Staying still

There was some trouble on the train journey home today; somewhere between Stockholm Central and home there was an 'incident' on the track. I decided to stick it out, as these things usually clear before much fuss, but after sitting still for quite a while at one of the stations on the way, I decided to go back and take another route via the underground and two buses. It's quite a long way round.

It made me think... what drives us to make these kind of decisions on which way to go? For me, it was taking an alternative that might be slower, but was at least getting me closer to where I wanted to be. Sitting still didn't seem to be achieving anything!

I noticed on the travel app on the phone that everything seemed to clear up with the trains while I was on my alternative route. So which way was faster; did my gamble pay off? I don't know, and I'm not sure how I would find out. The only option would have been to put someone on the other route and race them - if there were two of me, and it didn't matter which one got home first (it only mattered if one got there quickly) then that would be a good plan. Although it wouldn't necessarily tell me which one to choose next time, as the conditions would be different - the incident would almost certainly take more or less time to clear.

What's my point?

When facing a big project decision, and the route forwards isn't clear, there are two options:

1. Put two teams on it, and see which one gets there first - fine if you have a big budget!

2. Choose the one that is at least getting you towards your goal, rather than keeping you sitting still.

Normally, I go with option two. Generally better to make the wrong decision than no decision.