If you’ve read any of my other pieces, you know I’m an advocate for defining and managing risk (and opportunity) on projects and in organizations.  And you know by “managing” I mean the active, vigilant monitoring of what is going on vs. what you may have anticipated.  It makes sound business sense and it ends up saving you, your teams, and your management a whole lot of headaches later.

FOCUS ON ‘WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN’
But is there a point where you are too focused on what “might happen” or what “could be”?  I believe there is and I think many companies unwittingly slip into that mode, especially where their operations are concerned.  In trying to identify every possible scenario, constantly research to find those elusive “best practices/best of breed”, and analyze until they are so caught up in the minutia they can’t clearly see the bigger goal anymore, companies go on what I like to call a “unicorn hunt”.  This search for perfection paralyzes rather than enables, and while the idea of a unicorn hunt is very cool and mythical, hardly anybody knows of a company that has done that hunt successfully – at least not the mere mortal companies most of us work for.

RISKS OF THE UNICORN HUNT
The risks of the unicorn hunt are rather plain.  You risk getting caught up in all the extra trappings of that work and the project or operation suffers as a result.  Avoiding the risks can be a little more challenging, especially when upper management really wants that trophy head to hang on a boardroom wall.  Still, the careful project manager can diminish or even eliminate them by bringing focus back to the basics using questions designed to “center” the project or initiative.  I’m talking about simple, open-ended questions like:

• If we continue on this track of analyzing risks to this degree, what adjustments to the project schedule, budget, or scope will we make so that we still make our goals and garner the benefits?
• Have we examined the true total cost of ownership in pursuing the best of breed option vs. one of the others that still provides solid functionality for the company?
• Is there a way we can carve this initiative out and make it a separate project so that we don’t delay getting the benefits?
• Realizing that the pursuit of excellence and best practice is a good thing, have we done any analysis regarding how far our organization can and should go at this point in our company lifecycle?

And there are dozens of others that could be used to get the focus off the “thrill of the potential unicorn hunt” and back on what we need to do to operate effectively today. 
Certainly there is some risk in being the person who speaks up, but the last thing you really want in an organization is to find yourself so wrapped up in “what could be” that you lose focus on “what is and needs to be”.  My last article on groupthink comes readily to mind.

SOMETIMES, FOCUS ON WHAT IS ‘GOOD ENOUGH’
My challenge to you is that you continue to pursue excellence, but that you do it with a bit of caution.  Just because you can pursue an idea doesn’t mean it is the right thing to do for your project, your operation, or for you.  There are times that “good enough” trumps the promise of a unicorn trophy mounted on your wall.

Bio:

Mark Moore has held multiple professional positions in IT and business for nearly three decades serving organizations both small and large, public and private.  With over half that time as a project manager, he has successfully managed major initiatives spanning multiple years with a cost of over $3 Million and teams of over 250 people.  He has been a Project Management Professional since 2002, served as President of the PMI Western Michigan Chapter, and presented at multiple NCPMI Annual Events.  Mark holds a Masters of Education degree from Colorado State University with a concentration in Adult Education and Training.  He is an experienced writer, speaker and presenter on project management and team building topics.  Mark is the Principal Consultant for Broken Arrow Associates, LTD.  He and his family live in a rural area outside of Raleigh, North Carolina.

https://insights.cermacademy.com/2013/10/29-the-great-pretenders-mark-moore/