PowerMaps

Think FIRE (Fast, Inexpensive, Restrained & Elegant)

Exploring the history of military procurement Lt.Col Dan Ward discovered a 'simpler-is-better' approach works more often than throwing lots of money and manpower at a thing. He concluded that if you want to deliver more value on projects you should set less complicated goals and use less money, fewer people and shorter time frames in pursuit of these. He coined the acronym FIRE (fast, inexpensive, restrained and elegant) to explain how projects should be run: 

  1. FAST – The shorter the time-frame the better the outcome (NB:- short is a relative term) 
  2. INEXPENSIVE – Small budgets are better than large (it's intellectual capital that matters) 
  3. RESTRAINED – Limit the amount of documentation, meetings, and teams needed 
  4. ELEGANT – Prioritise the 'pleasingly ingenious and simple.' 

It may seem counterintuitive, but project leaders with large budgets, large teams and long schedules are more likely to ask for extensions on all three rather than meet project objectives. Therefore, think FIRE and focus less on procedures and more on outcomes: break down projects into smaller parts, constrain budgets and use smaller teams (and free them up to use whatever methods they think are suitable to get the task done).
2020-06-18 22:44 Organisation Responsiveness