This is a very old, old maxim, but I think it’s worth repeating. Every experienced PM and manager has heard this before: the more complicated the problem you face, the smaller the steps you should break it down into to solve the problem. This applies to everything from organizational and cultural problems to basic software design to building a deck in your back yard, and everywhere in between.
It’s worth repeating and thinking about because, simply, every one of us forgets this sometimes. You have a big, complex problem and next thing you know there’s a whole committee of people in a room holding a meeting and beating the issue to death- in the mean time, no one’s working on anything. 90% of the time, the actual solution is find the first step of solving the problem, set someone to work on that, then pull a plan together to solve the rest of the problem- in the smallest, easiest to solve pieces as are possible.
I recommend that, if you have anything in your office to remind you of something you should think about every day, this should be it: when in doubt, eat the elephant one bite at a time. Remembering this daily will help save you months and months of work over your career.
