Urgency is Control
A false sense of urgency allows you to control others. A need for control is a sign there’s a confidence issue behind the scenes. Do you need urgency or do you need confidence?
How many times have you told your team “We have to get this done by <insert date here>”?
How many times have you said, “We need to have a sense of urgency around <insert latest fire here>”?
How many times has your boss told you “We have to deliver this feature to the customer ASAP”?
It’s obvious what these have in common. They’re demands for extra attention to be paid to this issue at the exclusion of all the other work you and your team have to deal with.
In the world of plate spinning, this is like pointing at one particular plate and saying “spin this one faster now”. Unspoken is “and ignore the others…for now.”
What’s so bad about urgency?
In a perfect world, nothing. Sometimes we really do need to get a feature out the door to sign a $1 million contract. Sometimes a huge customer really may decide not to renew if a particular defect isn’t fixed. That’s the reality of B2B product management. It happens.
