The true warrior knows that it’s the boring stuff that matters, which also happens to be a quote from The Lean Startup. That’s the kind of simple thing to which one needs to pay attention. The true warrior firmly believes that we need processes, documentation, procedures, plans, policies, rehearsals, and so on. “Whoa,” you say, “that sounds like housekeeping and that has the lowest priority. We have to go out and get fresh meat when we hunt. That’s job number one!”

Well, remember the discussion about the pre-mortem? We don’t just run out the door and ask for the order. No, instead we have a plan, a strategy, a tactic, and a procedure. We have something developed before we ask for the order, so that we can measure it’s effectiveness and then we do a post-mortem afterwards. Then we tweak, tune, revise, and try again—once more measuring the result. This is all documented up front so we can hand off the process to the next warrior(s) after we have vetted it. In football terms, it becomes a play in the playbook.

Let’s just agree on something right now. We are not an improv troop. We do not reinvent the wheel every day, and we do not make stuff up. No, we are warriors, and like all talented and successful martial artists, we embrace the boring stuff because it is our secret weapon! When you go and see the same Broadway play two weeks apart, do you expect the performances to be basically the same on both occasions? Yes. And the reason for that is the boring stuff. They have spent months rehearsing that performance from a written script. They have marks to hit, lines to deliver, postures and actions to engage in, and emotions to portray. The result is a phenomenal presentation that, when properly done, garners standing ovations night after night!

This is the true warrior’s goal! A phenomenal presentation as a result of discipline, planning, practice, performance, and implementation—measured in the only way that matters: kills and saves.

We, the people, wish to be led. We, the people, will pay for expertise. We, the people, want our lives to be less complicated. We, the people, want to be on the winning team, or at least feel like we are a winner.

The true warrior pays attention to cues of the mind. The true warrior knows that the mind can be unknowingly affected. The true warrior uses this knowledge the same way a magician uses misdirection to perform feats of magic. True warriors do not rely on oral tradition. True warriors have everything documented so that the acquisition of skill, for all tribe members, can start with the training document/video/web cast—helping them to achieve warrior status!

It’s the boring stuff that matters for so many aspects of our enterprises, so embrace the boring stuff. Prove the boring stuff.

As warriors, celebrate it and fully realize that it is the boring stuff that makes us great! So it has been written.