Master the Moment

Master The Moment:Layout 1 10/6/10 12:11 PM Page 180

MASTER THE MOMENT

that the feelings they have during the period of change will be

extended to the whole time they’re in the new city. When they ac-

tually live the event, their feelings at different points in time are

quite different from what they expected.

What does this mean for time management? It means you should

be aware that you are probably skewed in your thinking about the

future. In order to see trouble brewing up ahead you have to find

ways of compensating for these biases.

DOING IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME

No matter what you do, if you are careful to build on solid ground

you’ll minimise the risk of running into trouble down the line.

Solid processes

To get really good at this, you have to set things up to run smoothly

today. If all of your attention is required to react to events as they

arise, or if you need to focus all of your efforts on keeping things

going today, you’re caught in a trap. With no time to think about the

future, you can only wait for problems to rear their ugly heads –

and when they do occur, they show up as urgent and unexpected

events. Let’s take some examples.

Twenty-two years ago, as a young software engineer, I had the

opportunity to observe different management styles in the various

startups I worked for in the Washington DC area. One manager,

an absolute expert, could answer any question that came up con-

cerning the application for which he was responsible. Any time

there was a crisis, he jumped on it immediately. Once he figured

out the source of the problem, he would explain his findings to

whichever team member was available, and he would suggest a

solution.

Another manager, while just as skilful as the first one, chose not

to be a product expert. Rather than familiarise herself with prod-

uct details, she spent most of her time building the competence

of her team members. She also spent time building a good team

environment and a trusting relationship between herself and

each team member, and among team members.

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