What's Your Scoreboard?

Hey! It’s 2018 and all is right in the world, or at least with me. The weather has been great here on the top of the Rocky Mountains, my toe has healed and, best of all, the Golden State Warriors appear to be headed for another title! There are of course some hurdles to navigate before we raise our hands in victory, most notably, the Rockets out of Houston — they do look good—but we’ll brush them aside on our way to wiping out whoever wins the Eastern Conference.

The East is going to be a dog-fight between LeBron and his valets in Cleveland, that Irish-themed team from Boston, and the Raptors from north of the border. My guess is that it will be Boston who shows up for a four-game beatdown. Cleveland lacks the chemistry to go all the way, and Toronto is out because ... well, they’re Toronto and, according to the fossil record, their mascot’s namesake never even lived in Canada. (Velociraptors were native to China.)

Why am I confident that 2018 will see all of the true believers in Dub Nation wearing brand new blue-and-gold boxers while the team hoists another banner to the rafters at Oracle Arena? Because my Warriors know the value of the scoreboard. More precisely, they know how to watch the scoreboard.

A quick glance at the scoreboard numbers representing “Time,” “Score,” “Fouls,” and “Shot Clock,” enables Curry and Company to understand their situation at any given moment in the game. More importantly, it helps them know what they need to do to achieve victory. Say that you have a 3-to-1 series lead against the Cavaliers, and you need to know how to seal the deal and send those fools back to Cleveland — just look at the scoreboard.

Going back to the Raptors, another great example of scoreboard-watching occurred when Toronto visited Oracle Arena on Dec. 3, 2013. Down by 27 points late in the third quarter, the Warriors skillfully battled back to win by nine. You know what Steph said? “27? Pffft; that’s just nine 3s.”

Watching the scoreboard doesn’t just apply to basketball. It’s crucial to winning in all endeavors. As TestOut’s IT Pro Account Manager, my scoreboard includes numbers for “phone calls each day,” “number of webinars each week,” “open rates on e-mail campaigns,” and my “sales quota.” If you’re pursuing a certification your scoreboard will likely include numbers for “study sessions completed,” “practice exams passed,” “topics mastered,” and, of course, the “exam date.”

The scoreboard is the surest indicator of earning your certification. Regular reviews will let you know the situation — are you moving closer to certification or falling farther behind? It also helps you decide on your next actions: Do you maintain your study pace, pick it up, or try something new?

Best-selling author and business consultant, Chris McChesney, puts it this way: “Great teams know at every moment whether or not they are winning. They must know; otherwise, they don’t know what they have to do to win the game.”

Be a great IT professional, set your certification goals, and watch the scoreboard consistently. It’s the surest path to winning.

About the Author — Kyle Orton is a sales account manager for TestOut Corporation. He has a business management degree with an emphasis in marketing from Brigham Young University. He is married to Jill Orton, the love of his life, and they have five children. If Kyle could have dinner with with any five current Warriors players four of them would be Steph Curry, and the fifth would also be Steph Curry. Kevin Durant would be the honorary sixth man, but he would have to sit at the folding table in the TV room with Kyle's kids and Klay Thompson. Draymond Green didn’t even get told about the party, much less invited to it, and Nick Young and Zaza Pachulia are like, “Where did Steph go? Anyone know what happened to Steph? Guys? Man, nobody ever tells us anything.”