All projects, plans and strategies are implemented with the best of intentions. We get started. We pay attention and we follow up. Then something else happens and we have to work on it. Then another thing occurs, and another, and another. In short business happens, and we lose track of that which we were following.

It is easy to assume, or hope, that someone will step up and make sure that nothing gets dropped. You need to remember that the someone responsible for that is you.

We are in a multi-tasking world, but that does not relieve us of the responsibility of finishing what we start. It does not matter how well a product, project or plan is worked if it is not brought to conclusion. It is the end game, the result that is important and what is ultimately measured. Just as new products, projects and programs get started, old ones must be completed.

Bringing something to completion or closure is a way of measuring progress. Everything else is activity. We have a tendency to sometimes confuse activity with progress. I think Yogi Berra was right. It ain’t over till it’s over, and it falls to the leader to make sure that it is in fact done.