Workplace Insanity

Show True Professionalism!

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Dennis) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:20:00 +0000

Have you ever been around someone who shows true professionalism? You may find it difficult to fully describe the characteristics of such a person, but you know them when you see them. Such a person typically exudes intelligence and competence, treats you with dignity and respect, and instills high levels of confidence.

I think we’ve all also had numerous instances where we’ve run into a person who is clearly an expert in his/her field and who has often risen to heights in his/her profession, who is clearly intelligent and talented, but who demonstrates very little in the way of professionalism. This may be a doctor who is haughty and dismissive with little patience for his/her patients, a lawyer who is curt and often abusive and who talks down to all around him/her, or an engineer who can’t be bothered to waste his/her valuable time with mere mortals. These are professionals who do not show true professionalism.

Professionals are people who enter careers such as medicine, law, business, engineering, and many other areas, who have typically undergone rigorous and demanding training (educational and other). They are Knowledge Workers (see Knowledge Is Power!), where the value they bring to the company or organization they work for comes primarily from their brains and their knowledge and not from their brawn. However, being a professional is not the same as performing in a professional manner. It doesn’t take a professional to show professionalism. Showing professionalism means a lot more than bringing the requisite intellectual capacity to the job. Showing true professionalism requires competence and proper behavior in many other areas. The following illustrates some of the characteristics of people who show true professionalism.

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Blunt Talk and Black & White Reasoning

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Dennis) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:12:00 +0000

In response to two of my recent articles, Promises & Delivery and Excuses, Excuses!, I heard back from a friend of mine, Jim Bleck. Jim is the owner and President of Bleck Design Group, a great industrial design and engineering company I have worked with in the past at a number of companies. Jim sent comments indicating, “I think the world has way too much hope and opinion, when what it needs is action and facts. … The world is ready for blunt talk and more black and white reasoning.” I wholeheartedly agree, and I will expand on his comments and add mine.

Here are some of Jim’s right on the money comments:

I always remind our staff that our client’s expectations are already very high (on the ceiling). Don’t increase the expectations – just deliver! There is always a fine line between aggressive goals and too-low expectations.
I see too many problems develop from a lack of deep understanding or even desire to have a deep understanding.
I’m seeing too many engineers, business managers, salesmen, and designers ‘assume’ information acquired from past experience, data sheets, and hearsay was correct, or all of the story.
We apply the blunt and black and white standard to weed out weak information or opinions that are not backed by provable facts. When we get a problem developing, we start mining the history of information and we get back to assumptions made based upon over-simplification, or industry specifications that may not apply, or on published information that is old. You can’t question everything, but you can at least be curious and keep your knowledge base growing.
Many of the problems get started because, due to time and budget, intuition and experience must take over, and then little problems creep up that experience and intuition can’t solve. That’s when you need to get very blunt and honest about the issues. “Should work” needs to be followed by “but it fails, so it does not work!” Something is obviously amiss. As companies push innovation and get beyond experience, this really starts to be an issue, but that is also where value gets created. Intellectual Property (IP) is discovered, sizes are reduced, and functions not thought possible are discovered. For managers who don’t understand the technology, they can easily get baffled by it. Only simple, blunt talk gets past the haze of geek speak and endless nuances.
Lastly, there is blunt talk when evaluating features. There are times where, using the examples of Steve Jobs, it is necessary to tell people, “this is shit”, and make them defend their work and make it better.
There is always a fine line between perfection and never getting done (see The Perfect Is the Enemy of the Good), so you manage it. Managing conflict turns out to be a huge issue, and especially when everyone gets a thin skin and can’t just state the facts. I want my staff to tell me my estimate is crazy and define why we can get the job done for the price I quoted. Or, explain why the budget is so large when the problem seems small. I want to be able to look at work in progress and ask critical questions without a flinch.
Anyway, you want to make people think. The older I get, the more I know the world is all about change, so deal with it and love it!

"The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good"

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Dennis) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:17:00 +0000

When you begin work on a new project it is usually an exciting time when anything seems possible. Everyone is brimming with new ideas and a strong desire to do everything right. The initial optimistic view is that this time we’ll develop the perfect product following the perfect plan using the perfect team. It would be truly wonderful if that would be the case, but typically life intervenes to throw you some curves (see The Best Laid Plans … and Then Life Happens!). Aiming for perfection may be a noble objective, but achieving perfection is another thing entirely There is a quote from Voltaire from 1764 that literally translated is, “The best is the enemy of the good.”, but this is more commonly cited as, “The perfect is the enemy of the good.” What this means is that pursuing the “best” or the “perfect” solution may end up doing less actual good than accepting a solution that, while not perfect, is effective. As you’re undoubtedly aware by now, my blog posts, newsletters, and my consulting practice are all about effective solutions. George Patton may have said it a bit better for more modern times: “A good plan implemented today is better than a perfect plan implemented tomorrow.” The reality in virtually every case is that perfection is never realized. People often use the promise of perfection (or the expectation of perfection) as a rationale for doing nothing, rejecting actions that would achieve beneficial but not perfect results.

Here’s a fairly simplistic example from my distant past where a “good” solution enabled a design to move forward quickly, where a “perfect” solution would have taken significantly longer with no real impact on the outcome. Way back when, in the days before microprocessors (I’m clearly showing my age J), I was tasked with implementing an iterative algorithm using gate-level logic that theoretically required a number to be divided by 18. Well, dividing by 18 in those days was difficult, to say the least. However, dividing by 16 was trivial, consisting of shifting the binary number 4 positions to the right. Since the algorithm was iterative, part of a tracking loop, it homed in on the same result whether dividing by 18 or 16. So a “good” approach took almost no time at virtually no additional cost, where a “perfect” approach would have taken far longer, at significantly higher cost, and would have yielded the exact same result.

A good way to think about “good” versus “perfect” can be found in the 80-20 rule that applies broadly to most things in life; that is that 80% of the benefit typically comes from 20% of the work. [In my specific example above it was more like 99-1; that is 99% of the benefit came from 1% of the work.] The 80% of the benefit is the “good” solution. The last 20% of the benefit, achieving the “perfect” solution, most often requires four or considerably more times the work. People who believe that perfection (100% benefit) is only slightly more expensive/difficult than good (80% benefit) are deluding themselves; it simply isn’t true! Perfection is a mirage. You can’t reach it, and the more you try to get to it, the more time you waste. More often than not, the time and cost required to achieve perfection results in a product not being released or a service not being performed at all. In most situations it is far better to know when good enough is enough and not to worry about making the perfect choice. It is better to get something done imperfectly than to get nothing done perfectly!

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Excuses, Excuses!

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Dennis) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:09:00 +0000

You’re a manager and you’ve asked a member of your team to do a job. You’ve told him what the job involves, and you’ve given him the timeframe it needs to be done in. He agrees to do the job, says he understands what the job entails, and promises to deliver it in the required timeframe. You walk away confident that this job is in good hands, and will be done well and on time. You feel comfortable that you can move on to other critical people and items you are responsible for within and outside of your team.

You hear nothing from this person, and assume all is going well (Your first mistake! Never assume!). You periodically check in with the owner of this job, and he tells you that while the job is going well, he is seeing problems in one area, but that you don’t need to worry about it; everything is under control (another warning sign!). Then you hear from others about some other problems this person has mentioned to them that make you question what you heard directly from him. So you go back to him and check again. Now he starts to tell you about more problems and gives excuses about why it’s not his fault, or about how he’s not getting what he needs from someone else, or myriad other excuses. The excuses start to grow, but you hear about them only when you approach this person (not the other way around).

Then he misses a critical milestone, and when you ask why, he gives you excuses and more excuses. Some sound reasonable; others do not. When you dig deeper, you learn that he has been having problems all along and seems to be in way over his head. When you confront him, the number of excuses rapidly cascade even more, with blame placed on everything and everyone but himself. He admits he’s in deep trouble, but that it isn’t his fault! (Waa!) So much for promises, and say goodbye to delivery! [See Promises and Delivery] If you were aware of the problems from the outset, corrective action would have been possible (e.g. involving others with more direct experience). However, since the problems were hidden from your view (were they really?), the situation has now reached a critical point. His actions are disruptive to your organization, likely to other organizations, to the point where the overall project may now be in jeopardy!

What can you do to prevent such situations?

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Trust Me, I'm Not Like the Others!

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Dennis) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:04:00 +0000

“If people like you, they'll listen to you, but if they trust you, they'll do business with you.” ~ Zig Ziglar

What’s the difference between a bad and a good organization? How about the difference between a good and a great organization? How about the differences between bad, good, and great leaders? Clearly there are many elements that differentiate organizations, including their leaders, their people, the work they’re doing, the work environment, and much more. Likewise, with leaders there are elements such as knowledge, capabilities, abilities to understand and explain, abilities to work well with people, and much more. However, I postulate that one of the biggest differentiators between bad, good, and great organizations and likewise with leaders is the level of trust that exists in those organizations and with those leaders. For organizations and leaders to operate effectively there must be trust.

"Trust is the highest form of human motivation. It brings out the very best in people. But it takes time and patience, and it doesn't preclude the necessity to train and develop peple so that their competency can rise to the level of that trust." ~ Stephen Covey: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

What has been your experience when you work with people who you truly trust? It has been my experience that in such situations you really look forward to going to work and to working with people you know and trust. You believe that as a team you can conquer the world.

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Promises and Delivery

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Dennis) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 17:14:00 +0000

Who do you respect more? Someone who promises and delivers, or someone who promises and fails to deliver? Obviously, someone who promises and delivers. How about between someone who under-promises and over-delivers versus someone who over-promises and under-delivers? Your immediate reaction would likely favor someone who under-promises and over-delivers, but it really isn’t so clear. It depends on how much is under-promised versus how much is over-delivered, or in the other option, on how much is over-promised versus how much is under-delivered. In both of the latter two cases, it also depends on the stream of excuses you can expect to receive, and on how many you will tolerate. The excuses can absolutely drive you to distraction! We’ll go into all of these scenarios.

Let’s start with the person who simply promises and delivers, consistently and repeatedly. What does this mean? This is someone who says what he means (his promises), means what he says (his integrity), and does what he says he’ll do (his delivery). [See Say What You Mean, Mean What You Say, and Do What You Say You’ll Do!] This is typically a person who doesn’t even think about the possibility of over- or under-promising; he just promises what he realistically and capably can do, and does it. This is a person who you can trust! [See Trust Me, I’m Not Like the Others!] When you have someone like this in your organization, you have a real gem, and this is a gem you should treasure. This is a gem who others should emulate and admire. No muss, no fuss, no excuses. He just does the job at the high level of ability he knows he has, and consistently delivers on his promises! Build your organization around this person and encourage your other people to follow his example.

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Style Over Substance

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Dennis) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 17:22:00 +0000

You and everyone in the company are called to a company meeting and you head out with reservations, since you’ve attended such meetings in the past and have come away disappointed, with perfunctory messages, carefully manipulated company results, berating words for people or groups who have been unable to deliver on unrealistic expectations (see Unrealistic Expectations), and obligatory congratulations for a few people or groups. But this meeting sounds different. The big boss conveys a truly inspiring message and sounds like he really gets it. He lays out a vision for transforming the company in new and exciting ways (see Poor Company Vision Clouds Everyone’s View). He points to a future that holds great promise and potential. He discusses a plan of action that can make a real difference and a call to action to make it happen. He points to changes that will take place starting immediately, and envisions a bright and hopeful future that will bring excitement and success to the company and its people. Everyone is charged up and anxious to get started and leaves the meeting with a new spring in their steps. Then … very little happens. The promised changes are always about to begin, but never really do. Those changes that do begin go nowhere with little real support. The hope in everyone’s minds diminishes with each passing day. You have just been subjected, once again, to style over substance, and its result can be devastating. In fact it can be considerably worse than if the promising message had never been given. People’s expectations get built up, only to be torn down. They watch the bubble grow, only to see it burst; the bigger the bubble, the bigger the mess when it inevitably bursts.

Unfortunately, we see style over substance everywhere, and the consequence is that people are becoming more jaded and cynical. We see it in politics, where promises to “give” people this, that, and the other thing fly left and right from all parties, with few, if any, of the promises backed up by anything real or meaningful; but that doesn’t diminish the non-stop pandering. We see it in companies and even in work, community, and social groups. In smaller group settings it is generally easier to identify who is delivering style over substance and who is really delivering substance, and to do something about those who don’t deliver.

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Sunny Day Scenarios

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Dennis) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:09:00 +0000

You’re a project manager tasked with putting together the schedule for a new and critical project. You are told by senior management that this is an extremely critical project, and that it is essential to the company’s future success that it is delivered as quickly as possible and that whatever delivery date you come up with absolutely must be met. You are told that Sales is basing their forecasts on the availability dates you provide, and that Finance is basing their revenue and net income projections based on your schedule. The whole company is depending on you delivering on your commitments without fail.

You know you want the schedule to be as aggressive as possible to get products to market as soon as possible, but recognize that it must also be realistic and achievable, and that it must be met. You meet with all of the appropriate people, define all of the necessary tasks and their anticipated durations and dependencies, and incorporate the critical interactions among and between organizations (including organizations within and outside of your own company). You do your best to push back on people to make sure what they tell you is truly achievable and can be counted on. You apply what you feel to be an appropriate level of contingency on critical path tasks. Still, you have some level of discomfort that you’re missing something in the schedule you’ve put together.

Before you finish and present the final schedule as complete, do at least one more check (really considerably more than one). Make sure, to the best of your ability, that no part of the schedule is based on “Sunny Day Scenarios”, where the people giving you task duration and dependency estimates base their estimates on everything going just right, or on other people providing what they need just in time. “Sunny Day Scenarios” can and will kill a schedule, and over time you will watch your carefully put together schedule fall apart, and your credibility in the organization with it. [See also Failing to Plan Means You Are Planning to Fail!, What Gets Measured Gets Done!, and Plan Based On What You Do Know, and On What You Don’t!]

What are some of the “Sunny Say Scenario” pitfalls you need to look out for? They can be categorized as Schedule, People, and Management related.

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Unrealistic Expectations

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Dennis) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:05:00 +0000

You’re just getting started on the development of an exciting new product or program. The product/program definition isn’t really flushed out yet and the real magnitude of it is not understood, but everyone, including you, is energized about the prospects of what this new product/program can bring to the company. They have visions of money growing on trees! The management team says they really have to have this by a certain date in order to have the impact they would like. They ask you, as a project/program manager if this can be achieved. Optimist that you are, not knowing the product details, and making some assumptions, you indicate that you think it may be possible (see Take the Time to Think!). Congratulations! You have just set unrealistic expectations that you can be quite certain will not be met.

No one intends to set unrealistic expectations, but it happens all the time. Everyone wants new systems, products, or programs delivered yesterday, with outstanding quality, even if they don’t have a clue about the amount of work involved in delivering a quality product/program that is aligned with critical business objectives. People are pressured to estimate what it will take to develop something that is not fully (or even mostly) defined. When that estimate is viewed as too long (which is almost always the case), they are asked to pull time out of the schedule (see The Schedule Estimate Extortion Game). Then, as the product/program definition starts to come together, additional features and functions are identified and are determined to be mandatory. It is often realized that the needed resources needed are not currently available. However, the end date (that was very broadly estimated in the first place, and then shortened by pressure applied early and continuously) is not allowed to be modified, unless it can be pulled in. Assumptions and caveats are forgotten. [What happens when you 'ass/u/me'? You make an 'ass' of 'u' and 'me'!]. When anyone then tries to adjust the date, they will then hear, “I didn’t set the date, you did!”, or "Don't confuse me with the facts!" (see Don't Confuse Me With the Facts!). Many other departments become dependent on that date, and when you don’t or can’t deliver, it is entirely your fault. Then it turns into 'floggings' (see Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves!).

How can unrealistic expectations be avoided or at least reduced?

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Common Courtesy (or the Lack Thereof)

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Dennis) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 16:19:00 +0000

You’ve just gotten involved in a new and important project, and you’re grateful to be involved, as it promises, if successful, to be a major driver of new business for the company, and can provide positive visibility for you. You go into the initial project meetings with a positive outlook and a ‘can do’ attitude. However, when the meeting gets started you notice there appears to be discontent between some of the representatives of the various organizations involved. Even more disconcerting, the discussions quickly veer off a path of respectful discourse to displays of snarkiness, animosity and even outright disrespect. This makes no sense to you, as it is clearly counterproductive and unnecessary. You expect common courtesy to be the norm, and can’t understand what you’re seeing or why. Unfortunately, bad behavior and a lack of common courtesy is becoming all too common in the workplace and out of it.

Where has common courtesy gone? It used to be that people, within and outside of the workplace, treated each other with courtesy regardless of the circumstances, even during very trying times. But manners, courtesy and civility seem to have taken a turn for the worse. Why, and what can be done about it?

There are many potential causes for the decline in common courtesy and civility.

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Hire Adults, Expect Results!

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Dennis) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 16:12:00 +0000

You’re a manager who has just been given control of an important new project, and you want to do absolutely everything you can to make it a sterling success with features and functions that will guarantee strong market success (generating great revenues), outstanding quality, on (or ahead of) time delivery, and within budget. You’ve been given some range of freedom in building your new team; some to be chosen from among existing employees, and the authority to hire some new employees specifically for your project. Most of the available existing employees have been around for a while, and have a mix of capabilities and motivations. You know most of these folks, to varying degrees, and can learn more about them from peers and others. Your new hire budget (as with your overall budget) is, of course, fixed, but you have a choice of how you want to spend that money. You can bring in a good number of inexperienced (and less expensive) people, or fewer (and more expensive) experienced people, or a mix of both. What should guide you in building your new team, and how should you go about it? In the words of my good friend Lee Beaumont**, “Hire adults, expect results!”

First let me clarify what I mean by experience and by adult.

Experience in this instance should be viewed as directly applicable and applied knowledge about one or more aspects of the project that are essential to its success. Experience in this definition has little to do with age. There are people straight out of school who may have specialized experience that may be absolutely critical to success, and there may be people who have been around for a long time, but whose experiences, while significant and valuable elsewhere, may not be at all applicable in this project. If you want to succeed, you will need experts with the right kinds of experience.

Being an adult has far more to do with behavior than with chronological age. It has to do with levels of personal responsibility, integrity, and trust. Adults are people who can be trusted to honor their commitments and deliver honest and reliable results in the times they said they would (see Say What You Mean, Mean What You Say, and Do What You Say You’ll Do!). With adults, you don’t spend your time babysitting and resolving stupid conflicts, picking up dropped balls, listening to “can’t do” excuses and other childish behavior. With adults, you get a level of initiative, creativity, and leadership that can emerge and transform the team and project to a new level; breakthrough products can result. With adults, new people in the organization have excellent role models to learn from, and a healthy mentorship relationship can develop that brings benefits to the mentor, apprentice, team, and project (see Learn from Good Role Models; Learn More from Bad!). With adults, you have people you trust to talk to and collaborate with in problem solving. With adults, problems can be foreseen, anticipated, and avoided much earlier and at much less cost. With adults, people rise to the occasion, and delivering on commitments becomes expected and fun. In my career I have known people straight out of school who exhibited outstanding adult behavior, and well-seasoned, even experienced people who still behave like children. Some children (of any age) can be trained, and some cannot! Being an adult does not mean you shouldn’t have fun in your work. Adults can still have fun at work, but not at the expense of others or the project. In fact, having fun should really be a prerequisite, since it is one of the key elements that motivate responsible adults to look forward to going to work every day.

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Adapt or Die!

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Dennis) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 16:15:00 +0000

You recently left a prior position of your own accord, because you didn’t find it a fit, or the work environment was unacceptable, or for whatever reason (see Know When to Fold ‘Em, and When It’s Time to ‘Walk Away’, Don’t Turn Back!). Prior to leaving, you looked around for a good opportunity that would be a good match to your background and interests, and that would provide good opportunities for growth. You’ve just accepted a position in what you believe to be a promising company. You’ve been told what your job will be by your hiring manager, by the folks you interviewed with, and by Human Resources. You believe that job description to be a perfect match to your experience and interests, and you’re really looking forward to getting started. But when you start, your first assignment is actually fairly far removed from what you were told. But you do it well anyway. Then your second job builds upon your first, and is also far removed from what you had been told. As you move forward in your new job you find that, while there may be a passing resemblance to what you were told you would be doing, the reality is actually pretty far removed from that job description. What’s going on, and what does this mean for you going forward?

The mismatch of actual job assignment to what you were told it was going to be is typically not due to any ill intent on the part of anybody involved, but more due to the concept of ‘sh!t happens’, and what has happened, totally outside of your control, requires you to get deeply involved in these job assignments somewhat outside of what you expected (see The Best Laid Plans … and Then Life Happens!). You need to decide whether you want to adapt, or find something elsewhere that is more in keeping with what you expected (see Take the Time to Think!).

A reality of life, at least for knowledge workers at almost every level of a company, is that the job you expect to be doing often bears fairly little resemblance to the job you will actually be doing. This can be true for a wide variety of reasons.

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Showing Progress vs. Making Progress Syndrome

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Dennis) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 16:07:00 +0000

You are working diligently on a new and exciting project. You’re making good progress on your project commitments, and it looks like, if everything continues to go as expected, you may even beat the planned time to reach your coming milestones. Everything is coming together as you hoped and expected. Things are going great. Life is good.

Then your boss comes in and says that a critical customer will be coming in for a visit in two weeks, and he wants to be able to show a working demo of the portion of the product that you have been working on. He wants you to make this your highest priority. You tell him that you can do this, but that it will have to involve a number of other people working on other areas of the project, and will likely delay delivery of what will be needed for the real product, as you and others will have to take time away from doing that real work in order to get something temporary together for this demo. Your boss says that’s what he wants you to do, as this customer is very important. You do it, and the customer seems happy, although it appears to you that what you demonstrated was really of only mild interest to that customer, who appeared to have other, more important, things he really wanted to discuss with your boss. Your boss seems happy with your demo, but otherwise occupied with other issues related to this critical customer. In any event, you’ve done as you were asked and delivered a good working demo. Nice job, you think.

A month later, you (and the others who were involved) are now about two weeks behind in your project efforts, and your boss demands to know why and how this critical work got delayed. You remind him of the demo he asked you to prepare, but your boss says, “But that was only a quick demo! You never told me that it would delay the project [despite the fact that you did]. This delay is unacceptable and so is your performance! I want to know what you’re going to do to get the project back on track! You know that this project is your highest priority!” You have just become a victim of “Showing Progress vs. Making Progress Syndrome”. No good deed goes unpunished! [See The Schedule Estimate Extortion Game and No Good Deed Goes Unpunished!]

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A Shout Out to Ukraine!

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Dennis) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 17:06:00 +0000

Here's a special shout out to the blog viewers from the Ukraine! In the past few months the Ukraine has risen to third place in total page views on this Workplace Insanity blog since the blog started in June 2010, behind just the USA and the United Kingdom. I appreciate your interest! If there are any topics you would like me to address, please let me know. Thanks!

Tom Dennis

Multiply Ideas by Sharing

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Dennis) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 16:05:00 +0000

You’re working on an important project and you’re determined to complete the project yourself, to demonstrate your capabilities and ability to deliver on a critical commitment. You have stubbornly refused the help generously offered by others, believing that doing so would show weakness and a lack of technical understanding and ability. But now you feel like a marathon runner who has ‘hit the wall’. You’ve exhausted all of the ideas you have to solve the many issues you’re grappling with, and aren’t sure what to try next, what to do next, or where to turn. But you’re afraid to admit that you’ve hit an impasse for fear that it will reflect badly on you and your currently positive reputation in your organization (see Embarrassment Rules the World? and Take the Time to Think!). What can you do to revive yourself, get your creative juices running again, and come up with new approaches to solve your problems?

If you want to spur new ideas, for yourself or for others in your organization, the best thing you can do is to share your ideas and ask for others in return. It may seem counterintuitive to you, but it’s true! You will multiply ideas by sharing them! There is a famous quotation from George Bernard Shaw: "If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas."

So swallow your pride. In your case, you’re about to experience “pride goeth before a fall” first hand! Your pride won’t mean much if you fail miserably on this critical assignment. One person can’t know all there is to know on a subject, as you’re learning first hand. Others will undoubtedly be able to bring a fresh perspective to your problems with many new ideas on ways to solve them. So search them out and ask for help!

This situation, though extreme, is far from rare. Even people who regularly share ideas and ask for help may find themselves in situations where they become reluctant to do so, for whatever reason. It is critical that they come to their senses and recognize the power of multiplying ideas by sharing.

How does this work? First, you need to work up the courage to ask for help. Then you can start the process by throwing out one idea, and asking for more. That triggers an idea from another person, which provides an alternate route toward solving your problem. That idea triggers an idea from another person that turns the problem inside out and enables you and others to view the problem from an entirely different perspective with a range of not only new potential solutions, but also of new directions from which to attack the problem. Soon you have more ideas and approaches than you ever thought possible, all by simply asking others for their ideas and perspectives.

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Methodology: Too Little, To Much, or 'Just Right'?

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Dennis) — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 16:09:00 +0000

When Goldilocks sampled the three bears’ porridge, she found one too hot, another too cold, and the third 'just right'. Similarly, when she tried out their beds, she found one too hard, another too soft, and the third 'just right'. Project or program methodologies are similar. They can be created with too little process, with too much process, or with the 'just right' amount of process. The key is finding out what is 'just right' for your organization. You’ll find that what’s 'just right' for your organization is unique and different from other, even very similar, organizations.

In small organizations, the tendency is toward too little methodology – often very little or none. In large organizations, the tendency is toward too much methodology – a very formal, highly detailed process with very little flexibility. In medium-sized organizations, it is generally somewhere in between. Striking the proper balance is a difficult, but critical task that will determine the success an organization finds in effectively developing new products or programs.

What are some characteristics of too little methodology?
Too little methodology often leads to bedlam, anarchy, and a free-for-all atmosphere. There is no uniformity of direction; everyone is moving fast, but often in different directions (Brownian motion) (see Poor Company Vision Clouds Everyone’s View). People all feel they know what’s really best, and do their own thing independently of others. There is a 'cowboy mentality'. No one effectively leads (or everyone tries to lead), and few want to follow. Milestones are not effectively set, and schedules are for losers (see Poor Product Vision Blinds Development, and A Poor Product Roadmap Gets Everyone Lost). This can actually seem exciting and even intoxicating initially, but after a short time, people begin to get frustrated because the goals are not clear and little meaningful work is really being accomplished.

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Embarrassment Rules the World?

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Dennis) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 21:12:00 +0000

When I worked at Bell Labs (lo those many years ago), I had an Executive Director whose governing management philosophy was that 'embarrassment rules the world'. That is, he felt that people achieved goals, met their commitments, and made all of their critical decisions based primarily on doing whatever was necessary to avoid being embarrassed. This Executive Director was also a person who inspired trepidation and trembling among many subordinates because of his forceful personality and this underlying philosophy. When he would hold meetings, or go around the organization to visit and check up on things, if he felt that people were not delivering to his expectations (which were often not made clear), he would publicly embarrass them in front of many others. The result was that people would make sure that they were doing enough to avoid such public embarrassment and humiliation, but most often just enough. They would often not work to exceed expectations or to excel, due to the chances of being embarrassed in front of others by this domineering executive.

Such a management approach may ensure a level of performance just a notch above mediocrity, but certainly not a level of excellence. When a level of excellence was achieved, it was virtually always due to the natural desire of the person or people in the organization to excel, and not to satisfy the perverse philosophy of this manager. I learned a lot from this Executive Director, on how not to manage people (see Learn from Good Role Models; Learn More from Bad!, Mis-Managers: How Bad Managers Can Poison The Well, Mis-Managers 2: Janus & Old Yeller, Mis-Managers 3: Builder-Upper & Tearer-Downer, Mis-Managers 4: Micro-Managers - People, Design & Process, Mis-Managers 5: Power Tripper & Turf Builder, Mis-Managers 6: Mentor, Tactician & Strategist, and Mis-Managers 7: Hands-Off, Wheeler-Dealer, Credit Taker/Thief & A$$hole).

I strongly disagree with 'embarrassment rules the world' as a governing management philosophy and believe it is destructive. However, avoiding embarrassment does often serve as a strong motivator in people’s lives. For those witnessing the embarrassment being handed out, it is strange, but some people seem to take perverse pleasure at seeing others being publicly embarrassed. As an example, American Idol is one of the top rated shows on television, largely, until this most recent season, due to the embarrassment and disparagement handed out weekly by Simon Cowell to contestants who don’t live up to his expectations. Taking pleasure in another’s misfortune is a sad but unfortunately real observation on some people’s behavior that tends to reinforce the 'embarrassment rules the world' philosophy. In this blog post, I’d like to explore what an 'embarrassment rules the world' approach means, problems it can cause, and what I believe is a far more beneficial management philosophy.

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If You Want It Bad, You'll Get It ... Bad!

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Dennis) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 16:02:00 +0000

You and your team are working as hard as possible to deliver on your commitments by the agreed to deadline, and you want to be sure that what you deliver is of high quality. However, unforeseen problems have arisen that make it questionable that you will be able to deliver everything with the quality you want on time. The pressure is incredible. Your boss is saying things like, “I don’t care how you do it, but get me something by Friday!”, or, “I don’t care if it’s complete or fully ready; I need something now!”, or, “Don’t confuse me with the facts; just get me what I want, now!” [see Don't Confuse Me With the Facts!] Your boss has promised this to his boss, and your boss’s boss has promised this to his boss. No one wants to be embarrassed in front of their boss. However, you know that if what you deliver isn't everything that was promised, or isn’t really complete or fully ready, or isn’t of high quality, despite what your boss may say now, you will be crucified. You are stuck with the dilemma that if you want it bad, you’ll get it . . . bad!

Clearly, the world is moving faster and faster. Competitors are selling products and services which can quickly take away your company’s market share . If your product or service isn’t released to market within a certain timeframe, the company may face dire circumstances. Pressures to deliver more faster are very real, and demands to do so are made all of the time.

What can be done to endure in a chaotic world? First and foremost, it comes to doing the basics right.

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Don't Confuse Me With the Facts!

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Dennis) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 16:12:00 +0000

You’re boss asks you to investigate a possible problem that has the potential to seriously derail a critical project or program. Work has been underway for some time now, and the release of this product (or service) is expected to have a substantial impact on the company. The problem, if indeed a serious one, could set back delivery and/or severely damage the image and reputation of the company.

As you begin your investigation, it becomes ever more evident that the problem is real and is, indeed, serious. You know you’ve got much more work to do to fully understand the details and the consequences, but you want to give your boss an early heads up on your investigation. You don’t expect your boss to be happy about the news, but you do expect him to appreciate learning early in the investigation that there are real danger signs ahead. Instead, he starts yelling at you, saying that you simply don’t understand what your doing, and that you’ve simply got to reach the conclusion that everything is really alright (see Mis-Managers 2: Old Yeller). He is essentially saying, when the facts don’t provide the answer he wants, “Don’t confuse me with the facts!”

What’s the mentatlity at work here? Your boss asked you to find out if the problem is true, and when you find out it is, he refuses to believe you. He trusted you enough to ask you to independently investigate, but won’t accept your answer when you learn and present the facts (see No Good Deed Goes Unpunished!).

When facts don’t match assumptions, a common first reaction is that the facts are wrong, not that the assumptions are wrong. Often, the assumptions have been around so long that they are considered common wisdom. When facts betray that common wisdom, the boss may view this as an insult to his/her intelligence, and blame the messenger. Changing the boss’ perspective, even with conclusive proof, is often hard, and can lead to negative perceptions of the person providing the ‘contrary’ facts. Unfortunately, this negative view of the bearer of bad news can linger beyond the current instance and on into the future. [In older and darker times the bearer of bad news was often killed!]

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What We've Got Here Is A Failure To Communicate!

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Dennis) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 16:04:00 +0000

In the movie Cool Hand Luke, Paul Newman plays a convict in constant trouble. At one point the warden says to Luke, “What we’ve got here is … failure to communicate!” Trouble continues until the climax when Luke runs and is cornered in a church. He leans out the window and mockingly yells to the warden, “What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate!”, quickly followed by a guard putting a bullet through Luke’s throat. In the corporate world, a failure to communicate is a very common problem, and often results in drastic actions. In this world, however, a bullet through the throat is, thankfully, not a common outcome.

When most projects begin there is great hope and promise for all involved. A terrific product has been defined, complete product requirements have been written (he said optimistically), a thorough project plan has been put in place (also optimistically), and all parties have signed up to deliver what is necessary to successfully bring this wonderful product to market. There is a strong degree of trust among all the many parties from multiple organizations, including product development, product management, sales, marketing, finance, manufacturing, senior management, etc (see Does Everyone Really Understand?). All the world is in harmony! J It is virtually impossible for things to be much better from this starting point, so there is really only one direction that things can go – downhill. Along the way, problems will arise, eroding trust and straining relationships (see Trust Me - I'm Not Like The Others!).

What Do Your Customers Really Want?

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Dennis) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 16:11:00 +0000

It is critical that your company deliver what your customers really want. But how do you know what the customer really wants?

Most people are familiar with the cartoon on the left showing a tire swing in its various realizations thorough the design process by various groups within a company, versus what the customer really wanted. It is all too easy for the customer’s needs to be subsumed by the desires of others within a company who interpret the customer needs through their own prism. What you often end up with is not what the customer wanted at all.

In sales-driven companies, product requirements often reflect a shopper’s mentality. Sales people see what customers are asking for today, that other companies are already providing, and say that’s what their customers want. This is really like driving by looking only through the rear-view mirror. You see where you’ve been, but have no idea of where you’re going, or should be going. When you deliver what sales has requested, not only is the customer disappointed, because they have already been able to get that product from others for some time, but by the time it’s delivered the sales people themselves are disappointed, because the view through the rear-view mirror has changed by then, and what they asked for is no longer what they want now.

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Keep Your Eyes on THE GOAL!

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Dennis) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:03:00 +0000

If you ask a typical engineer, “What is THE GOAL of the company?”, you’ll typically get answers like, “to build the best product”, or “to beat our competitors”, or “to be the best”, or something of the like. If you ask someone in marketing the same question, you typically get answers like, “to provide the best value to our customers”, or “to provide the best product at a great price”, or “to win”. Ask some more idealistic employees and you may get responses like, “to help serve the community”, or “to build environmentally friendly products”. Ask yet others and you’ll generally get similar types of responses. While all of these answers may well be desirable, they are not THE GOAL. Achieving THE GOAL may enable these to happen, but unless THE GOAL is achieved, these other outcomes are really meaningless. What, then, is THE GOAL?

THE GOAL of any company IS TO MAKE MONEY!

If your company doesn’t make money, then, over the long run, you can’t build the best product, you can’t beat your competitors, you can’t be the best, you can’t provide the best value, etc. If you don’t make money, your company won’t be around long enough to achieve any of these outcomes. Instead, your company's doors will get padlocked, and all of your company's employees will find themselves without jobs. This simple fact of life, that a company must make a profit, is, sadly, not obvious to a lot of people. Nor is how they can have an impact on making this happen.

Take the Time to Think!

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Dennis) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 16:05:00 +0000

Things are crazy at work. People are running around like chickens with their heads cut off. They’re running in every direction with no semblance of purpose or foresight or understanding. The big picture is unclear; even the little picture is unclear! No one seems to have a clue. They just want something done! Many of the ‘leaders’ in the company appear to be equally confused, and are spouting out directives that are not well thought out and even contradictory, and these just add to the confusion. Their antics are disappointing and undermine confidence in the management team of the company. People are looking to you, as a person with some level of authority who is viewed with respect, demanding that you do something, anything, and do it now!

What do you do? Adding to the confusion with ill-informed conjecture or unthinking 'actions' will only add to the chaos (see Like Trying to Change Tires On a Fast Moving Car!). The level of respect you have earned did not come by jumping to conclusions without understanding. You need to take the time to think before you act – to gather information, to analyze rationally, to comprehend, to understand – and only then to act responsibly, and not foolishly.

It’s your job to be an island of stability in an ocean of uncertainty. Before reacting, step back, block out all the craziness and distraction, clear your head, and think clearly. There is more than enough unclear thinking going on, enough reaction without any understanding, enough action without planning. Someone has to separate the wheat from the chaff; the important from the minutiae (see also Stop Picking the Flyshit Out of the Pepper!). Someone needs to develop and propose a thoughtful plan of action that recognizes what needs to be done, understands the potential consequences, and proposes a reasonable path to achieve the goal. It’s your job to be that person!

So how do you go about this? How do you ensure that you’ve thought things through carefully but expeditiously; that you’ve taken the right amount of time to think? Different people approach this process in different ways. There is not one right way to approach this, but there are many wrong ways.
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Doing Things Right vs. Doing Things Over

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Dennis) — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 16:17:00 +0000

How is it that, time after time, people seem to believe they don’t have the time to do things right the first time, yet they will later make the time, usually at the cost of delaying a critical project, to do things over? The reality is that taking the time to do things right the first time will virtually always, in the long run, take significantly less time and result in a higher quality product than it does to do things over. By not doing things right the first time, you will not only inconvenience yourself (and look bad in the eyes of almost everyone), but you will greatly inconvenience and severely disrupt the lives of many others as well.

Why do people make this mistake in the first place? Clearly they don’t set out intending not to do things right. They begin with only the very best of intentions, to do their jobs to the best of their abilities in the very best ways possible. They will even often say to themselves, “this time I’ll do it right the first time and not get caught up in downstream problems.” What changes that idealistic desire? Pressure from a variety of sources is typically the cause. Such pressure will often cause people to take “shortcuts”, or “force” them to get “something” out quickly that can be “refined” later. We will examine the sources of pressure and how you can best stand up to these pressures.

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Stop Picking the Flyshit Out of the Pepper!

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Dennis) — Wed, 25 May 2011 16:13:00 +0000

When I was growing up, I got a lot of guidance and knowledge from my father. I loved him dearly, but what is more I truly valued and respected him. I also go a lot of great sayings from him, many of which have stayed with me throughout my life. I’ve found most of them eminently useful to describe common situations. One of my favorites is, “Stop picking the flyshit out of the pepper!”. Not only is it a very colorful and attention getting expression, it is also illustrative of a common situation found in many companies and organizations. It is basically another form of the expression, “You can’t see the forest for the trees”, and means that you’re concentrating so much on the minutiae that you’re missing, and not working on, the big picture.

How often have you seen this occur in your organization? You’ve got an incredibly demanding project underway with tight milestones and schedules. There are many, many elements to the project, yet you’ve got people who are spending their valuable time and effort in building the best and most perfect “mousetrap” in the world, when a perfectly acceptable “mousetrap” is available that does the job in a fully satisfactory fashion and is readily available and useable as is. What’s more, the “mousetrap” is one of the most minor elements of the project and one of the least critical to the project’s success. Yet try as you might, and despite repeated requests, demands, and threats, every time you turn around some of these people are back to polishing their “mousetrap” (also known as "polishing a turd"). These are good people, but they just can’t see the big picture. They’re picking the flyshit out of the pepper!

Here’s another example. You’ve received reports of major problems with your most popular and best selling product, and more and more customers are calling in to complain about this problem. It’s time for “all hands on deck” to find the source of the problem and get the fix back out to the field as quickly as possible. Your people are able to quickly find the major root cause of the problem and have a fix identified and ready to go. However, in the course of identifying the cause, they’ve uncovered another very minor problem that can occur in very rare circumstances, but they can’t seem to find a solid fix to this rare problem. They are unwilling to release the major fix until they fix this rare problem, and customers are getting quite angry. Again, they’re picking the flyshit out of the pepper! They can’t seem to recognize that they need to stop the bleeding now (triage) and come back later to fix the minor, non-critical nuisances.

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