Avoid What-If Questions

When we ask what-if questions, we create doubt. Confusion and fear are created by doubt. Confused, doubtful, and afraid, no one can function correctly. Whenever we are worried, we procrastinate, which prevents us from accomplishing our goals.

It is imperative to focus on the facts and not let doubt creep in. This way, we can ensure productivity and focus. When we focus solely on facts, we can make better decisions and move forward with more certainty. We can also eliminate distractions and fears caused by baseless doubts. This means we can be sure of our choices and act more confidently.

We can work together to solve problems from a place of knowledge and understanding rather than confusion and fear. This can help the team remain productive and reach goals faster. We can ensure team productivity and success by staying focused on the facts, leading to better decision-making, problem-solving, and goal-achieving.

So what questions should we ask?

We should ask questions that help us gather facts about a situation. This enables us to eliminate bias and objectively view the facts. This allows us to make well-informed and realistic decisions and understand the consequences of our decisions. Applying this approach to team dynamics can help ensure everyone is on the same page and working together towards a common goal.

An Illustrative Hypothetical Scenario

Let’s say you are a manufacturer, and a client asks you to deliver 2500 widgets in five days. You have three workers and two machines, and usually, you produce about 300 widgets per day. However, in the past, you produced 500 widgets daily for a few days.

You start asking yourself if you can commit to this request, and you ask many What-If questions, for example:

• What-If we cannot maintain the throughput?
• What-If a worker gets sick?
• What-If a machine breaks down?
• What-If we don’t have enough raw materials?
• What-If we don’t move forward with this client request?

Without a worker, you would probably make less than 500 widgets or need to work a more extended day. If a machine breaks down, you most likely may not be able to produce anything, or at least significantly less than 500. You are starting to doubt yourself. You have multiple meetings with your team, and your entire team is now in doubt and fear.

How does simulation help?

If you have a valid simulation model of your production floor, you can experiment with the model and gather factual data. By manipulating the input data of your simulation model, you can generate factual data of different plausible outcomes.

For example, with your simulation model, instead of asking multiple What-If questions, you could ask questions like these:

• How many widgets can we produce with two machines and one, two, three, or four workers?
• How many more hours would we need to produce 500 widgets with two workers and one machine?
• Given a machine downtime of four hours, how many extra hours do we have to work to maintain the throughput and deliver 2500 widgets in five days?

Using the simulation’s output data, you can look at how different patterns evolve and make better choices.

Stop guessing, simulate!