The Iterative Adjacent Possible
When we set out to do bold things, we make a critical error of judgment. We ignore a fundamental constraint because it would be a terrifying bummer if it were true. As a result we continually make brittle plans at great expense that are nearly guaranteed to fail. If instead we embrace the fundamental constraint and tweak our mindset, we can achieve results over the long term that are better than our wildest dreams at significantly lower risk. But to do so first we must embrace our own limitations, which feels, paradoxically, like giving up before we ever get going.
This analysis works for any entity that has agency — that is, that can make choices among many alternative actions over time. It might be a single individual making decisions in the context of their career progression. Perhaps it’s a team within a company making decisions about what work to prioritize. It could also be a whole company making decisions about how to navigate its competitive landscape and deliver value for its customers. The same approach works for any of these situations.
You start out with the position you’re currently in. This might represent the amount of revenue you are extracting from a given product line today, the number of skills you’ve acquired, or what your customers think about you — anything that represents your current state before making any decisions. Your position is boxed in by a number of constraints. You now have to decide where you want to go, a cone of possibility opening up in front of you.
