Preparation – Procrastination or Essential in Business

Up until last Friday – I would have said, preparation is necessary, but don’t go over the top. Realise this is said from experience and a business perspective. However an experience last week, taught me a whole new slant on Preparation, that I had honestly never considered.
My perspective was : Prepare – do this efficiently and effectively. Don’t waste time, writing a book, when the readers digest version will

suffice. Be clear, be definite, and make sure all parties can understand the desired result.

Early in my business ownership, I employed a programmer, that for every 10 lines of code he wrote, he added a 30 line comment. This was the average. After about 6 months and no improvement on efficiency I let this programmer go. Having a glass of wine with a fellow programmer and employer for a government branch, we shared the funnies of our trade. Well she told me of this current employee – whom she was going to let go, that wrote 4 to 1 comments to code – here is the funny part, she had employed my ex programmer. This programmer was preparing for the programmer that followed, but was totally over prepared, by lacking in efficiency himself.

However a recent experience made me re assess my position on preparation.

Now my experience last week was a funeral. I was shared in the preparation for this funeral, as it was for a beloved family member. Well, I found that I was once again taught a valuable lesson from this family member I was saying goodbye to. They had spent time, working out the funeral that they would like in minute detail. They had paid for the funeral, selected the readings, the hymns, the location, the plot, even the information to be put in the paper.

The beauty of this level of preparation showed in first 48 hours after my family member departed. The family left to prepare still had a lot to do, and not all things went exactly as she had prepared. But the beauty of this level of preparation was that the intent was clear, and the guess work was minimal. We all knew the desired outcome. One situation did arise during this that could have created quite an issue, but due to the clear outcome, this issue was easily reasoned and a resolution put in place, that left no one but those involved in the planning aware of this issue. In fact all family, friends and professionals who were involved commented on the ease and beauty of this funeral.

So I have had to review my Preparation position slightly.
Prepare – do this efficiently and effectively. Don’t waste time, but be prepared where emotion is involved to take a little more time with the details. Be clear, be definite, and make sure all parties can understand and accept the desired end result.

Cate Schafing is a successful Australian business woman in the IT field serving as CEO of Accede Holdings Pty. Ltd. makers of Ezymeetz, ICE and Virtual Gym. She develops innovative new technological products as a programmer and entrepreneur. In gratitude for her success her company supports NFP’s by donating $5000 per month in programming time for NFP’s requesting work.