Growing up, I was amazed how the Road Runner always managed to foil his nemesis, Wile E. Coyote, in his pursuit.
The Coyote used the American Company Making Everything (ACME) Corporation products in an attempt to capture the Road Runner. But every time he came close to fulfilling his goal, his devices would fail him, leaving no choice but to return to the drawing board. Even though all of his products functioned properly, they were never able to produce the correct formula for capturing the elusive Road Runner. I remember I used to always ask myself, “Why does the Coyote keep going back to the same place for new solutions?”
Much is the same in business.
Often, leaders turn to their ready-made toolkit of resources (a.k.a. ACME Corporation) to fix problems—these tools proved successful in the past, so why shouldn’t they follow the same recipe? Well, just like Wile E. Coyote, they will come to find themselves stuck in a gruesome pursuit of their goals, often thinking their toolkit has the go-to answer.
And maybe it does. Maybe you have the tools needed, but you’re lacking a plan, a strategy, that would help chart your way forward. Think about it, Wile E. Coyote had a lot of tools, but he never tried to put them together strategically to make them work. In fact, you never saw the Coyote use more than one tool from ACME at a time. If he would’ve had an integrated plan, he might have found more success…
IT road maps
I would like to introduce you to another tool—a road map—to add to your toolkit.
The idea of a road map isn’t necessarily new, and there really is no right or wrong version. But, through experience, we’ve found that road maps should contain certain elements to be considered useful. At MainSpring, our road map helps your organization capture your productivity and scalability needs.
So, how can a road map help you stay focused and measure your success? A road map is an instrument that captures your output and outcomes to create a simplified focus on your organization’s strategic initiatives and measurements of success.
MainSpring has developed a proven methodology—i.e. the ProSuite IT road map—to help organizations succeed in capturing their ever-elusive “Road Runner.” In the first step, which is the planning process, we gather information about organizations and their strategies before they begin their pursuit. This approach can be used no matter the size, type or goal of the organization; the IT road map is your blueprint to success.
So the next time you are in pursuit of a new goal or initiative, take a moment and think of how you might do things differently so that you can capture your road runner!