How to think with the end in mind.

If you lose sight of the goal, the process will lead you to dead ends.

A traffic engineer on vacation sees a thriving street, because it's open to all. A traffic engineering manual sees a failing street, because it's open to all.

If a time traveler delivered 21st century design manuals to the ancients, their cities would look like Anywhere, USA. Streets would be wide enough for all jackasses to get through each block with zero delay.

The lack of human life in modern transportation analysis leads to a reduction of human life on public streets. Following the process means leads to speeding up traffic. Nobody sets out to be a mobility professional so they can harm people. It’s often the opposite motivation — help improve people’s quality of life.

And yet Americans have trouble delivering the scene pictured above.

Why are you here? What’s the point?

Business & self-help books talk about things like finding your Why, focusing on the horizon, big-picture thinking, outcomes-based planning, and working with the end in mind. Systems-thinking is another one taking hold in recent years.

Those authors are selling tons of books and speaking gigs because they’re saying something that resonates with anyone who’s spent time in professional services. It sounds so obvious. Of course I should work towards a goal instead of simply performing a task. But as one who’s been in the infrastructure consulting world for almost 25 years, I can tell you most people aren’t guided by a north star in their project work. They’re guided by the tasks outlined in the project’s scope of work. One task at a time.

What I’m suggesting is that you bring those business book concepts back to the office and apply them to infrastructure planning and design. If urbanism is your passion but not your day job, then challenge the planners and engineers you know to look up at the horizon.

Instead of letting each project be a glorified to-do list, start with what you're trying to deliver for your clients. Not the list of scope items, but their goals. For example…

Scope item = preliminary engineering drawings for 1-mile corridor, including intersections.

Goal = safe and convenient access to homes, schools, churches, parks, and shops.

A very credentialed professional approved the design of the street below. And it’s a miserable environment for motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians. The scope items for the project were followed.

Let’s say you’re goal as a transportation professional is zero traffic deaths. Today’s approved methodology for analyzing traffic, forecasting future travel patterns, and prioritizing infrastructure projects directly contributes to 100 traffic deaths every day in the United States.

Focusing on the traffic safety goal would lead the very credentialed professional to challenge and reject designs that lead to dangerous conditions.

You might be surprised how many times you can deliver a wonderful outcome, save the client money, and demonstrate your value as their go-to consultant. Maybe you'll end up with thriving streets that the manuals can't calculate.

If you lose sight of the goal, the process will lead you to dead ends. Plan with the goal in mind, and you’ll deliver lively communities.