“And there is a chance that everything we did was incorrect, but stasis is itself criminal for those with the means to move, and the means to weave communion between people.”
― Dave Eggers, You Shall Know Our Velocity!
Velocity is Victory! At first that simple phrase might look like just that – a simple phrase. But please pause a bit before you dismiss this away so lightly. Allow me to elaborate on why I think this phrase is actually a transformational thought that many organizations urgently need to embrace.
In several recent conversations with potential clients, they have reported the current status of their effort to find a technology solution for boosting their productivity and organization as “we are looking for something internally”. That makes sense if you work within a large company or organization and someone else may have already bought or developed a solution to your problem enabling you to borrow a solution and some localized in-house expertise, or you have a very well defined problem and a sure-fire development team with open cycles to tailor some in-house solution to your needs – quickly. But these three reports have come in four, nine and eighteen months after these same potential clients began looking for a solution. Really!? Still looking around?
When I was a few years younger, Lee Iacocca used to walk across American Television screens pitching Chrysler’s new automotive products with a signature line of “Lead, Follow, or Get Out Of The Way”. But this is more than a punchy line, it is an axiom of inevitable truth, especially today. Government Agencies fight for the position of control over various missions so as to avoid being found redundant finding their budgets at the hands of the pruner’s shears. Product based companies are finding their advantages more and more short lived in a world of innovation. Service organizations find their competitors using automation to enable a more tailored and polished customer experience, and even local or regional businesses find the swathe of emerging competitors in an increasingly global economy to be ever increasing their abilities to compete from afar. If you see a need or an opportunity, increasingly it is the fast that will displace the established so get moving!
HighGear is focused on enabling business experts to quickly direct or self-deploy complete systems of assignment in 5 days to 5 weeks, and move on, attending to the next curve in the road from a position of leadership. This kind of rapid empowerment is in the interest of business units and forward thinking IT teams and decreases the greater risk we face in this world, that of being left behind while we try to avoid the fuel burn necessitated by a press on the accelerator. That press of the accelerator will be done though, either to establish leadership, or to attempt to follow.
Some confuse velocity with a lack of planning, when in fact it is the momentum of prior planning that enables organizations to mature to the point where they even recognize the need for a system of assignment, metrics, and the acceleration of execution. Choices to accelerate do need to be made wisely, ensuring that a leap into the first position does not place your car on the outside lane coming into a tight turn. This is why it is so important to select an open and agile solution. You need to be able to count on a responsive system allowing you to make rapid changes so that you can continuously adjust your course. Modern business is no straightaway! Likewise you need to be sure that the road ahead is clear and open, so that you are not locked in.
A thorough examination of HighGear will prove out that the solution is open, agile, fast, and safe, but where the decision remains to be made is whether or not to go forward. Keep in mind, Velocity is Victory!
HighGear delivers astounding velocity with the road-gripping agility needed to keep you ahead of your competition. So what is the source of delay? Often it is fear of the unknown, fear of failure, fear of making the wrong decision, or the fear of being made less important, simply put – it is usually fear. And as the old Rush song says “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice”. In my experience, that choice towards inaction typically leads to just that, and in most cases nothing substantial has occurred in six, twelve and eighteen months, and in this day and age you will most certainly be working to catch up when the velocity of others has overtaken you by surprise.
If you find yourself in a position of leadership lost, consider the truth of this great quote, and act: “We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the person who turns back soonest is the most progressive.” – C.S. Lewis
If you have any thoughts or examples to add, your comments are welcome below. If you are ready to move ahead or need more information about HighGear, please contact our sales team or request a demo.