The Roadtrip

We took a road trip last weekend. We piled everyone and everything into the car. We had what we needed for a 3 hour ride, followed by a weekend away. We had snacks, entertainment, clothes and toys. We left before rush hour. The weather was good. This was going to be a great trip.  I even thought to myself as we hit the road around 2:30 PM,  we may just get to meet some family for dinner at 6 PM.

5+ hours later,  after 6 stops, with one carsick child and a load of pending laundry, we finally made it to our destination.

So What Happened?

Thinking back, it wasn't one thing. We didn't have car trouble. We didn't get lost. We weren't stuck in a blizzard. We weren't stuck behind an accident. Our trip simply got delayed in 5-10 minute increments.

• Grabbing one last thing
• A bathroom stop (or two)
• A gas stop
• A dinner stop
• Unexpected traffic

At no point in the trip did we mentally recalculate and say  - you know what  - we are not going to get in until after 8. We just quietly and steadily got later and later. How come? And if we had known when we started, that the trip would be so long, we might have packed/prepped differently.  We could make different arrangements and decisions.

Instead:

"How much longer until we get there?"
"Soon."
"I'm hungry"
"Can you wait?"
"How much longer?"
"Soon"

Some projects are like this too . . .

They slip in small intervals.  Nothing gigantic or catastrophic, just "Almost there" for way too long! Here too, the problem is not the delay - it is that by failing to re-set, acknowledge the delay we miss the opportunity to properly capitalize on that time and reset plans.

The Trouble You Can Expect vs. The Trouble You Don't Expect

I took this course years ago in business school on managerial decision making. The professor talked about framing the problem - limiting the scope of the things that you consider so that you can see clearly, make rapid and effective decisions. This means,  by definition, that you are excluding plausible but unlikely scenarios.  Considering all the scenarios, while more complete, slows the process down to such a degree that it can no longer be effective. This of course is a moving target.

So you can add some of this into your planning. It may have been a 3 hour drive with two adults and no traffic but with 2 small kids with some traffic - it is 4 hours, best case, which was our experience on the way home. We can expect some traffic, some stops,  some minor delays and we can build those in.

I could have packed more extra clothes. I could have packed laundry detergent. I could have packed plastic bags and paper towels.

Could of, should of, would of.

We made it and we re-set expectations on the way home.

Thanks for reading!