Put it into 3D

Idea matters. We hear this often, and it’s true.

Ideas build reality. Ideas create the world. Life, stories, creation, experiences, information, meaning, value; all of them are ideas. Without ideas, we are just physical matters. We are all atoms who happened to forms different entities, just like everything else that exist in the universe. Ideas help us to differentiate from one thing to another. Ideas help us in creating values, meaning and experiences. Each idea in our mind has specific contribution in crafting our life. Our life existence is a woven thread of ideas.

So, idea matters.

Nevertheless, with ideas only, we are just a construct of life. Without ideas, life is not a life. Ideas only, it helps us defining life, but not necessarily makes ourselves alive. It is the actions inspired by those ideas that make us alive. Thus, life is about putting ideas into actions. The way I like to say it: Put ideas into 3D.

3D is commonly referring to animation technology we often see in movies and games. That’s what really the essence of putting ideas into actions. It is about living (animate) actions in three-dimensional reality. But, in this piece of writing, I use it as a formula, and I call it as 3D: Deploy, Dispatch and Deliver.

Deploy the right strategy

If we deploy the right strategy, our idea will deliver effective execution. It means that we really understand how to put our idea into action in the best way. This is the most critical part. Many thinks that strategy is about outsmart others. In many ways, it’s correct. But strategy is actually more essential than that. It’s about designing the right sequence of actions to make sure that we execute our idea effectively.

I believe, there are only two kinds of good idea. The first one is unique idea, which is naturally stood out among other more common ideas. The problem of unique idea is that it may be too absurd, too complex or too confusing to execute. Unique idea often sounds like impossible idea. With this kind of idea, the right strategy is any design that will ensure that the impossible can become possible. The second kind of good idea is common idea with a unique strategy for its delivery. In this type of idea, it’s the strategy that makes ordinary idea becomes extra ordinary in its execution. So, either you have a very unique idea but not easy to carry out, or you have ordinary idea that requires a very special delivery strategy to be succesful. Therefore, deploying the right strategy is the greatest necessity.

Dispatch the right units

Strategy itself can only be put in effective action if you have the right resources. When I say resources here, I particularly refer to people and money, and not just any people and any money. Dispatch the right units means using the right people and the right money. Using the right people means that we choose to involve the right people in putting the idea. So, how we define who is the right people? The answer is simple: Pick people who fits with the strategy you are want to deploy.

Using the right money means that we choose the right financial resources in the right quantity. This is primarily about the ability to weigh risk and cost. When we talk about the right financial sources, we talk about whether we are going to use our pocket money, borrow from the bank, build a joint-venture, selling our house to get money or whatever ways we want to do it. This is also about  allocating the right amount of money, that worth the result, and not to overspend it.

A bit of reminder here, the right people is not the same with the best or smartest people. In some strategies, especially the ones with no critical target, using the best and the smartest people may just be lavish. Same thing applies with money. The right money is not the same with too much money. Dispatching the right units is about precision, prudence and caution. Too much money does not guarantee good results. Often times, too much money will make things as worse as when we have lack of money. And, once we dispatch people and money, it’s definitely not easy to withdraw them. So, we should be smart enough to dispatch the right units.

Deliver the right outcome

By deploying the right strategy and dispatching the right units, we should be able to deliver the right outcome. But this is not automatic process. There are always risks of failure, in which ideas will not successfully turn into effective actions. Therefore, we have to make sure that we are delivering the right outcome.

Please bear in mind, deploying the right strategy and dispatching the right units increase the possibility to deliver the right output. But, the right output is not enough. The output has to be beneficial and timely. It has to be the right thing on the right time, so it will be useful. The usefulness of the output is what we call as outcome. Eventually, the outcome of our idea decides whether our idea is actually valuable idea, or just lovely words.

So, make sure that we deliver the right outcome. One way to do it is by closely look after the process, by which we can see how our strategy is working, how our units is creating output, and how that output delivers the right outcome. Many people pay attention strongly on deploying the right strategy and dispatching the right units, and assuming that outcome delivery will be an automatic consequence. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. We have to check closely the process to ensure that we deliver the right outcome.

We live in the realm of animate reality, so we have to be in 3D.