Too Much of a Good Thing? – The Hidden Dangers of Overkill

Have you ever overdone it in the gym? Of course, you have. Have you ever celebrated or let off steam at the bar and felt the pain of overindulging the next day? Yep, that too.

At work, it’s called overkill. It means too much of a good thing – people, details, documents, tools, configurations, or (God forbid) meetings.

Unlike sore biceps or a wicked hangover, the injury of overdoing it at work is often harder to feel. It creeps in gradually until there is a crisis or catharsis – a round of layoffs, new leadership, or an incident – that brings into question what you, your team, or your department have been doing all along. 

Or worse, you may never catch the problem but flush so much time and talent down the drain in the process.

What Is Overkill? – Going Beyond the Optimal Point

Overkill is about going overboard on whatever your team is working on to the point of hurting your team, department, or organization. It’s the opposite of “leveraging what you know.” You see it when the drive to keep investigating, accumulating information, or analyzing options takes on a life of its own.

“OVERKILL: Too many resources on any activity that gives the opposite effect than you are trying to achieve. Or else, working beyond the “optimatl” effectiveness point for your project or operation.”

Overkill is one of the biggest obstacles I face when I work with clients. Unfortunately, most organizations don’t recognize overkill because we don’t talk about it enough.

In business school or our professional training, we learn models like the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) where the maturity of a process or organization goes up and up and up and then peaks at “Optimized.” 

But is that the full picture? 

Let’s go back to the gym analogy. What if you run on the treadmill for 30 minutes a day? Awesome work! Now let’s make it 6 hours a day. Are you 12 times better? No. You probably have no time for more important things in life, and you have back and knee problems too.

Why Is Overkill So Dangerous? 

Of course, overkill is first of all a colossal waste of time and money. Filling in unwieldly templates or letting your invoices go through twenty rounds of approvals isn’t helping anyone.

But more than that, your team will lose sight of the big picture. I know from experience that having a lot of “stuff” around your processes does not prevent bad things from happening any more than taking a more moderate approach. I have seen sophisticated companies with lots of controls and procedures have big errors when their heads are stuck in the weeds. 

Like candy, details are addictive. They tempt your team (especially natural detail-lovers) and keep them busy. They give them a sugar high as they chew through them. But don’t let the details leave you with a false sense of security (or a cavity, for that matter).

The Path to Eliminating Overkill

1. Leverage what you have already.

Your strongest antidote for fighting-off overkill is to use the resources that you have already. As human beings, we cling to the belief that “new” things will solve our problems. Don’t rush out and buy a fancy new system until you have checked with IT to see what tools you have already. Don’t rush out to hire consultants until you have looked at the talent within your team. You probably have more capabilities, skills, and aptitude than you think.

2. Talk about it. 

If overkill is lurking in your team or project already, don’t be afraid to it call out. It isn’t something to be embarrassed about. I have seen companies swing from the extremes of having zero processes, documentation, or controls all the way into the Overkill zone in a short period. It happens. If you’re experiencing too many procedures, too large spreadsheets, too complex systems, too many bells and whistles, STOP. Then talk about it.

3. Pull back to the Optimized Stage. 

Add the Overkill Stage to whatever model (formalized or not) that you are using. Find that line – level of detail, number of documents, amount of effort, number of resources – between Optimized and Overkill. When you have gone too far and crossed into Overkill, know when to pull back.

4. Embrace lean thinking. 

Lean thinking is not a fad or a buzzword. It’s about doing more with less. It’s about iterating, starting small, embracing “good enough,” and getting your work into the hands of people who can give you quick and open feedback. Think about your minimal viable product (MVP). Lean is the antithesis of overkill.

Overkill is as much of a mindset as a stage. Give yourself and your team permission to challenge where you are doing too much of a good thing. Check in regularly with the scope and level of detail of your projects and operations to keep your team on track.

What is your biggest challenge with Overkill? If you need help or to talk it through, please reach out to me at adrienne@riskoversight.ca.