Assembling a Jigsaw Puzzle, No Instructions or Batteries Included

Right now, I have a weight bench sitting out on the back deck, Wesley's new birthday present. Well, to be more accurate, we have a pile of parts that will one day be a bench, we still have a task ahead of us to put the bench together over the next week. But because of the instructions, we have a very manageable task. That's a goal we're trying to get to in this industry - a repeatable and predictable process with a set of instructions. We're getting closer and closer, and that's where an experienced consultant comes in handy - this is hard for a city to do on its own, even if they had those mythical instructions.

In new wireless technology, we have a set of parts that if put together creatively, offer a solution for many of the problems facing cities. The difference is that my son's weight bench came in a box with a set of instructions, but these new technologies don't. Lacking a set of instructions and assembled parts in a kit, many fail to see how these disparate parts can be put together into something that represents a solution. Few of us in this industry even perceive the way forward. Many believe that the Anchor Tenant model is the key, where cities will sign a long-term service contract to take on the risk of a project, so that a private company will build, own and operate a network - I think that's a dead end, because it's still too expensive, which makes cost recovery, the primary concern of conservative city leaders, very risky indeed. In a word, that's one tough sell.

Up to now, lacking an instruction manual, the task has really been more like putting together that jigsaw puzzle that some of us pull off the top shelf of the bedroom closet at Christmas time - it gives us something to do with all those extra hours and extra house guests. We go through a familiar pattern when we put together a jigsaw puzzle, at least in my house we do.

1. Inventory of status quo. Turn over all the pieces so we can see what we have.
2. Assessment of problem. Take a look at the box cover and look for patterns.
3. Put together a plan and start the project. Look for all the edge pieces and put the border together.
4. Bring order to chaos. Look for patterns and gather like colored pieces together.
5. Generate sustaining momentum. In my house, there's usually a fight over who can do the easy parts first. We leave those to the kids - the eyes on the animal, the distinct house on the lake, you know the drill.
6. Leverage acquired knowledge. Insert any semi-assembled pieces into the puzzle and attach them to the border. Having dispatched the easy parts, this is where real progress can begin to take shape.
7. Apply technical expertise and hard work. When you're left with a pile of dark pieces, or a bunch of blue sky pieces, all you can do is look at the edges and shapes of the pieces and go through a long series of trial and error to assemble them to fill the gaps in the puzzle. This takes time and lots of effort.
8. Forge ahead. At some point, interest in the puzzle wanes, and it takes stamina and persistence to finish it out. It's easiest if everyone pulls together, but often the number of dedicated puzzle solvers dwindles to a handful. It helps to take multiple breaks as the eyes begin to cross and the vision goes blurry.
9. Celebrate the finish. We usually see the kids start to come back around the table when there are less than 30 or so pieces left - everyone wants to be the one to put the last piece in place. There's a feeling of getting over a hump, a sense that the end of the race is in sight. A flurry of excitement arises as the pieces dwindle to 10, then 5, then 3...and a cry goes up as the last piece fits into place and the image is transformed from a puzzle to a picture, like the one on the box.
10. Enjoy the results. The puzzle usually sits for a few days on the card table, as we wander by and check it out, but then it fades. It really is about the journey when it comes to jigsaw puzzles.

Solving any problem becomes easier with a methodology as described above. I went back and found this list from two years ago - see
Planning and Engagement: A MetroNet in Ten Easy Steps. Still holds up.

And one of the very first posts on this site talks about planning resources.

In my next post, I'll describe how a set of instructions could be devised to make metropolitan broadband work.