It's My Fault. So What Has to Change?

When I started my own business, there were a few harsh realities that hit very abruptly.
 
One is that everything is my fault.
 
It’s true in both directions. Good things are happening – my fault. Bad things are happening – also my fault.
 
“The customer is always right” is a well-rehearsed catchphrase. There’s some wisdom in that, but it’s not true. What might be more accurate is that as a business owner, when something goes wrong, it’s my fault.
 
I’m responsible for the system of what I do.
 
When it’s me working solo, it’s more than obvious. Not enough work? My fault. Too much work? My fault.
 
But there are other dynamics too. Customer pays late? My fault. Customer doesn’t pay? My fault.
 
What if I don’t get CAD files on time to design a project? Yeah, it’s my fault too.
 
It’s too easy to point to others and place blame on someone else. Ultimately, though, we have to get past that mindset.  Maybe it's not my fault, but it's my responsibility still to fix it.

​If we want to avoid repeating the same issue again, it’s the system that has to change.
 
If a customer doesn’t pay – maybe I didn’t vet them well enough. Maybe I didn’t communicate well on the front end. Maybe I let the project progress far too long before having a tough conversation.
 
If something goes wrong – anything goes wrong – we have to look at our system and decide whether something needs to be tweaked to avoid that pain in the future.

We will, at some point, all make mistakes.
 
We will miss tasks. Forget to date a titleblock. Heck, one time I forgot an FDC on a design!
 
We caught it, fortunately, before fabrication. But it’s a mistake I never want to make again.
 
It’s easy to think “I was rushed and we’re understaffed, overloaded, tired, coffee machine was broken and I just forgot that one time.”
 
It’s too easy to think “that was awful, I’ll never forget an FDC again.”
 
But what is more helpful and productive is with each mistake, to look at our system, and decide what needs to be tweaked to avoid that mistake a second time.
 
Do I have my own checklist to make sure I picked up the FDC?
 
What if next time it’s not the FDC, but the Inspector’s Test or the automatic ball drip or the North Arrow or something else?
 
What needs to change in my system to make sure it doesn’t happen again?
 
This doesn’t mean bureaucracy – it means building tools that help me do things smoother and easier in the future.
 
Can I lighten my own mental load by making myself a checklist? Is it as simple as that?
 
Can I tweak my project delivery process, so that I know early on whether a client intends to pay or not?
 
Can I have a shortlist of project needs, including CAD or Revit files, ready to go for kickoff meetings right then and there?
 
When you look at your own work as a system – a delivery of some form of value to another person – you have the ability to constantly tweak that system so that you don’t just avoid mistakes, but that you’re able to deliver great work with less stress and much more consistency.
 
Yes, it’s your fault. But how can you learn that lesson and tweak your system so that next time it’s far better?
 
Here’s a normal project workflow:

Finding an issue during a typical project delivery. Graph shows relative levels of stress and available time.

We start a job (usually by copying the last similar job).
 
We start right in on whatever we feel is hot or need to knock out first.
 
Without a set process, we kind of “just do it” the way that feels right based on experience.
 
As deadlines approach, our stress level rises.
 
We find something that’s wrong. Maybe it’s a design issue. Maybe it’s a delivery issue. Communication issue. Client issue. Payment issue. Review issue.
 
Whatever it is, there’s something that need to be fixed.
 
So what do we do?
 
Some cuss, some just move on. But we fix it just for that project and move on.
 
Besides – we don’t have time to do grand fixes today. It’s deadline day. Everyone is stressed and trying to get these things out.
 
Deadline days are tiring, stressful. We’re understaffed, under-supported, and busy. No time for long-term goals today.
 
But here’s the rub – in a line of work that is project delivery, it’s the system that we need to be mindful of.
 
It’s the system that we need to improve to make our own work less stressful, less intense, higher quality, and more consistent.
 
All those things are achievable.
 
Here’s my fix, and it’s pretty simple. Good system designers are well attuned to this.
 
Instead of cussing someone out whenever something bad happens, simply add what should have been done down on your new “system to-do” list:

Adding a step to simply update a systems "to-do" list of improvement ideas.

It’s that simple.
 
Literally, takes about 3-5 seconds.
 
Then, you move on and knock out that job. Remember – deadlines are happing, we’re stressed, we don’t have time for long term fixes today.
 
That’s the first part, is actually documenting what need improvement.
 
The second part is adding a step right when you kickoff a project.
 
Project kickoffs are generally at a time when stress level is lower (maybe not low), and we have slightly more time available.
 
Make one (just one!) tweak do your system here. Now’s the time:

Now, fix one item when you first start a project.

You’re probably going to have to make that same fix for this project anyways, so you might as well make it for your system.
 
Update your checklist. Update that one detail. Update your template. Update your ChatGPT prompt. Draft your email template. Do that one change, now, that improves your system. And do it at the most-convenient and least-stressful time for you, right when things kick off.
 
These are generally small changes, but they compound over time to create incredibly improved systems. Better libraries, templates, communication, contracts, drawings – whatever your deliverable is – improving the system in tiny regular increments leads to dramatically improved systems over time.

My favorite football coach (yay, sports team!) is known as a talent developer. His system takes those with less recognized talent and develops them into elite athletes.
 
One of his main points of emphasis is improving by 1% every day.
 
We often want to see big spurts in improving ourselves – our jobs, promotions, careers. I want to pass this exam or I want to get this certification or I want to become an expert in this advanced topic.
 
But it’s largely unrealistic to take massive leaps of improvement in one stroke, or in one week or one month.
 
Working at it, and improving by 1% each day?
 
That’s…. possible.
 
What if we even lowered the bar to improving by 1% on each project? Each job?
 
I think we’d all easily take that. ​

And that’s absolutely on the table here with this system. Improving our system by 1%, just by working off our “to-do” list of improvements, can be a regular part of our workflow.
 
Over time on tweaking the system – everything becomes easier. Things go a little faster, a little smoother, a little higher quality.
 
And that all stems from really a few things: One is recognizing that it’s our fault. Two is recognizing that we can continue to do the same thing over and over, or we can admit it’s our fault and make change. And three is implementing small system changes, over enough time.
 
That combination of things, in whatever delivery model you’re in, has incredibly positive consequences for you and your team.
 
Our team and those who work with us regularly know this is put into practice all the time, and it's probably the biggest reason we're able to create and improve over time. It's a responsibility, sure, but it's the system mentality that has real benefit and ramifications for creating positive change for your organization or your workflow.

What are your thoughts? 

Do you already incorporate some form of system improvement in your process?

Comment below with your take.

Hope you found this helpful! If you liked it, please spread the word. Have a great rest of your week!

​- Joe