When

An elegant and counterintuitive guide to achieving perfect timing

Timing is everything. Whether we are making strategic business decisions or the smallest personal choice, we must decide not only what to do, but when to do it. Act too early—or too late—and the results can be disastrous. Based on a 20-year investigation into more than 2,000 timing issues and errors, When presents a single and practical approach for dealing with timing in life and business. Good timing, Albert argues, is not just a matter of luck, intuition, or past experience—all of which may be unreliable—but a skill. He describes that skill and details the tools and methods needed to conduct a successful timing analysis.

• The book is the first to offer an efficient and comprehensive way to think through any timing issue
• Filled with dozens of lively stories illustrating good and bad timing in all walks of life—business, warfare, medicine, sports, entertainment and the arts
• Written by Stuart Albert, one of the foremost timing experts in the world and developer of the first practical, research-based method for turning the skill of timing into a competitive advantage

Engaging and counterintuitive, When will show everyone, regardless of the work they do, or the life they live, that "it's all in the timing."

Preface ix

Introduction 1

1 Sequence 25

2 Temporal Punctuation 47

3 Interval and Duration 79

4 Rate 109

5 Shape 129

6 Polyphony 155

7 Using the Lenses: The Timing of Dissent 191

8 A Timing Analysis: Seven Steps 215

Coda: Re-Imaging the World 239

Appendix: Temporal Architecture: Concept and Field of Inquiry 247

Notes 249

Acknowledgments 263

About the Author 267

Index 269

Stuart Albert is one of the foremost timing experts in the world. He is professor at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management and has been a visiting scholar at Harvard and at M.I.T. The developer of a practical, research-based method for managing timing in business, Albert has worked with small and medium-sized companies, as well as large multi-nationals, to help executives better decide and manage issues of timing. His patent on the interpretation of movement in time was featured in the New York Times.

Timing is everything.

Whether you are making high-stakes business decisions or personal choices, you must decide not only what to do, but when to do it. Act too early or too late, and the results can be disappointing - or even disastrous. But how can you know when the time is right?

Timing can be learned.

In When, timing expert Stuart Albert presents a fresh, counterintuitive, and above all practical approach to dealing with timing issues. Albert shows that good timing is not just a matter of luck, intuition, or past experience-all of which may be unreliable - but requires skill. When teaches the tools and methods needed to build and use that skill, equipping you to choose and use timing to your (competitive) advantage.

At the heart of the book is Albert’s timing analysis method, based on a decades-long investigation of more than 2,000 timing issues and errors. When examines in depth the six key elements of timing analysis: Sequence, Temporal Punctuation, Interval/Duration, Rate, Shape, and Polyphony, and how they fit together in timing design. Examples from the worlds of business, warfare, medicine, sports, entertainment, and the arts bring those elements to life, clearly illustrating how to find timing patterns and craft a subtle, sophisticated, specific – and effective – course of action, whether in business or in everyday life.

Engaging and pragmatic, When will show you that, regardless of that work you do or the life you live, time can be on your side.

"This detail-rich, case-study-based volume is a truly unique addition to the business literature, and Albert's common-sense points will prove a boon to readers eager to make time count."
—Publisher's Weekly

"When is a brilliant analysis, full of practical implications, on a topic we all live with and take for granted, but don’t know how to manage better. Stuart Albert deconstructs time in a useful manner that allows us to examine our own experience from a new perspective. Just when we thought there was nothing more to say about analyzing life and business, this book gives us a whole new dimension to think about."
—Edgar Schein, professor emeritus, MIT Sloan School of Management

"As Homer said, it is the height of folly to be wise too late. When is right on time- wise, beautifully written, and immensely practical in today’s hectic world. It would be unwise not to make the time to read it."
—Ellen Langer, professor of psychology, Harvard, and author, Mindfulness

"Plenty of books report on the 'what' and the 'how' of business, but When takes up the third dimension not often recognized: timing. A business proposition can be too early- and is often too late. Getting the timing right is key, and Stuart Albert helps us do it systematically."
—Jim Lawrence, chairman, Rothschild North America, and former vice chairman. General Mills

"By providing a process to examine all the elements of decision and a flow of each element in time, When transformed the way I look at decision-making. The process of determining the elements is already useful. Add to that an examination of temporal interaction and the result is a better decision. This is a technique worth learning."
—Alex Cirillo, Jr., vice president, retired, 3M

"Stuart Albert has spent a lifetime thinking about time, and When provides a fascinating glimpse at the structures that underlie questions of timing. How can we think systematically about sequences of events, major inflection points, the duration of parallel events, and speed of execution as we decide when to embark on a particular course of action? Rich with examples, When helps managers come to grips with many ways time and timing have an impact on everything we do. An exhilarating read!"
—Srilata Zaheer, Dean and Elmer L. Anderson Chair in Global Corporate Social Responsibility, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota