Jul 28, 2015
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” as Chinese philosopher Laozi said. In corporate jargon, this translates to think big, start small, scale fast.
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An example of think big, start small, scale fast in engineering design: the Gossamer Albatross (photo credit: NASA)In other settings, you may be better off building on failures. Building on failures was instrumental for engineer Paul McCready to design the Gossamer Albatross, the first human-powered aircraft to fly over the English Channel in 1979 and win McCready the Collier Trophy, the most prestigious prize in American aviation.In 1959, industrialist Henry Kremer had offered a series of prizes to support the advancement of human-powered flight, but nobody had been able to claim them. Fast forward to the '70s, and McCready decided to give it a go. He noted that other teams working on the project would take a year or longer to design a prototype before rolling it out. As a result of the long gestation period, they collected little empirical results to guide their further work on the design.Instead, McCready adopted a different approach. Noting that failure in one of his prototypes was acceptable (because they were flying at such low altitude and speed), he reasoned that he would benefit more from learning from various generations of prototypes. So, he focused on designing a plane that could be built and rebuilt in hours, not months, which enabled him to iterate quickly and, eventually, design a successful plane.Think big, start small, (scale fast)?So, think big, start small, and scale fast. But not all three components need to be present in all projects. At times, what matters is to start small and scale fast—with not big thinking required. At other times, it might be the scaling that doesn’t need to go quickly.Be it as it may, the point remains: facing a seemingly insurmountable problem, you may be well inspired to look for quick wins and build on those.References:Chevallier, A. (2016). Strategic Thinking in Complex Problem Solving. Oxford, UK, Oxford University PressMedawar, P. B. (1979). Advice to a young scientist, Basic Books.Watkins, M. (2004). “Strategy for the critical first 90 days of leadership.” Strategy & Leadership 32(1): 15-20.About Netflix: Your Innovation Strategy, MIT Technology Review, February 2, 2011.About chess to develop early habits: An Unusual Job Opportunity, The New York Times, July 13, 2010.Photo credit: NASA.
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I found Leslie next to the swim-start area, got my last good-luck kiss and then I watched the pros get the real show on the way. They started at 07h05 and would be followed every 5 minutes by a wave of age-groupers. My age group, M50–54 would be the penultimate one to start at 07h55.
I found Leslie next to the swim-start area, got my last good-luck kiss and then I watched the pros get the real show on the way. They started at 07h05 and would be followed every 5 minutes by a wave of age-groupers. My age group, M50–54 would be the penultimate one to start at 07h55.