“When”

Somebody has to say it, sooner or later.

If everyone’s still jogging in circles, it’s likely that everyone’s waiting for the starter to show up and announce the race.

Alternatively, if the starting gun was ages ago and everyone’s jogging aimlessly now, it’s likely that there’s no finish line in sight.

Go or stop. In or out. Now or never.

Whenever you’re tired of jogging, call people to their marks or string up a finish line and point them toward it.

***

Note: there are a few different versions of this challenge. In one of them, no one announced the start time or distance to begin with. In another, the race was called but no one was appointed the starter. And the third is the start with no finish, which might be a good metaphor for life but is a terrible model for a project.

In any case, there’s a real opportunity to make things better by taking responsibility for what’s missing.

And, if you happen to be nominally in charge of the track meet, you can save everyone a lot of heartache by managing starts, distances, and finish lines effectively.