Where's the Balance? -- Partial Attention
vs. Analysis Paralysis

Pay Attention -- But Not Too Much Attention! ... You don't have to have teenagers in your house to understand the concept of continuous partial attention.  We all seem to suffer from this syndrome.  According to Linda Stone, a researcher at Microsoft, "We have created so much [information] that the opportunity to reach people is more limited.  The most important thing to keep in mind is that attention has become extraordinarily valuable."  (Wall Street Journal, May 7, 2001)

On the other hand, we also suffer from analysis paralysis.  Making decisions about what to actually do -- Which transaction management platform to adopt?  Which e-procurement application to install?  Which telecom provider to select?  (oops)  -- take literally years to percolate through an organization.  Nobody wants to make a mistake.  It's better to do nothing than to waste precious time and capital.  Hey, maybe there's a "last-mover advantage."

So I was amused to see the following message recently while reserving a car at Thrifty Car Rental: "This quote will expire in 12 minutes and 10 seconds."  Yep, Thrifty gives you just fifteen minutes from displaying a quote for you to make up your mind.  It's kind of weird.   As you're entering your credit card and contact information, you see this timer counting down.  But it sure worked.  Sitting in my hotel room in Boston reserving a car to visit Gomez, there was no way that I was going to let the offer expire. ... Can this concept be applied to the real estate transaction cycle?   Not exactly.  But I wonder if there are ways -- aside from e-mail and document delivery -- to speed up the real estate process.  What do you think? 

--Peter Pike / ppike@pikenet.com