I grew up in 90’s midlands close to a place called Leek, now Leek was famous for two things back then.

• Most pubs per square mile (open to debate)
• The longest running temp traffic light in England

Obviously, I’m not going to talk about the most pubs per square mile in this post, I’m more interested in the temporary traffic light. I want to ask one question, at what point does a temporary solution or work around stop being temporary and become permanent?

How many ‘work arounds’ have you come across as part of your path to live that became a permanent part of the process? Would your path to live be more efficient if they weren’t there and the original problem was removed?

The point of a work around is that it solves the immediate problem, getting you out of a hole. Its important that the next step is taken though and that you actually solve the issue before removing the work around.

In the case of the temp traffic lights in Leek, they should have been removed and replaced with permanent traffic lights, removing the need for people to maintain the generators and lights, neither of which were intended to be in use for as long as they were.

Where you can, try to remove your work arounds as soon as you can.

If you need any help doing this, I’m going to be posting more on Pragmatic Delivery Limited about this sort of thing so feel free to give it a follow.