Scott Francisco
Original Publication: Contract Design Magazine, June 2011, pg 72
The design and consulting industry have become addicted to “picking up slack” ... eliminating inefficiencies that can be “measurably reduced”. But the best business thinkers today believe that slack is essential to innovation and a sustainable economy. Can the design industry get past our dead-end obsession with short-term efficiency and begin nurturing some "slack" before it’s too late?
The design and consulting industry have become addicted to “picking up slack” – sniffing out inefficiencies that can be analyzed and “measurably reduced”. The more slack we consultants find and eliminate with clever strategies, designs or technology, the more we are rewarded with new projects, fees and credibility. How can we resist? By contrast, some of the most revered business thinkers today believe that slack is essential to innovation and a sustainable economy. In this way of thinking human ingenuity is based on an ability to see beyond immediate and short-term rewards; to look into both past and future of multiple possibilities, and decide where we want to go and how to get there. In these challenging times the design industry is poised to lead the way past the dead-end obsession with short-term efficiency and begin nurturing some slack before it’s too late.
