Multitrack
Multitracking is the practice of considering multiple options simultaneously to better understand the problem, reduce ego involvement, and improve decision quality.
THE IDEA
Multitrack
- Multitracking = considering more than one option simultaneously.
- The naming firm Lexicon widens its options by assigning a task to multiple small teams, including an “excursion team” that considers a related task from a very different domain.
- When you consider multiple options simultaneously, you learn the “shape” of the problem.
- When designers created ads simultaneously, they scored higher on creativity and effectiveness.
- Multitracking also keeps egos in check—and can actually be faster!
- When you develop only one option, your ego is tied up in it.
- Eisenhardt’s research on Silicon Valley firms: Multitracking minimized politics and provided a built-in fallback plan.
- While decision paralysis may be a concern for people who consider many options, we’re pushing for only one or two extra. And the payoff can be huge.
- We’re not advocating 24 kinds of jam. When the German firm considered two or more alternatives, it made six times as many “very good” decisions.
- Beware “sham options.”
- Kissinger: “Nuclear war, present policy, or surrender.”
- One diagnostic: If people on your team disagree about the options, you have real options.
- Toggle between the prevention and promotion mindsets.
- Prevention focus = avoiding negative outcomes. Promotion focus = pursuing positive outcomes.
- Companies who used both mindsets performed much better after a recession.
- Doreen’s husband, Frank, prompted her to think about boosting happiness, not just limiting stress.
- Push for “this AND that” rather than “this OR that.”
When to use it
When developing a marketing campaign, have two teams create different concepts and test them in parallel to see which performs better.
In product design, allocate resources to multiple prototypes simultaneously to identify strengths and weaknesses early.
When making a career move, actively consider two or three distinct paths (e.g., internal promotion, lateral move, or external opportunity) and evaluate them concurrently.
When solving a complex business problem, generate several competing hypotheses and test them in parallel to avoid confirmation bias.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Lexicon's naming strategy
Lexicon widens its options by assigning a task to multiple small teams, including an “excursion team” that considers a related task from a very different domain.
Silicon Valley firms
Eisenhardt’s research on Silicon Valley firms showed multitracking minimized politics and provided a built-in fallback plan.
German firm decisions
When a German firm considered two or more alternatives, it made six times as many “very good” decisions.
Kissinger's sham options
The choice set “Nuclear war, present policy, or surrender” makes present policy look like the only acceptable answer. The other options serve as extremes rather than serious alternatives for comparison.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
When planning a project, what two alternative approaches could you develop simultaneously to gain a better understanding of the problem?
Think of a recent decision you made with only one option in mind. How might multitracking have reduced ego involvement and improved the outcome?
How can you combine prevention and promotion mindsets in a current decision, rather than choosing one or the other?
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- Decisive How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work (Chip Heath)