Think carefully about what is needed, and what will erode with the use of a tool. Will the leverage you gain outstrip that cost? The way tools have pervaded both skills and thinking cautioning us to keep a watchful eye on the end despite the means, and not to confuse the two.

Prioritizing the needed outcomes lends clarity to precisely where we’re trying to get to, naturally surfacing the obstacles in the terrain before us. The immediacy of limiting our focus to exactly what’s next gives a kind of surgical assessment of the leverage needed to simplify or amplify our efforts.

The hallmark freedom and corresponding responsibility of phygital teams creates flexibility to reach for what is needed vs. what we’re (emotionally, technically or capably) bound to. One of the most exciting developments of our time is access to a limitless network of ever-evolving widgets and apps, as well as countless time honored methods, and experienced people all at our fingertips.

The drumbeat pulses a dimension of time into our tool selection, fortifying growth and learning with the built-in support for failing forward and learning fast. If the tool you and your team leverage as a means to accomplishing the end performed as needed, great: Success, good selection, now you know. If not- the boundaries of your objective and the constraint of the drumbeat will help you assess whether or not to continue. If the tool did not simplify or amplify your effort as needed, then you put that tool down and go on with the job because at a certain point (the drumbeat will tell you), adhering to a failing endeavor is watering dead plants. Given a laser focus on collaborating in time to accomplish a valued objective, the alignment that comes from these decisions is a whet that will sharpen your performance rendering your competitors obsolete.