Portrait of Benjamin Lincoln (1733-1810), Major General of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and Secretary of War 1781-1783. Painting by Charles Willson Peale. Gen. Lincoln commanded units in Georgia and the Carolinas in 1778-80, during the British southern campaign. Captured at Charleston in 1780, he was ultimately released in an exchange. Commanding a Continental division in the battle of Yorktown, he is the general who formally accepted the British surrender there.
The British Southern Strategy was probably doomed from the start. Conceived as what we now consider a classic counterinsurgency campaign, it was based, in part, on the mistaken belief by the British that the southern colonies were populated by large numbers of Loyalists who could be armed and equipped to form an effective force to oppose the rebels. This belief rested on intelligence gained from Loyalist exiles in London, many of whom had much to gain economically from British victory, and who recognized that exaggeration of the facts would be in their own interest. Still, by 1779, more than a year after the onset of the British southern campaign, the British had ample evidence that the basis of their strategy was at least questionable. Yet they pressed on, rigidly adhering to what was by then a failed — or at least failing — strategy, and ultimately surrendered over 7,000 soldiers at Yorktown in October 19, 1781. More about Gen. Lincoln, More about the British Southern Strategy
The portrait was probably painted during Gen. Lincoln's term as Secretary of War before October 13, 1784. The painting is listed in the 1795 Peale Museum catalog. Purchased by the City of Philadelphia at the 1854 Peale Museum sale. Photo courtesy U.S. National Parks Service Museum.
In the modern workplace, much effort is irrelevant to the goals espoused by the organization — so much, in fact, that exploring the causes of useless work is worthwhile. In this part of our exploration, we focus on examples of deck-chair-rearranging pertaining to strategic decision making. See for a discussion of obvious waste, and for a discussion of task duration.
- Insupportably detailed plans
- Adequate planning is critical to the success of any complex project, but planning in detail not justified by current knowledge is wasteful. It can even threaten success, because it limits flexibility and closes our minds to alternatives. (More on lock-in) By contrast, "just-in-time" planning, the essence of agile development, tends to preserve flexibility.
- Excessively detailed planning can be viewed as scope creep in the planning process; or as a manifestation of perfectionism; or as a result of hoarding of the planning budget or schedule or both. More
- Preoccupation with efficiency over effectiveness
- In manufacturing, efficiency is effectiveness, but in knowledge work, distinguishing the two is essential. About 30 years ago, management theorists came to recognize that efficiency relates to using resources wisely, given an objective, while effectiveness relates to selecting objectives wisely, given a set of resources.
- In knowledge work, emphasizing efficiency over effectiveness risks engaging in deck-chair-rearranging behavior. In meetings, for example, we sometimes debate how to discuss an issue, without considering whether that issue is worth discussing at all.
- Impulsively changing strategy
- Sometimes we must change strategy — at times, suddenly. When it's appropriate, we call this behavior flexibility. But a pattern of sudden, inappropriate changes is something else: impulsiveness. Impulsiveness can arise along with the urge to hoard, or to expand scope, or to plan in excessive detail.
- For example, In knowledge work, emphasizing
efficiency over effectiveness
risks engaging in deck-chair-
rearranging behaviorwhen a strategy "threatens" to succeed, and deck-chair-rearrangers fear the result of task completion, they can feel an urge to change strategy. Conversely, when things aren't going well, deck-chair-rearrangers can impulsively adopt a new strategy, rather than addressing and learning from the issues that have arisen. - Rigid adherence to failing strategies
- Ironically, rigid adherence to failing strategies can also be part of the deck-chair pattern. Rigid adherence can arise when, instead of focusing on organizational goals, we focus on proving that we were right, and that the strategy we adopted can succeed.
- Unlike other examples of the deck-chair pattern, rigid adherence to failed strategies is evident even to distant observers. Unfortunately, when they intervene, they usually terminate or reassign a single individual, rather than addressing the deck-chair pattern, which is often systemic.
Although your organization might be free of strategic deck-chair behavior, individuals might still advocate for it, albeit unwittingly. Can you think of anyone you know who might be doing it now? First in this series 
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For more about scope creep, see "Ground Level Sources of Scope Creep," Point Lookout for July 18, 2012; "The Perils of Political Praise," Point Lookout for May 19, 2010; "More Indicators of Scopemonging," Point Lookout for August 29, 2007; "Scopemonging: When Scope Creep Is Intentional," Point Lookout for August 22, 2007; "Some Causes of Scope Creep," Point Lookout for September 4, 2002; and "The Deck Chairs of the Titanic: Task Duration," Point Lookout for June 22, 2011.
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Related articles
More articles on Personal, Team, and Organizational Effectiveness:
The Focusing Illusion in Organizations- The judgments we make at work, like the judgments we make elsewhere in life, are subject to human fallibility
in the form of cognitive biases. One of these is the Focusing Illusion. Here are some examples to watch for.
The Deck Chairs of the Titanic: Obvious Waste- Among the most futile and irrelevant actions ever taken in crisis is rearranging the deck chairs of
the Titanic, which, of course, never actually happened. But in the workplace, we engage in
activities just as futile and irrelevant, often outside our awareness. Recognition is the first step
to prevention.
False Summits: I- Mountaineers often experience "false summits," when just as they thought they were nearing
the summit, it turns out that there is much more climbing to do. So it is in project work.
Nine Brainstorming Demotivators: II- Brainstorming sessions produce output of notoriously variable quality, but understanding what compromises
quality can help elevate it. Here's Part II of a set of nine phenomena that can limit the quality of
contributions to brainstorming sessions.
Way Too Much to Do- You're good at your job — when you have enough time to do it. The problem is that so much comes
your way that you can't possibly attend to it all. Some things inevitably are missed or get short shrift.
If you don't change something soon, trouble is sure to arrive.
See also Personal, Team, and Organizational Effectiveness and Workplace Politics for more related articles.
Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout
Coming October 12: Downscoping Under Pressure: II- We sometimes "downscope" projects to bring them back on budget and schedule when they're headed for overruns. Downscoping doesn't always work. Cognitive biases like the sunk cost effect and confirmation bias can distort decisions about how to downscope. Available here and by RSS on October 12.
And on October 19: Bullying by Proxy: I- The form of workplace bullying perhaps most often observed involves a bully and a target. Other forms are less obvious. One of these, bullying by proxy, is especially difficult to control, because it so easily evades most anti-bullying policies. Available here and by RSS on October 19.
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