Half in Half

This is my all-time favorite Thinkie. Not just project Thinkie, Thinkie period. I’ve made more money consulting with this than any other single technique. I feel kind of bad revealing it but heck I can’t consult with all the teams. (In fact I hardly consult with any of the teams these days—thanks, subscriber!)

Pattern: Someone gives you a date for a scope of work.

Transformation: Ask which half of it you can see in half the time.

That’s it! Ah, the genius.

Here’s the magic—folks just don’t prioritize very well. Even smart folks, when they’re buried in the problem, are looking for the solution. Maybe even “especially smart folks”.

Awesome thing 1 about Half in Half: it forces the listeners to take a step back & think about succession (a topic you’ll be familiar with from Tidy First?). “But we have to do all this work!” they’ll say. Yes, I understand, but half of it has to get done before the other half. What are the halves?

That’s the money question—what are the halves? Do we want:

• Sales? So, a demo.

• User feedback? So, a working system just not all complete & polished.

• Technical validation & de-risking? So, a prototype we can measure under production conditions.

The discussion of priorities creates value all on its own.

Awesome thing 2 about Half in Half: you don’t have to be smart. Just match the pattern, ask the question, and watch the creativity flow. I can walk into any project, anywhere, on any topic. Smart people will be making the same mistake—not considering succession. The effort to profit ratio on this thing is off the charts.

Awesome thing 3 about Half in Half: it’s practically scale-free. “We’ll do this big release in 6 months.” “Which half can I see in 3 months?” “We can do that by noon.” “Which half can I see at the coffee break?”

The only downside I see is that after I work with a team for a while they start asking the question on their own. Lucky I have 40 other Thinkies generating likely-bad-but-occasionally-good ideas for me.