The Parking Spot Problem: A Strategy Analogy

Have you ever gone to the store and tried to find a good spot, but had to park all the way out in East Bumsville? Then, on your way into the store, you see someone pulling out of the space right near the main entrance? Ugh - everyone knows that feeling.

I call this the "Parking Spot Problem" and I think it's a fun way to frame the core challenge that every entrepreneur faces and a fun way to understand strategy. At its core, the Parking Spot Problem is about timing and opportunity in a world of randomness. You want an open space for your car near the main entrance, and you need it at the time that you are in the lot. If the timing of your "want" does not correlate with the existence of the opportunity you "need", things don't work out the way you want them to. Not bad, but not great either.

When we are trying to build new organizations, projects, initiatives, etc., we face this problem on a regular basis. Theoretically, we can keep driving around the lot forever until a space opens up, but the issue, as always, is time. 

At its foundation, strategy is about maximizing the chances of good things happening...

As such, the Parking Spot Problem also relates to strategy. At its foundation, strategy is about maximizing the chances of good things happening, where "good" is defined based your goals, objectives, mission, vision, etc. In mathematical terms, strategy is about understanding the probabilities of a set of possibilities and increasing the probabilities of the "good" possibilities (ideally while minimizing or eliminating even the existence of non-good possibilities).

The "Parking Spot Problem" is a great analogy for strategy, too.

You know how Dory, the blue fish from Finding Nemo, is always saying "just keep swimming" all the time? (Yes, I still enjoy animated films). Well, for the entrepreneur, the saying needs to be "just keep going". All start-ups need to have enough 'runway' for them to take off, but they also need to have enough runway to keep circling the lot until a space opens up, until that major opportunity comes along that changes the balance of things. 

Now, to be clear, you could keep driving around the lot until the space opens up. I mean, please realize that some people just turn around and go home when they see a full lot. Driving around the lot increases the probability that a spot near the main entrance will open. For the entrepreneur, you must keep going. Driving around the lot is akin to creating your own luck and opportunity when none existed previously. You must accept failures as learning experiences rather than 'the end of all things.' This requires willpower, commitment, belief, and resources. But just because you could keep driving around the lot, doesn't mean that you should either. I'm not saying give up. I'm saying that you should be strategic - driving around that lot takes time and energy, and both are limited resources. So, how do we be strategic?

Well, if we arrived to the parking lot at a different time (or with a different approach, a different brand, a more mature solution, a better practiced pitch, insert-startup-item here, etc.), then we are being truly smart about our timing and about how we tackle the randomness of the Parking Space Problem. Naturally, this relates to prioritization, and, specifically, the order of how we do things. This would be referred to in startup terms as your "roadmap" - where do we go first. Do we really need to go to the dry cleaners first or should we go to the parking lot first? Should we really use that connection now to open a dialogue on topic X or should we wait until we have built new feature Y? Time is not endless, but we can always work to increase our chances of good things happening.

Think of the Parking Spot Problem the next time you are challenged in your personal entrepreneurship with a setback whether that's with a start-up or taking control of your own life. It can help you think of how you can be more strategic and it might give you the little oopmh you need to just keep swimming, er, going.

For more leadership advice, check out my last article "Leaders Who Do This Are Tearing Society Apart".

Jesse Chen is an experienced leader, technology strategist, and the co-founder of Powerline, an exciting mobile app and web platform that helps leaders and communities interact in meaningful ways (now in private beta). Jesse gave a TEDx talk in May 2015 "Redefining Democracy for People's Power" that urges people to get involved in between elections in order to strengthen democracy. He was recently elected to the Board of Directors for Civicus, the global civil society alliance. Jesse recently launched a podcast called Connect the Dots, now available on iTunes.