It Will Be What It Will Be

“There are two primary choices in life:  to accept conditions as they exist, or accpet the responsibility for changing them.” – Denis Waitley

I was reminded today of the oft repeated phrase, “It will be what it will be.”  It is meant to help people distinguish between those things they can effect or influence, and those things that are so far down the path that they can’t be changed.  It is a like the Serenity Prayer, but more appropriate for repeating around the workpalce, I guess. 

It also helps people face the truth.  Even if we don’t want something to be true, sometimes we have to admit that things are not as we intend or wish.  Armed with reality, we can identify what we need to do differently.  In program management, they call this identifying the “as is” state, so that the gaps between it and the “to be” state can be clearly defined.

Life is a constant striving towards the “to be” state.  The “as is” state is always changing.  This is the beauty and dynamic nature of life.  And of business.

The “to be” state is always in mind to an entrepreneur, but the “as is” state is equally important.  The tension between the two keeps things moving forward.

It all depends on what you mean by success

Forty years ago this month, the first human to human heart transplant was performed in South Africa.  An incredibly complicated and dangerous procedure, the first one was deemed a success.  According to an article about it, the patient’s ”body did not reject the heart, due in large part to the immunosuppressive drugs he received. But those drugs also weakened his immune system, and he contracted double pneumonia, which killed him 18 days after the transplant.”

So, was the surgery a success or not?  The heart was transplanted, so the answer is “yes.”  The patient died from complications, so the answer is “no.”  It was a giant leap for the field of medicine and a huge disappointment to the family and friends of the patient, and probably to the surgeon and staff who attended to the man and his borrowed heart.

I find this same challenge in other more routine projects that I work on.  Lives may not be on the line, but often the goals are not completely achieved, yet lots of progress is made.  Is it a success or not?  Well, that depends.  Goal setting can be tricky, as there is often both a component of results and the journey to the results, both of which have value.

So, what will constitute a beta test of Remarkable when we are ready?  Will all our potential customers have a great experience?  We hope so, but do not bet on it (after all, it is a beta, and if it was perfect we would call it a “production release” instead).  Will we learn a lot that will make the product better over time and ensure that we have something that everyone will love as much as we will?  That is the goal. 

And the good news is that our offering requires no antibiotics and has no side-effects (other than an addiction to using it and a complusion to telling your friends about it).

If you haven’t signed up to receive notification of our upcoming beta test, do it today!