I was recently reminded of a movie that I love, Groundhog Day (#179 on IMDb's User Top 250), when I read a piece about a lawsuit between a local CT writer and Columbia Pictures regarding whose idea the movie is based on. I will leave the issue of copyrighted ideas and works to the lawyers (although we at SharedBook stand firmly on the side that the copyright holder must be compensated). Today, I want to comment on the fine line between tradition and tedium. There are mornings, as I’m walking my dogs on the streets of Manhattan, that I am struck by the sameness of my routine. Depending on my mood, I either think it is one of life’s pleasures to take part in familiar activities on a predictable basis OR that I am missing incredible opportunities by being wed to certain habitual tasks.
The same holds within the business environment. We often times get mired in the tedium of our routines – the meeting that takes place every week at the same time with the same players, the implementation schedule that must be managed for each client in a similar way. How do we keep our creative juices flowing and continue to build innovative applications amidst the sameness of our routines? How do we ensure that every day is not Groundhog Day but that deadlines are met and promises kept? When does all of this become a tradition to be celebrated?
When I started at SharedBook in 2004, I was impressed with the wall of achievements in our Herzlia office. For each development cycle, Mor and her team signed and dated a plate that was then hung on the wall to commemorate that particular milestone. This tradition was kept up for a while until SharedBook moved from a formal release schedule to one in which there are almost daily development and product upgrades. Then, it became too difficult to continue the tradition. But it's good to have both because the pace of change in a startup needs to be balanced against the achievements that can be celebrated in a more routine way. Bill Murray discovered this the hard way.
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