In 2001 David Allen published Getting Things Done. He calls unclear, unfinished commitments “open loops.” Each project gets a desired outcome and a single “next action.” A task that takes less than two minutes is done at once. In 2007 Time called it “the self-help business book of its time.”
Closing the Loop
Let’s close the loop on this. — Let us finish it and confirm that it is finished.
Check the box. Cross it off the list. — The task is done, and the list shows it.
What are the next steps? Who owns this? — The questions at the end of a meeting.
Let’s wrap up. Tie up loose ends. — Finish what is still open.
Get it over the finish line. — Complete it, even if the last part is hard.
One more thing off my plate. — One less open task.
Thirty Minutes or Less
For years, Domino’s promised to deliver a pizza within 30 minutes. By 1986, a late pizza cost the customer $3 less.
Then came the lawsuits. After one crash, a jury in St. Louis awarded a woman $78 million in punitive damages, although she later settled for less. In 1993 Domino’s dropped the 30-minute guarantee in its company-owned stores.
Absolutely, Positively Overnight
Federal Express began operating on April 17, 1973, with 186 packages for 25 American cities. Its best-known slogan made a promise: “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.” In its “Fast-Paced World” commercials, the actor John Moschitta Jr. played a businessman who talked at top speed.
The Pitch Clock
In 2023 Major League Baseball introduced a pitch clock that limits the time between pitches. The average nine-inning game fell to two hours and 40 minutes, 24 minutes shorter than in 2022. It was the shortest average since 1985.
Operation Warp Speed
In 2020 the U.S. government set up Operation Warp Speed to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. Its goal was to deliver 300 million doses of a safe, effective vaccine by January 2021. Its fact sheet described the method: “Rather than eliminating steps from traditional development timelines, steps will proceed simultaneously.”
The fact sheet added: “This increases the financial risk, but not the product risk.” The Food and Drug Administration authorized the first COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use on December 11, 2020.
A Ship in Four Days
In November 1942, workers at the Permanente Metals yard in Richmond, California, built the Liberty ship SS Robert E. Peary in 4 days, 15 hours and 29 minutes from keel to launch. The yard usually took about 50 days to build a Liberty ship.
The record was a propaganda effort. It was meant to show that the United States could build ships faster than they could be sunk. Henry Kaiser preferred to call it an “incentive ship,” not a “stunt ship.”
One Year and 45 Days
Construction of the Empire State Building began on March 17, 1930. The building was completed on May 1, 1931, “in a record-breaking one year and 45 days.” The steel frame rose four and a half stories a week.
Twelve Days
On June 11, 2023, an elevated section of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia collapsed after a fire. Crews worked around the clock, and the construction was streamed live online, where thousands watched. The highway reopened on June 23, ahead of schedule.
Governor Josh Shapiro said: “We demolished a roadway, we rebuilt I-95 in just 12 days.”
Pizza Tracker
In January 2008 Domino’s introduced Pizza Tracker across the United States. The customer watches the order move through its stages, from the order to the oven to the delivery driver. The company’s chief information officer said customers “will no longer have to wonder where their pizza is in the ordering process.” By 2023 the tracker had followed more than 1.8 billion orders.