Balance

You need to have balance.

If you want to do things right you need to be in balance. Being in balance in taiji (tai chi) means that you have practiced doing the movement many times and you are able to have control through the whole exercise, thus never loosing balance. It does also imply that you have the mind in balance.

But what does it mean to be in balance in a project? I would say it is the same thing. The project should have practiced doing things slow enough to gain full control and enable the people to be in balance. If you run fast and you do not normally run that much, what do you think will happen? You either run too fast and not be able to finish the round because you are exhausted or you are maybe running so fast that you loose your footing and fall? These are the visible problems we easily notice if you are not fit enough to run that fast, but there are others that are more subtle indications like your running style. Maybe you are running in a hurtful way and if you continue to run in this way you will harm your body, but not see it before you have been running for a long time.

To run fast you have to run well. To run well you have to practice. To practice well you have to practice slow. Did the sprint go bad? Maybe you ran too fast? Slow down and be in balance whereever you are. When in balance you are always able to change your direction.

When a project is in balance it adapts to whatever comes down the road. It runs well and it runs fast.