My wife makes fun of me because I read the directions on Minute Rice.
Minute Rice… It’s literally in the name. I could probably figure it out.
I could also dump a box of IKEA furniture on the floor and eventually figure out where everything goes without opening the instructions.
But I don’t. Not because I can’t. Because why would I?
Someone already figured out the best way to get from a pile of pieces to a finished product. Why would I spend an hour proving I’m smart enough to figure it out on my own?
Read the directions. Understand what you’re working with. Then get to work.
I think I approach a lot of things that way. I do appreciate process and order, but not because I love “rules.” I actually hate rules that exist just because somebody decided 15 years ago that “this is how we do it.”
I like process because a good process creates clarity. There’s a difference.
I’ve spent a lot of my life around people who live at the extremes.
On one side is ready, fire, aim.
Something happens and we immediately have to do something. Change something. Call a meeting. Send an email. Change a price. Add a product. Make a new rule. Fix it RIGHT NOW. Activity starts to feel like progress. But sometimes you’re just running really fast in the wrong direction.
Then there’s the other side.
More information. Another meeting. Another spreadsheet. Another approval. Eventually the process that was supposed to help people do the work becomes the reason nobody can get any work done.
I don’t like either one, but I think there’s a sweet spot.
Enough process that we don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time we do something.
Enough understanding that we know why we’re doing it that way.
And enough common sense to know when the directions don’t fit what’s actually happening in front of us.
That last part matters.
Because I’m the guy who reads the directions on Minute Rice… But I’m also the guy who will throw the directions away the second they stop making sense.
A process is a starting point, it isn’t a prison.
Football is probably the easiest example.
We practice stance. First step. Hands. Eyes. Reads. Responsibilities. Over and over and over.
Not because I want a defensive lineman standing there Friday night thinking about everything I taught him, I actually want the opposite. I want him prepared enough that when the ball moves, he can just play.
The process creates freedom. Manufacturing isn’t that different.
Neither is leadership. Neither is life.
Build enough structure that you aren’t relying on chaos.
Learn enough that you aren’t relying on luck.
Prepare enough that when something doesn’t go according to plan—and something always won’t—you have the ability to adjust.
Then go.
Maybe that’s the sweet spot. Not winging everything because you’re smart enough to figure it out. Not blindly following instructions because somebody wrote them down.
Learn the process. Understand the process. Use the process. And when necessary, improve the process.
I’ll probably keep reading the directions on Minute Rice. My wife will probably keep making fun of me… I’m good with both.