So, the other day, I’m staring at this project, right? Total mess. Decisions needed to be made, like, yesterday. And I’m thinking, “There’s gotta be a better way to do this.” That’s when I started digging into this whole “fields” or “Mayfield” thing. It’s basically about making decisions, but like a pro, you know?
First off, I realized I was all over the place. No system, just shooting from the hip. Bad move. So, I started with the basics. I needed to figure out what decisions actually needed to be made. Sounds simple, but you’d be surprised how many times we jump to solutions without really knowing the problem.
Here’s what I did:
- Started writing stuff down. Every time I felt that “uh-oh” moment, where a decision was needed, I wrote it down. Big ones, small ones, all of them.
- Then, I tried to understand why these decisions were even on the table. What was the deal? Was it because of something I did, something someone else did, or just the universe throwing curveballs?
- Next, I listed out my options. For every decision, I forced myself to come up with at least three options. Even if some seemed dumb, I put them down.
After that, things got a bit more interesting. I started asking myself some tough questions, the “who, what, when, where, why, how” kind. It felt a bit like those detective shows, but hey, it worked.
Here’s the breakdown of those questions:
- Who’s involved? Who’s gonna be affected by this decision?
- What are we really trying to achieve? What’s the goal here?
- When does this need to happen? Is there a deadline, or can it wait?
- Where’s the impact? Is it just my team, the whole company, or maybe even our customers?
- Why is this important? What happens if we do nothing?
- How are we gonna make this happen? What’s the plan, Stan?
Honestly, it was a bit of a pain at first. Felt like I was overthinking everything. But then, something cool happened. I started seeing patterns. I realized some decisions weren’t as big as I thought. Others were way more important than I was giving them credit for.
I also learned that speed is important, but it’s not everything. Sometimes, taking that extra minute to really think things through saves you a ton of time and headaches later on.
Now, I’m not saying I’m some kind of decision-making guru. I’m still learning. But this whole “fields” or “Mayfield” approach, it’s definitely changed the game for me. It’s like, I’ve got this framework now, this process. It’s not just about making decisions faster, it’s about making them better. And that’s a win in my book.
