A step in the right direction

What if everything was on a single plane, in a single dimension would we still need to build steps? 

I snapped this picture at a plantation home back in Louisiana.  Those steps have been there for well over 175 years, I am sure there is a way to calculate how many times they have been climbed.  These steps led from the main house to the well. The steps ensured that the task of fetching water could be accomplished safely. 

The question I am wrestling with this morning is this: building the steps (processes and procedures) is difficult, many times it feels like I am getting no where, yet I know the importance of putting in the work.  I am putting in the time now so that in the future we can walk the path safely and with efficiency.

I am in week two of a new project, my first Federal project (plantation).  This project is number 001, and like the steps in the plantation I went to visit, I plan on staying here for a while.  So, here is what I am learning, the paperwork is next level, some of it is completely new to me.  The ambiguity of the project is full of hidden risk, there are so many sentences in the scope document that are all up to interpretation.  

So, how do I manage this?  I go back to the foundations, I build steps to get me from one plane to another.  The plans are on a plane, and the building is on a different plane - I have to bridge the gap between the two. My favorite method is to create zones of work, then color code everything. By creating these steps, I am able to control the narrative as well as capture items that are out of scope and charge for them accordingly. 

The coolest part of the picture is the character and patina of the steps, those things only appear in time.  As I work though the growing pains of building a business from scratch, I keep my eye on the prize of building something that will last.  I focus on optimizing the mundane, I am building steps that when implemented at scale, will allow me to go as high as my mind will take me.  

Sometimes the answers we seek cannot be found in prepackaged solutions.  Sometimes we have to build the steps.  The folks that built those steps back in the 1800’s were focused on fetching water, these days water is piped in, yet the steps endured. Maybe that is the lesson I am learning, build things to last even though they may eventually be replaced, in the end it is all about the experience not the destination.