Finding 'the' system

How long have you been looking for that ‘perfect’ system?

You know….the project management ‘system’ that will be your savior.

Or the governance process that will ensure that your IT group is running ‘right’.

Or that Social Media approach that will make your marketing efforts ‘perfect’.

Or…perhaps that perfect system that will make you money in the stock market.

The thing with finding ‘the’ system is that there’s never a system that’s right for everyone.  In fact, there’s never a ‘perfect’ system…there’s only systems.

As a project manager,  you are taught that the Project Management Institute’s body of knowledge is “the” way to manage projects…until you are taught that Agile is the way to go…and then you learn that some other form of managing projects is  the ‘best’ approach.

As an IT leader, you’ve been groomed to think ITIL will solve your troubles…until you realize it won’t.   You bring in consultants to implement the latest and greatest approaches and are promised they are the answers to your prayers.  But…you soon realize you’ve just spent money on yet another buzzword…sure they buzzword helps, but it isn’t “the” answer.

As a marketer, you were giddy when you realized how powerful social media was for ‘building your brand’, so you threw money at it.  You hired ‘ninjas’ to run your campaigns.  Then…realized that the perfect ‘system’ they promised you wasn’t working.

As an investor, you  spend years looking for that ‘holy grail’.  Maybe you spend hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands of dollars for systems, newsletters and software…to no avail. Nothing is working ‘perfectly’.

Welcome to the real world. There is no perfect.  There’s only approaches that work for some and don’t work for others.

Rather than spend money / time searching for ‘the’ system, find what works for you.

Image Credit: Perfect by -= Bruce Berrien =- on flickr