Measure twice, cut once

As someone who does a lot of DIY - I'm renovating my house - I'm familiar with the old adage “measure twice cut once”. I'm sure you've heard it too. But do you take heed in a project context?

Do you know…

You have something you need to know. It could be whether a dependent project has something in their scope, or which person is responsible for a process you need to follow, or the lead time on a task you're waiting on. Lets be honest, there are lots of questions you have to deal with as a Project Manager on a project.

The way most of us deal with this, is we ask someone. We find someone who looks like they should know the answer and we ask them. But this is only measuring once.

A jigsaw held by thousands

I like to think of a project as a jigsaw puzzle with a few thousand pieces. But rather than all those pieces being on the table in front of you, lots of people each have a single piece of the jigsaw.

When you ask a person a question, their knowledge is limited to the jigsaw piece they hold and a few pieces held by people close to them. But on every occasion the knowledge is incomplete.

It's not like people are trying to give you the wrong answer. They just can't see all the puzzle. They answer as best they can, but it might not be the right answer.

Take a second measurement

Who else would have an opinion on the answer? You don't want someone who can see the same puzzle pieces, you want to test the question with people who can see different puzzle pieces. If you've asked the technology team, try asking the product team, or a business stakeholder.

Don’t accept, think

Another tactic you can use to get better answers to questions, is not to blindly accept the answer, but to stop and think. Does the answer you've got make sense? Does it sound like whoever designed the process or system you are asking about, would have designed it to work the way you are hearing in your answer?

No? Maybe go and measure again.

I've had my fair share of “measure twice cut once” mistakes in my DIY endeavors. Mix ups from mm to cm, or measuring at an angle rather than measuring straight. I try to minimise them in my project endeavours. Measure twice. Always.