A few days ago, I wrote a post called ‘The Unused Prescription’.
The idea: just like a doctor’s prescription is useless unless we go and get the medicine, ours plans to fix a problem have little value until we put them into action.
I received two interesting replies which I thought were worth sharing.
Geoff shared that sometimes we don’t need “a plan to fix it”, but that we’re often better off scrapping what had to be fixed in the first place. For example, cumbersome processes in the workplace.
Andrew shared that sometimes coming up with a plan is enough to make the patient feel better. For example, a common strategy to reduce overprescription of antibiotics is to have the prescription valid from 2-3 days after the prescription is written, in case the patient gets better on their own. He wondered if similar situations happen in companies.
I like how both these points challenged my initial idea, and have expanded how I think about the unused prescription.
Thank you for the new ways of looking at this idea, gents!