-30 degrees celsius, this is not weather to make mistakes in.
It is 1910 and the race is on to be the first to reach the Sout Pole. Captain Robert Falcon Scott has a technologically advanced expedition, the backing of institutions, and is well financed. The other person in the race is Norwegian Roald Amundsen, he is attempting it with cheap sledge dogs.
One team looks very outmatched.
What Is The Game You Can Win?
Scott and Amundsen had the same goal, to be the first to make it to the South Pole, but they were playing very different games.
Scott thought he could use technological and financial superoirty to win. They had three motorised sledges. These three sledges cost about the same amount as what Amundsen had raised for his entire expedition.
The British also had dogs, ponies and the British grit for Man Hauling. It was a naval tradition of using manpower to haul sledges in the polar regions.
The Norwegian just had 100 dogs. For the price of one motorised sledge, he could have bought 2000.
Constraints
Scott’s funders wanted him to use the latest technology, that is why he took the motorised sledges, even though it annoyed his team. The funders wanted to make a weatherproof vehicle and thought this would be a great test environment.
Scott tried all forms of transport, mechanical, dogs, ponies, and people. You might think this would give him flexibility, but it constrained him. It added complexity rather than making them more adaptable.
This untested technology sounds like it would be advantageous but only two of the motorised sledges got safely off the boat. The two that did make it broke down so the men had to man haul the sledges and the ponies and dogs had to stop to let them catch up.
The ponies couldn’t walk on the ice very well, so they moved at night when the ice was harder. Limiting when they could travel.
All the while, the dogs of Amundsen pulled ahead, moving twice as fast as the British, they got up to 30 miles a day.
Specificity
The big difference between Scott and Amundsen is that Amundsen was very specific about what he wanted to do and how he would do it. He was strategic in choosing where to play and how to win which you can view here.
Amundsen wasn’t pulled by many masters, asking his team to do lots of things at the same time. He could think about less and do less better.
The complexity of Scott’s expedition didn’t make him stronger, it weakened his chances of success. Managing more things, adding complexity, more resources, more points of failure, more isn’t always better.
Focusing on what is Important
Amundsen’s expedition highlights that we need to focus on what is important and figure out how to do that well.
We can ask ourselves
- What tasks do you do that don’t need to be done?
- What can we leave behind to travel faster and further?
- How do we make our process less complex?
Amundsen not only made it first to the South Pole, he also came back alive. Scott’s expedition suffered the ultimate failure.
You can hear more about the journey at Cautionary Tales Podcast
Luke McMeeken-Ruscoe 