Reasonable Expectations

Most of doing any job right is planning. I've spoken multiple times about how planning makes a big difference in any project or task you want to do. There are two other things that make the big difference in making sure a job is done right, though. Those two are time and materials. It's a common saying in IT that where a system is concerned, you can have any two of the following three things: Speed, Reliability, and Low Cost. A cheap, fast system will seldom be reliable, and a fast, stable system will almost always be more than you can easily afford. However, having the right materials can make all the difference in the world when it comes to the final outcome of a project.

Time is another matter all together. Having adequate time to complete a project is mandatory to it's success. Rushing anything is usually a bad idea, and due to the postulate that states "work expands to fill the time alloted to complete it", having too much time to complete a project can also be a problem.

Now this is where I get to the point. In conversations I've had with numerous people lately, I've been noticing that a particular two-word phrase has been coming up consistently. It probably started about a month ago, but I've seen it come up time and time again in so many environments, that I begin to wonder if the idea it presents is largely becoming extinct as far as both professional and personal relationships are concerned. The phrase, (not to build this up too much), is "Reasonable Expectations".

Let's go back to the "Fast, Reliable, Cheap" pearl. It's based on the idea that it is not a reasonable expectation to have all three in a single system. You can have a quad, dual-core system with 16GB of RAM and a 14 disk SATA array... but it's going to cost you. You can get a cheaper, single 933MHz P3 with 256MB and twin SCSI-2 drives, but be prepared to wait a while as it boots. You could also, if you're "lucky", get that dual-core system for the price of the 933 if you buy it off of a panel van. But if it catches fire once or twice, don't look at me.

I had a similar conversation last night at Tai Chi class. The idea was that it is not a reasonable expectation that a student of so many years, who has only taken a class a week, and did not practice much between classes, would be as good or better than a student who practices consistently and takes multiple classes per week. It's a matter of input versus output. With more input, training, reinforcement, and such, you'll get more output.

And yet, the more I look around lately, the more I see a significant lack of reasonable expectations, both in the workplace, and elsewhere. I think that as a people, we've increased our expectations beyond our capabilities. I know that to grow, you need to be challenged, but at what point do we take a challenge to a level that is, well, not reasonable any more? Where do we draw the line? Is it enough to expect as much of others as we expect of ourselves, or is it a question of relative ability? Do we have a right to expect more from someone who is more skilled or stronger than us?

This may be apocryphal, but when asked about Western Civilization, Mahatma Gandhi said, "I think it would be a good idea." The same, in my opinion, can be said for reasonable expectations. We as a society need to examine ourselves and our expectations of the same. When the consistent drive to be better exceeds our ability to do so, what is the inevitable result? Breakdown. Let's not do that. Set yourself one reasonable expectation for today, and strive to meet it. The success will please, and maybe surprise you. With reasonable expectations, come consistently positive results.

Have a good day.