Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
Why Challenges Are Better than Targets
Challenges are different than targets. They pull from the future rather than a forecast of the future. There is no question that goals influence behavior; it’s just that they are a blunt instrument. So be careful what you ask for; you will probably get it.
This is an excerpt from the book Leading Lean Software Development: Results Are Not the Point, published by Addison-Wesley Professional, as part of the Addison-Wesley Signature Series; Copyright 2010 Poppendieck LLC. For more information: www.informit.com/title/0321620704.
You should not set targets. Your current system is what it is; targets are not going to change its capability. You measure system capability; you do not prescribe it. As Deming once said, “If you have a stable system, then there is no use to specify a goal. You will get whatever the system will deliver. A goal beyond the capability of the system will not be reached. If you have not a stable system, then there is no point in setting a goal. There is no way to know what the system will produce: it has no capability.”
Think of it this way. Let’s say you set a target that is beyond the capability of your system, a goal that your current work processes cannot achieve. Since the target is a strong motivator (no argument there), people have three choices: (1) redesign the work, (2) distort the system (for instance, by …
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