cogitatio

So, your business is growing, and your IT and development departments are screaming that the infrastructure won’t keep up with the increasing load being placed on both your human resources and your server infrastructure.  So, what do you do?

One approach to this problem is to say “I’ll deal with that when we get there”.  That is the worst way to deal with the issue because “when you get there” its already too late.  You sat on the ticking time bomb, and it will have already blown up.  OK, so just waiting and seeing won’t work, so what about saying “When we hit X point, then it will be time to invest (in new infrastructure or new human capital)”.  On its face, this seems like a logical way to approach the problem – set an objective metric, when you hit that metric, then you purchase.  So what’s wrong with that?  This manner of management presumes that you have a perfect crystal ball, that growth will not accelerate, that you can act quickly enough that you can fill your needs before the load crushes you.  And sometimes, you can do this.  IF you set your metrics such that they are reasonably ahead of the curve.  However, as a small to medium business, presuming that you can forecast the growth curve accurately enough to do this is a risky proposition.

So whats the best way to deal with this?  As a first step, you need be setup to review your needs regularly enough to make honest assessments of where you are now and where you will be in the future.  Your future window needs to be something that is actually predictable.  If your trigger point window is outside the time frame of your sales pipeline, well this is an indicator that your trigger metrics are too far out.  If this window is too far out, you are effectively saying “I’ll deal with that when we get there.”  As a second step, you need to trust the folks in the trenches to raise the flag that needs are not being met, and when they do  you need to listen carefully to those needs.  You need to have enough trust in the folks with their fingers on the pulse of your business to not resort to the knee jerk reaction of “We aren’t there yet.”

PS – sorry for the testing posts, I was trying to get the facebook and linked in integration going, and I think that is fully kosher now.

A fun, non business post will be forthcoming over the weekend, hopefully some good food blogging to do!