Win

In competitive games, where everybody has to lose for one to win, things are strange, absurd and sad. Las Vegas and Wall Street play this kind of games.

The rules contradict each other: Winners don't quit, Quitters don't win, and Quit while you are ahead. The final rule, as stated by Mr. Keynes, is: "in the long run, we are all dead." No use trying to find the logic there.

In collaborative games, where everybody wins as long as nobody loses, the rules are different: Larger pies have larger slices. Winners win if they help quitters. If you're ahead, you can help more.

Fungus

Purpose

I am probably naive.

As I see it, you need to focus on one vital thing.
There is one thing that is all important to you.

Something you would not trade for anything.
Something you just have to get.
Something you just have to do.
Something that is it's own reason.

No explanation is possible or necessary.
That is your overriding purpose.

Once you find your purpose, the rest falls into perspective.
Some people say you can find your purpose through systems thinking, others say you need religion, some say you have to study the B-Values.

By the way, I'm still looking for it.

Fungus

Creativity

I know I am a romantic, and an optimist.
So much so, that I think innovation is an individual choice and a highly contagious one.

The problem with ossified structures is that they don't let in fresh ideas to nurture innovation. Open the window, let the sunshine in and innovation will flourish.
Easier said than done.

Fear is the great enemy, and it must be eradicated.
Consider this scenario: I am old and successful. Well.. mature and successful. I earned my success by playing the old game. I am afraid that if things change, I will lose my chair.
I don't want the rules to change.
Would you?

My young associate is young and earnest. Full of ideas.
I will make sure that she understands the dangers of freethinking.
"Do as you are told," I will repeat over and over. I will make sure that she keeps her ideas to herself, or else...

What we have to do is to find fear wherever it's hiding and eradicate it.
Easier said than done.

However, I have chosen to be creative and to let people be creative.
Fearlessly creative.
I call it the pirate perspective.

Don't build castles, build ships.

Fungus

Collaboration

Be wary of the zero sum game, and the theory of limited good. If we think of a recession as a time when there are less and less good things to distribute, we may be tempted to attack our competitors to get a larger share. If you attack your competitors, they will have less resources, they will produce even less, and recession will be worse. They will be angry and hungry too. We can work with our customers, suppliers and (yes) competitors to creatively create more value. If you can get more for your work and I can get more from my work, what's the problem? Fungus "Creatively create". I like that one. :-)

SGC (Español)

Lo primero es saber para qué quieres implantar un SGC. Para responder esta pregunta primordial, te puede servir el documento "Quality Management Principles" (ver liga abajo). Si encuentras la respuesta, y es "para servir mejor a mis clientes", "para hacer que mi país sea más productivo", "para promover activamente el desarrollo de todo el personal de mi organización", entonces toma papel y lápiz y escribe: 1. ¿Quién es tu cliente y a quienes más les ofreces servicios? 2. ¿Cuál es tu producto, cómo lo planeas y fabricas? 3. ¿Cómo sabes que tu cliente está contento con tu trabajo? 4. ¿Cómo sabes que tus procesos sirven? 5. ¿Cómo tomas las decisiones de operación? 6. ¿Cómo administras y mejoras tus recursos (humanos y materiales)? 7. ¿Cómo te aseguras de hacer las cosas hoy mejor que ayer? Lo demás es mantener el vuelo y no detenerte. La calidad es un trabajo que nunca termina. ...y te va a costar uno y la mitad del otro. ¡Ah! Si tu respuesta es "porque mi jefe me dijo", "para ganarme un bono", o "porque un proveedor me lo exigió", entonces creo que viniste a preguntar al lugar eqivocado. Fungus Liga a "Quality Management Principles"

Weakness

The short answer is that you have to drive out fear. That's what Edward Deming says. As a manager, I need to know --as soon as possible-- if a team member has any relevant weakness. It is my problem and my responsibility to let my team know that no one will ever be punished for reporting a weakness. They will be supported and trained. Hiding a weakness, on the other hand, can get them in trouble. If someone claims to be strong where he is not, and that causes delays, rework or loss of quality, the team will be very angry. As a subordinate, I know that if I report my weaknesses and a plan to overcome them on time, I will not be punished. I fight very hard every day to keep this scheme going. Fungus

Visión (Español)

El mundo que yo quiero abunda en: 1. Oportunidades, para que cada quién decida qué tan lejos quiere llegar. 2. Tolerancia, para que todos podamos reirnos de nuestros errores y aprender. 3. Confianza y respeto, para que todos aceptemos nuestra diversidad y aprovechemos su riqueza. 4. Ilustración, para entender quiénes somos, qué nos pasa y que podamos tomar el control de nuestro destino. 5. Prudencia, para usar los recursos con medida y buen tino. No sé si se pueda, pero yo ya empecé a construirlo. Fungus

Supervisión (Español)

Primero La idea de que una jornada de trabajo de más de ocho horas es injusta me parece anticuada. La entiendo en tiempos de Taylor y Ford, pero ya no. Yo no alcanzo a hacer todo lo que quiero hacer en ocho horas. Yo creo que la mayoría de los profesionales preferimos trabajar jornadas un poco más largas y además nos llevamos problemas de trabajo a casa. Por puro gusto. Segundo Yo creo que la idea de que es necesario controlar y supervisar a las personas para que hagan un buen trabajo está equivocada. La mayoría de las personas queremos hacer un buen trabajo y respondemos con entusiasmo a las oportunidades. La mayoría de las personas sabemos cuándo se necesita trabajar más duro o más tiempo y lo hacemos sin necesidad de que un supervisor nos lo diga, y sin necesidad de que nos paguen "horas extras". También sabemos cuándo la carga es más ligera y podemos ponernos a filosofar en Linked In. No se trata del tiempo ni del dinero, sino de la oportunidad de colaborar en la creación de un mundo mejor. Fungus

Customer

How do I say no to a customer? Why would I want to say no to a customer, internal or not? ...unless I don't want their business. If my customer asks for a service or a product, and my best answer is "no", I would ask: Tell me more...? Why do you want me to do ...? The customer is always first. We need to explore and understand the needs and expectations of our customer. Only then can we start making decisions. Fungus

Communication

Communication is always a problem, and it is never easily solved. What you learn as you prepare the plan is more important than the plan itself. Your plan should help you to: 1. Focus on business goals 2. Be clear about who needs to know what 3. Be sure they have information available 4. Ask, don't tell 5. Be sensitive and respectful 6. Understand that "The Truth" is a myth... be practical. And of course. Laugh at your own mistakes. Fungus

Empowerment

I am an optimist and a dreamer. My reading is that Big Business is doomed. Dinosaurs and Mammoths are not efficient, they are slow thinkers and they resist change. We will be better off working in small autonomous cells (ever heard the word "team"?), and will not need overpaid CEOs to dream our dreams. Some large companies may survive if they are based on respect, free will, collaboration, empowerment... you know. Maslow's B-Values and McGregor's Y Theory. The new measure of success will be the health of our community. For a glimpse at the new dream that we may dream, I suggest you read (yet again) Thomas More's Utopia, and take a look at the People CMM. Please follow the link below. Fungus Follow this link to the People CMM

Problem

This is my favorite checkist.

Problem solving 101

1. Document the desired state (where you want to be).
If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there.
(L. Carroll)

Describe it in a SMART way: Specific, Achievable, Measurable, Relevant, Time framed

2. Document the present state (where you are today)
If you don't know where you are, a map won't serve.
(W. Humphrey)
In measurable terms comparable to #1

3. Understand the system through one or more of:
3.a. SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)
3.b. Ishikawa (or fishbone) root cause analysis
3.c. Process diagrams (process charts)
3.d. Activity flowcharts
3.e. Value stream maps
3.f. Ask 5 times "why?"
3.g. Expert analysis
... there are others, but this is good enough to start with.

4. Document the reasons why you are not where you want to be (aka root causes) and group them in: communication, training, process, product and tool.

5. Fix the process to improve communication, training, process, product and tool as needed.

6. Measure the results
(are you closer to your goal?)
... and go back to square one.

This is as easy as 123, but most of us don't do it.
We say it's boring. It does not let creativity flow. We think we are better than that.

And maybe, just maybe, some managers don't appreciate the quiet and systematic solution of problems. They want to see struggle long hours, working weekends, heroes and casualties. The whole nine yards.
After all, John Wayne, James Bond, Dirty Harry and Catwoman never used a checklist.

Fungus

Soft skills

The most important "soft skills" are those skills that we need to understand and manage:
- Superordinate goals,
- Style,
- Staff and
- Skills.

You may notice similarities between these levers and the eight quality principles described by ISO 9000
- Superordinate goals: Leadership
- Style: System approach to management
- Staff: Involvement of people
- Skills: Process approach & Continual improvement

A little story: Thirty years ago, McKinsey & Co. researched why the Japanese organizations were more successful than their American counterparts. McKinsey developed a business framework, which describes seven factors or levers that a manager can use.

It seems that American managers only understood and used three of the seven levers, while Japanese managers leveraged all seven factors, including four "soft" factors that westerners usually considered unimportant.
The 3 hard "S" are Strategy, Structure, and Systems.
The 4 soft "S" are Superordinate goals, Style, Staff and Skills.
(See Pascale & Athos ref in the link below)

In an effort to make soft things seem hard, and thus, understandable and manageable, western authors started compiling ever longer lists of the components and variations of those culturally bound, intangible and elusive factors.

A friend of mine says that companies value soft skills.
I don't agree.

I think they don't even understand the concept behind soft skills.
They say they do, because it is fashionable, and as with the Emperor's New Clothes, nobody dares to admit that they have spent their training budgets in a concept so volatile that they don't grasp.

Fungus

Follow this link to The Art of Japanese Management

Politics

There was a time when "political" was a way of serving fellow citizens. It seems that now it means self service, manipulation and deceit. Political implies a purpose. To serve or to manipulate, depending on the politician you're thinking of. Other than that, political skills and interpersonal skills are the same. Fungus

Motivation

The Top Leader is responsible to create a vision that people can subscribe to.
The Top Leader should state where to, and how far we want to go.
The top leader should also make sure that everybody understands the vision, mission and goals.
That's about it.
When leaders start telling people how to do it, they start to fail.

Under the old, bureaucratic, hierarchical model, middle managers were supposed to have relevant knowledge and experience, and they were expected to coordinate the working bees, making sure they did the right thing.

Under newer models (like ISO 9000), all employees are expected to actively participate in the organization, to work according to documented processes, to measure the results, and to improve them continually.

A good process lets the performers know how they are doing relative to the objectives, and lets them improve the process.
A good process empowers employees.

Many middle managers, and some CEOs find this new order less than comfortable.
What will they do if they are not directing, managing, coordinating or supervising?
Maybe they would have to work.

And how would they explain their salaries and perks?

Many working bees also find this new order undesirable.
Loosely quoting from Aldous Huxley: They are awfully glad they're betas, so they don't have to think.

No surprise then, that they don't push towards the new order.

Fungus

Results

I don't have a problem with being proactive.
Being proactive means you are paying attention to the road ahead and the cars around you, so that you can cross the bridge at the right speed and at the right time. It doesn't mean you cross the bridge before you get there. It doesn't mean you move frantically with pointless action.

Being reactive means you are not paying attention, and wait until you go past the bridge, and then you have to turn back to cross it. I don't like it, because it's expensive, but sometimes it happens.

I do have a problem with pointless action.
Action should have a purpose.
Action should get results.
Some times we value activity over results, maybe because so many of our actions only result in smoke, noise and heat.
Some of us live life, as the bard said, like a tale told by an idiot (...full of sound and fury, signifying nothing).

Well designed and skillfully performed activities should be linked through proper processes and intermediate products to get valued results.
Valued to the customer.
Easier said than done.

Fungus

Politics

I suggest that Project Management gives us the tools to fight office politics. A thorough stakeholder analysis, should uncover some of the hidden agendas, that could then be adressed, and if requirements are balanced against the organizational goals, walls sould fall and feudal strife should become harmless. Ok. I am an optimist, but you see what I mean. What really frightens me is that The Project Management Office could fall in the wrong hands, and be used to support silo building and internal warfare in the search for power or whatever. "There lies Mordor" Fungus

Customer

Customer service is not the responsibility of one department. It is the responsibility of the Big Boss. Proper customer service adds more value than its cost. Proper customer service requires knowledge and understanding of customer's needs and expectations. It requires commitment, discipline and a lot of skill. Some CEOs don't have what it takes. That may be one of the reasons why the economy is like it is. Here, there, and everywhere. Fungus

Teamwork

The key, and probably the main challenge to build an energized team is a shared purpose. Something that is vital for every team member. - Build a better world - Save the whales - Find a cure for cancer - Get computer access for all children - Get the road free of snow.
The second hurdle is an agreed upon set of objectives.
What exactly do we want to do today (or this month)? How will we know we have done a good job?
The third challenge is a shared work focus. How are we going to do it.

Some purposes are not shared. If I feel that my boss's purpose is "a large salary and a golden parachute", I might end being among the 17% who are actively sabotaging his efforts.

Fungus

Purpose (clarity)

Maslow lists 14 "Being - Values" that are appreciated by self actualizing individuals.
1. Truth
2. Goodness
3. Beauty
4. Wholeness
5. Aliveness
6. Uniqueness
7. Perfection
8. Completion
9. Justice
10. Simplicity
11. Richness
12 Effortlessness
13 Playfulness
14. Self-sufficiency.

Of course, he explains and exemplifies further. ("The Farther Reaches of Human Nature", A. H. Maslow, 1971, pages 128 ss). When we talk about clarity of purpose, "The Purpose" would be to produce "good things" that excel in those 14 values, and "Clarity of Purpose" would be the ability to see --clearly-- that we must improve this world (by finding and producing good things).
How do we develop our own clarity of purpose? Well. It seems that we have to go through the first four steps of the pyramid (including finding friendship, true love and peer acceptance), and then we can start self-actualizing.

Sounds like a quest for Princess Leia, Frodo Baggins and Harry Potter does it not?

Fungus

Creatividad (Español)

Si tengo que escoger sólo un aspecto en el que los mexicanos nos distinguimos, me declaro por la creatividad. Los mexicanos no respetamos los imposibles y tenemos una cierta locura que nos ayuda a encontrar soluciones donde otros no encuentran nada. Nuestra creatividad es, claro, un arma de dos filos. Para que funcione se necesita disciplina y de esa no tenemos mucha, aunque ya el panorama ya está cambiando. De músico, poeta y loco, todos tenemos un poco. Fungus

Purpose (shared)

Let's suppose that you want to help an individual to self-develop in a multi-task technical environment (program or portfolio oriented), while he gets the results you want. Let's also suppose that the results you want are productivity, quality and volume. Now try this question: Why would the individual want to produce more volume with higher quality? In case he wants to do it, it will probably not be for your reasons, but for his reasons. So... telling him what you want may not be enough. You know what you want, why don't you ask him what he wants? Ask him about his own goals. And in doing so, show him that you care and you want to help him meet his goals, as they are consistent with yours. (win win) Fungus

Empowerment

It's difficult to kill the hen that lays the golden eggs. I reached the (presumably high and well paid) managerial position I hold by playing by the old system rules. The old system works for me, so why would I want to change it for a new game in which the younger generation will beat me? We (stakeholders) will only move to get something better than what we will leave behind. Why run the risk? I run the risk because I have a good answer to the "why?" question, and so do you, but some people out there have not even asked the question yet, so they resist. Fungus

Peter principle

Peter Principle seems to apply only in "X Theory" hierarchical organizations where employees do not have a say in their own development. Government bureaucracies are a good example of such an organization. It does not happen in "Y Theory", team based, customer oriented organizations, where people tend to seek responsibilities above their proven competence, but have the drive and support to develop the skills they need to succeed. Software development is no exception. Fungus

Stakeholders

We must take customers, suppliers and all other stakeholders into account.

Any quality oriented organization needs to acknowledge that its business environment is made of all people affected by the organization. In other words, all its stakeholders.

That's a big bunch, and it includes owners, managers, employees, customers, suppliers, government, society... the business environment. Spacecraft Earth, if you will.

If you agree with me on that, it follows that to fulfill stakeholders stated and unstated needs and expectations, you must understand them.
Needs and expectations change and only active change analysis and risk management will let you cope with that.

Fungus

Motivation

Long term vision keeps me up when I feel down.

I know what I want, and I know I'll never reach it. I like to feel that I am moving forward. "The wind in my face".

That's why I keep going. I try to laugh at my mistakes. That way I change my mind to a different level (as in Einstein's famous quote) and perceive the obvious opportunities.

After that, it's a "Just do it".

Fungus

Power

Why would I want everybody to do as I bid? If I were the owner of Absolute Truth, I would find a way to impose it on others, for they own good, like it or not. But I don't have the answers. I can only search for them. That's about that. What I would do is to answer: "why do I want everybody to follow the perspectives I like?" And when I found my own answer, I would ask if there is a reasonable (not magic) way to get what I need? What do I need to change in my world view to get what I need? Fungus

Knowledge

To learn a lot of things does not make you smart.

It only makes you know a lot of things.

If you are smart, you will use your knowledge wisely. If you are very smart, you will use your knowledge to improve your lot, and the lot of those you care for.

It has been said before that if you are very very smart, you will find that your best shot at happiness is to care for every person, animal, plant and rock.

Not because you're humble, but because you're smart.

Well. That's what I've heard, but I don't know. Fungus

Communications

Communications is always a problem, and it is never easily solved.

Every projet needs a communications plan. What you learn as you prepare that plan is more important than the plan itself.

Your plan should help you to: 1. Focus on business goals 2 Be clear about who needs to know what 3. Be sure they have the information available 4. Ask, don't tell 5. Be sensitive and respectful 6. Understand that "The Truth" is a myth... be practical.

And of course. Laugh at your own mistakes.”

Fungus