoff. We need to consider also the time lines and risks. Indeed, we need to evaluate projects on:
When considering the risk and total cost of ownership, often a project can be outsourced for less risk and less total cost than having it done in house. Only when there are other strategic reasons should such a project be kept in house.
The goal is to cut down on the politics and focus our efforts in ways that are most effective. While some may prefer to do things via politics, in the long run, correctly balancing the different efforts will wind up being far more profitable.
One of the things that need to be considered are the informal rules of how the company does business. Any serious decision is going to change the company value system some. It is important to be up-front about what the rules have been and what the rules are going to be. The rules will tell you what actions you are not to take, what options are not available. The rules do not tell anyone what actions to take.
Economic slowdowns are the tough times for managers. Warren Buffet says that in good times, any fool can make a profit. It is in these tough times that our true capabilities shine out. We hope that all of you are graded USDA A Prime.
Next Up, Risky Morals