Master the Art of Business
A world-class business education in a single volume. Learn the universal principles behind every successful business, then use these ideas to make more money, get more done, and have more fun in your life and work.
What Is A 'Forcing Function'?
- A Forcing Function is a process or Constraint that requires an action, Decision or Trade-off within a certain timeframe.
- Deadlines, project milestones, trial periods, and quarterly or annual reports are common examples of Forcing Functions.
Josh Kaufman Explains 'Forcing Functions'
As a rule, people hate making Trade-offs unless the situation requires it. Options are valuable, and it makes sense to preserve flexibility and control unless there’s a good reason.
A Forcing Function is a process or Constraint that requires an action, Decision or Trade-off within a certain timeframe. Deadlines, project milestones, trial periods, and quarterly or annual reports are common examples of Forcing Functions: the purpose is to encourage or mandate progress that would otherwise not happen in the absence of an external limitation.
Forcing Function create urgency, but they have limits: you can’t speed up creation, discovery, or production processes that take a certain amount of time by setting an artificial end date, even if you devote more resources to the project. Frederick P. Brooks Jr., author of The Mythical Man-Month, used a memorable metaphor to explain this inherent limitation: “One woman can make a baby in nine months… but nine women can’t make a baby in one month.” Increasing urgency in situations like this doesn’t produce better results and only serves to increase unnecessary stress.
Forcing Functions are best used to place time limits on research and to make Decisions under conditions of Uncertainty. If you’re not quite sure how to proceed, it’s all too easy to put off difficult choices in the name of collecting additional information. By adding an artificial limit to the information-collection phase of the project, it’s much easier to move forward and deliver results, particularly if you need to deliver on a deadline.
"The schedule you develop will seem like a complete work of fiction up until the time your customer fires you for not meeting it."
David Akin, professor of aerospace engineering, University of Maryland
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https://personalmba.com/forcing-function/
Master the Art of Business
A world-class business education in a single volume. Learn the universal principles behind every successful business, then use these ideas to make more money, get more done, and have more fun in your life and work.
About Josh Kaufman
Josh Kaufman is an acclaimed business, learning, and skill acquisition expert. He is the author of two international bestsellers: The Personal MBA and The First 20 Hours. Josh's research and writing have helped millions of people worldwide learn the fundamentals of modern business.
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