In project management, one of the key tools is called a Force Field Analysis. Essentially, it is a list of all the reasons for the project to move forward on one side and a list of all the reasons for the project to not progress on the other side. Comparing and ranking the forces can help to understand why a project is stalled.
Brute force management techniquee involve taking the major forces for completing the project and magnifying them. It's like politics. To get your piece of legislation through, you start a campaign to overwhelm the opposition. If successful, the shock and awe of the campaign just mutes the opposition.
In my experience, however, I've used a different tack. In a stalled project, I look for ways to co-opt the opposition forces that seem most vulnerable. No need to go into details in this instance. There are a lot of ways of doing so (food for another diary entry). However, the results are astonishing. There are already forces in place to move the project forward. Otherwise it would not be stalled. So diminishing the resistance suddenly moves the whole thing forward. It's done before anyone catches on to the effect.
A new equilibrium is established.
In math, there is a discipline called chaos theory. One study is how rapid changes take place as a result of small changes in a parameter or two. The graphs generated by the equations show a surface with a steep cliff on it - a cusp. The bottom of the cliff is recessed so that the top hangs out in space. Stepping off the edge of the cliff gets you to the bottom - immediately. Trying to climb back up the cliff takes you into the recess and a very difficult back up to the top. Just a small move off the edge of the cliff moves you to a spot where it takes less energy to stay at the low spot than to climb back up the cliff side.
A sudden change in equilibrium.
In Washington this week, we've seem some small steps toward a new health reform bill. The opposition has mounted a brute force campaign to shock and awe everyone into cowering from moving the project forward. Progressives have been able to weaken their opposition enough to get a vote scheduled. The proponents need only to take a few votes to pass. If the votes go for the change, things are going to change fast. And after they change, we are going to settle into a new normal that we will have to live with until someone can push new changes up the cliff side, again.
A punctuated equilibrium.
The difference between the math and the legislation is that we cannot accurately compute the new equilibrium of a law. Conservatives, progressives, the health care industry, the insurers, and the pharma industry all know this. However, they all have a different calculus of the new steady state, based upon their respective biases. However, I know something from experience that they may not be aware of: the new equilibrium is going to be different than any predicted. All talking heads and talking points will be wrong to a great degree.
See, I have moved projects forward by taking a few small steps to reduce the opposition effects. However, the project always takes a turn that no-one predicted. So, I have learned to step back, observe how the project has changed, and adapt.
Get ready to adapt.