The Messy Middle → The Meaning of Margin

Dearest reader, the friendly skies are teaching me once again.

Earlier this week I talked about the messy middle.

Today, from Row 19, next to a screaming toddler and a lady who has already taken off her shoes, I’m back to the 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭 concept of messy middle.

This time, there’s also a lesson about 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐧.

For the airline, margin probably involves some calculation of seat width and how many seats they can squeeze into the plane.

For the person in economy, margin is defined as: “Good luck with that.”

But what about housing programs?

What is the margin?
What is the metric for success?

Well, that depends on your 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞.

I had one client who believed every tenant complaint was an indication the program wasn’t running well.

No complaining phone calls = quality. But anyone in housing knows … that’s not realistic. 𝘊𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯?

𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐳𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬. It’s about having a plan for when people need help.

Anyway, back to Row 19. The margin is tight, the toddler is loud, and apparently shoes are optional.