Betwixt and Between

L’Envers et l’endroit (Betwixt and Between) is a phrase coined by the French Algerian writer and philosopher Albert Camus in one of his essays. It captures our current dilemma in the Gulf with the forces at play, wrestling with a series of positions, all supportable from different perspectives, in a tug of war wherein winners will all become partial losers before it’s over. A federal judge in New Orleans (not a trivial point) has blocked the current moratorium on deep water offshore drilling in response to the economic damage that local drilling operators are experiencing. The relationships between economic forces and judicial behaviors are nothing new to any region, and the ethics of the action are not in question. It is an example of the power of the lens we put on an issue and the persuasiveness of a point of view. The lens can create a bias for what we consider or discount in the decisions we make.
Judge Feldman wrote that the Obama administration had failed to justify the need for such “a blanket, generic, indeed punitive, moratorium” on deep-water oil and gas drilling. “The blanket moratorium, with no parameters, seems to assume that because one rig failed and although no one yet fully knows why, all companies and rigs drilling new wells over 500 feet also universally present an imminent danger,” he wrote.

What would we decide if we had to make the call? Is the issue a deepwater drilling only? Is it about the safety of operating a deepwater well? Is the issue a life cycle one? Or is this pertinent to closures, perhaps similar to decommissioning industrial, nuclear or military facilities? How many deepwater wells have been successfully capped and decommissioned? Would we reach a different decision from a specific phase perspective? What is the risk profile of the cradle to grave operation? When is safety most at risk? What would the data collected say? Or, is the answer, “What data?” Are we deciding in the world of MS Word, of MS PowerPoint, or have we moved to the world of MS Excel?

We may be confronting a precipice that challenges our current processes for decision making in a sea of complexity. Who should answer the question of whether to enforce or block a moratorium? Who loses if we make the wrong call? Who wins? Who is accountable for the effects that will ensue from decision and will accept personal consequences? In times of crisis, what is the appropriate balance across the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of government?

Do the same issues surface in our enterprises? How are decisions made in the planning, execution and closure of programs, projects, and processes? What are our processes for crisis management? How are moratoriums decided in our enterprises? Do we create chaos and false starts from our decisions?

What are the consequences of innumeracy in decision making and decision makers?