Random the Book

Imagine the scenario. The organisation you work for has identified six things it needs to do. It has researched the matter extensively and concluded that they are all of equal importance. The organisation has the capacity and resources to only take on one thing at a time. What does it do next?

I’d imagine that in most organisations, another round of investigation would commence, possibly to conclude that what the most powerful person in the organisation wants to happen is the organisation’s top priority. Maybe further research would be more objective and, again, conclude that all of the things are of equal priority.

Time and resources that could have been invested in making progress on the first thing are instead spent trying to work out what the most important thing might be.

But what if, rather than reaching for a spreadsheet, an enlightened leader were to reach for a six-sided die, allocate each of the things a number, and then roll to find out which one to work on first?

In a scenario where there is no right answer (and such scenarios are far more common than we may be willing to admit), surely it is better to break the deadlock of decision-making and start addressing one of the issues?

This is something of a thought experiment. I am not sure that many executives and senior leaders would be willing to say “by throwing a die” in response to the question “Why did you choose this priority?”

But if you step back from the theatre and politics that is decision-making in most organisations, surely selecting one from six quickly and then seeing what happens is a far superior approach than endless analysis?

Dice-throwing might not be a credible option for most senior leaders, even if that is what they are realistically doing anyway, given that most analysis is riddled with bias. But maybe the suggestion of dice throwing, theoretically, might drive a quicker path to decision-making?

“If you are telling me that all of these options are of equal priority, then let’s throw a die to work out which one we should start first?” might not necessarily cause a die to be thrown, but it might allow new focus to be placed on what is really the most important task to tackle first.

This idea came out of one of the early workshops I’ve been running to support and explore ideas from Random the Book. If you would like to know more, drop me a line.

Random the Book will be published by Security Blend Books in the Spring of 2026. You can pre-order a copy at https://securityblendbooks.com/products/random