Constraints
Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.
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Yesterday, I wrote a thread on constraints and in the spirit of constraints, I decided to write on constraints today. Enjoy 😊
We have all participated in team brainstorming sessions when we end up with a seemingly infinite list of random ideas which don’t solve the problem at hand. That is what happens when there aren’t constraints.
What are constraints?
These are limitations or restrictions to achieving anything. They are various ways to look at constraints. Broadly, they are two: lack of resources and regulations.
Most resources that are scarce are usually Money and Time. As for regulations, they are grounded in our realities.
While constraints could be seen as something to overcome, most times, they can foster innovation when they represent a motivating challenge and focus efforts on a more narrowly defined path.
Without constraints, we become complacent and follow the path of least resistance. The path of least resistance prevents us from developing better ideas.
Constraints help us frame the solutions to problems we solve and limit what is acceptable and not.
When attending to tasks, using time constraints works well—using Parkison’s law, which states that work fills the time allocated to it.
For example, an errand that could take 30 minutes has an hour allocated to it. That errand is going to be completed sound the hour mark. However, if a 2-hour work has an hour allocated, it would almost be completed within that time, and if not, a would be that could be completed before the 2nd-hour mark.
When people face scarcity of resources, they tend to use them in less conventional ways- because they have no option. The situation demands creativity that would otherwise remain untapped.
“The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees one’s self. And the arbitrariness of the constraint serves only to obtain precision of execution.” — Igor Stravinsky, Composer, Pianist, and Conductor.
Some ways to create constraints are:
Limit Your Workday: By stopping your work at a specific time, you ensure that everything that needs to be done that day is done. It prevents one from attending to less important work.
Bootstrapping: For businesses/startups, consider starting without funding and see how fast you can monetise instead of trying to land investors and raise funds.
Time blocking: Try blocking time for each task or a group of related tasks. This, instead of having a to-do list, forces you to work with the given time as you’d have to move on to the next task once the time elapses.
While constraints can be seen as a way to produce more work or be more creative, they can make work almost impossible when they are too much. It could also be anxiety-inducing and also prevent us from producing quality work.
To balance our constraints, we should set reasonable deadlines. These time limits should stretch your abilities but not be impossible to accomplish commit to finishing tasks within the time.
Review and rest deadlines. After work, assess why you may be falling short of the goals you’ve set. If you’re exceeding them with ease, it may be time to push yourself further.
And that wraps it up for this week. See you next week Sunday.
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Nice one mate 👍👍👍👍