Some things just take time.
Traditionally, one of the best ways to speed up the delivery of a project is to allocate more resources to it.
After all, if one construction worker can lay 1,000 bricks in one day (note, this is just a guess…), then a hundred construction workers could lay up to 100,000 bricks in a day, meaning the project would only take 1/100th of the time to complete (assuming the project outcome is supposed to just be a pile of bricks…).
This is how a lot of businesses think about growth and scaling.
Bring in more people to work on the challenge, and it will be solved faster.
Right?
Well, not necessarily.
Some projects cannot be done faster, even if more people work on it.
This is especially true of creative and innovative work.
Sometimes, it takes time for ideas to iterate and be refined. It takes time to design a concept, test it with the market, make changes and craft a compelling offer.
Additional resources do not necessarily make this happen faster.
In some situations, adding too many people to a project can actually slow down progress.
Ever heard that “too many cooks spoil the broth”?
In that case, too many opinions can mean that it becomes harder for any different and creative idea to get the support it needs.
More people can also mean significantly more administrative burdens, slowing down progress even further.
So when it comes to innovation projects, sometimes one mother is enough for a baby idea.
Nick Skillicorn
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