Three Moves

“Methodical thinking is of more use in Chess than inspiration”
-- C. J. S. Purdy, chess International Master

A real chess player would laugh at the title of this chapter, but "thinking three moves ahead" is what I'm talking about with respect to managing IT. A great chess player is thinking about the entire game, not just in terms of three moves. They typically don't process the game like a computer would, first evaluating all possible legal moves, then ranking them, then ranking possible responses, etc. They see patterns and have previous games played or observed in mind as well as keeping the end game in mind.

Actually, I don't know what I'm talking about. I used to be a so-so player and now I'm terrible at it. What I do know is that when you work in IT and have decisions to make and work to do, keep in mind that you should be thinking at least "three moves ahead".

One problem with many IT people is that they have developed certain skills, patterns, and solutions and any time a problem comes up, they apply those to the problem. ("If all you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail.") These same people tend to only look to the end of the day or the end of the week and fail to look at the long term. They fail to ask, "what if?" repeatedly until they have a firm understanding of possible outcomes.

How can you start looking three moves ahead? Here are some things you can start doing:

• Ask questions and challenge your assumptions and the assumptions given to you.
• Start thinking in terms of thinking "three moves ahead".
• Ask, "what if?"
• Keep asking as you go.
• After you have developed a plan, take the luxury of letting it sit a day or two--go back and read your plan and see if it still makes sense.
• Write down your 1 year personal and departmental strategies.
• Write down your 3 year personal and departmental strategies.
• Write down your 5 year personal and departmental strategies.
• Make, organize, and keep lists.
• Don't respond right away with a solution, always take time to think things thru--if you need to, you can take the time to collect enough information about the issue and calm down the person requesting something, but most people will accept a response such as "let me get back to you."
• Ask yourself if your solution solves more than one problem.
• Define your problem, first, then do the research.
• Do your research, first, then define your problem.
• Once you think you have a solution, document why you think it is the best solution, right now.
• Blog your process, then go back after awhile and figure out where and why you were wrong, then incorporate what you learn into your current process.