Project X Discussions

Time Management Part 1

Are you controlled by your Blackberry or Iphone?   Are you governed by your meeting manager?  Are you feeling productive?  Do you work in an open environment?  Do you feel you life is out of control?

Most of us these days are really controlled by our email, text messaging, instant messaging, and our calendar.  Most of us are distracted by these things and find it difficult to do much focused productive work that requires continuous concentration.

Can you avoid answering the phone or looking at an email or text message on your wireless device?  The challenge of time management is becoming increasing difficult as the sources of external distraction multiply.  In addition the pace of change is accelerating. 

Several years ago I really needed to clean up my garage but the task was overwhelming.   Although it was very high priority, I found myself busy on many other things.  I decided to use a different strategy.  I decided to spend one hour on Saturday cleaning the garage and then reward myself doing something I really liked.  I was absolutely amazed at the amount I accomplish in one hour.  I then decided to spend another hour on the next Saturday.  You would be amazed how quickly my garage got cleaned up.  This technique is the "Swiss Cheese Method' because to poke holes in the task until it is done.

Another time management principle that is very disarming is that if you have a high priority item that you do not want to do, you will become productive at everything else.  I guess that is call busy work.  I think we all have been there.

In order to make the best use of our time we need to use this valuable commodity wisely.  We all have twenty-four hours in every day and the challenge is how to use them to our best advantage. 

I will continue this discussion on future blogs.

Do You Have a Business Intelligence Strategy?

Most businesses these days get some sort of reports on how you business is performing.  However with things changing rapidly, different information is often needed.  What business questions do you have today?  Do you have a strategy for how these new questions will be addressed.  At Project X Ltd., we think that every organization needs a business intelligence strategy.  This strategy should answer the question about the approach to be used to answer new questions. 

This strategy must address the issue about how to respond quickly to changing business issues and provide timely answers to business questions.   Every organization will have a different strategy because of many factors.  The maturity of your infrastructure and the volatility of your business will be two key factors.  In addition to internal operations, the strategy must also address accessing external data about your customers, competitors, and suppliers.

Do you know how you are doing on a trip by looking in the rear view mirror?  Every organization needs to know how it is doing.  When I ask many business people how do they know how they are doing, I either get a blank stare or I am told about that their financial reports tell them all they need to know.  I think to have a business intelligence strategy based on financial reports is like looking in the rear view mirror.  I suspect each person knows much more than just the financial reports but maybe they have nothing formal. 

I think most of the business intelligence that we get is based on our knowledge of our business and our experience.  Even if we have this approach to business intelligence, I suggest we should have this formulated as a shared strategy.  

Clearly every organization wishes to be profitable but our day to day decision are based on an informed strategy about our position in the market.   An amazing amount of intelligence and information is out there and ways of sharing this information with key people is part of a business intelligence strategy. 

Every organization has a need for more business intelligence and has some degree of readiness to improve.  Project X Ltd. is ready to help any organization to develop a strategy to improve their business intelligence.  We strongly recommend start with some rapid results in the context of a longer term strategy.  As the strategy demonstrates return, then you can invest more.  If you do not get return, revisit the strategy.  Too many people create a big project that goes well beyond the readiness and capability of the organization. 

A critical component of a successful business intelligence effort is a sound and realistic strategy.  One important factor is the readiness of the organization.  We often hear that the technological challenge is the key.  I think that the organizations readiness to share information and act as a team is far more important than the technical issues.  However both are important.  A good business intelligence strategy must be careful not to take te organization to a place with technology that the business is not capable of using intelligently.  (pardon the pun)

    

Readiness

I mentioned previously how important high quality documents were for us at Gellman, Hayward.  However to our great frustration, we would produce a high quality report for a client and receive high praise but nothing would change. 

In the mid 70's  Harvey discovered an article by Bob Schaffer and showed to me.  Having read it, I flippantly said “Clearly he does not understand consulting he does not talk about ‘the report’.”  However the article was very profound and insightful.  The basic theme was that nobody does anything they are not ready to do (Readiness).  Thus the praise we received for our report was a method the client used to putting distance between himself and us.  We then realized what we really wanted to deliver was change, not a high quality report.  The report could be a tool but not the product.  Readiness is a simple but very profound concept.  The concept applies to the consultant as well as the client.  Many consultants have difficulty with their egos and really want praise even though they know it likely means a failed consulting job.  I always had difficulty with that aspect of readiness.  This event dramatically changed the way we delivered our consulting services.

Although we continued to produce quality documents, we paid much more attention to the consulting dynamics.  I was so excited about this new revelation that I decided to make a readiness assessment at the first opportunity.  I was asked to propose on a piece of work and set about to assess readiness.  I discovered the assessment was much more difficult than the concept.  I did not have a clue and realized that there is more to this concept than a simple idea.  

Over the years, as I attempted to apply the concept, I realized the difficulty of making a readiness assessment.  I have many stories of readiness assessments and my lack of readiness to accept the reality of many situations.  In the process of assessing readiness, the readiness of the consultant is just as important as the readiness of the client.  So many times, I want to apply a previous experience to a new situation and do not pay attention to the specific details of the current situation.

One of the things that I look for in any consulting situation is early successes for the client.  I believe early success increases the client’s readiness to take on more change.  I think that is true but often the client wants a proposal for the big fix.  Often I will try to propose both, a longer term strategy and some early wins.  I suspect in some circumstances the idea of early wins scares the client particularly if the readiness for change is low.   A better strategy might be to propose what the client wants and as the work progresses, I can find some early wins in the context of the longer term strategy.  These early wins will give the client courage to tackle some of the more difficult changes.  Once we are into the project, we can much more reliably assess the client’s readiness for change.

A simple of example of a statement of lack of readiness is a person saying “I should …….”   One of my teachers taught me that that is a statement of bad intentions.   He taught me to hear an additional phrase at the end, “but I am not gonna.”   Another fellow said, “People are full of shoulds.” 

Over the years I have learned not to jump to conclusions about readiness and remain skeptical.  One of my rules of thumb is to watch the feet, not the words.  Readiness is demonstrated by actions, not words.

Everybody Deserves Respect

One of the things that was special about Harvey was his respect for everybody no matter what their role or station.  He believed that everybody had a special role.  He felt very passionately about this and my first experience with this was with the support staff.  He watched very carefully how people treated support staff and demanded they be treated with respect.  He certainly modelled this behaviour in everything that he did.

I am sure all the support staff at Gellman Hayward felt very important and special.  He also demonstrated this with the maintenance staff in the office building.  They had such a positive feeling for him they came to his retirement party in the office.  He also knew about all our children and my children all remember Harvey. 

This characteristic is most interesting because Harvey was not a warm and demonstrative person.  However there was no question he was quite fanatical about everyone deserving respect.

All the support staff in our office building experienced the respect of Harvey.  The cleaning and the maintenance staff in our building all knew Harvey and he knew something about each one of them.  For many of us, these people are transparent but not for Harvey.  He knew something about them all.

When a reporter came to interview Harvey, one thing I noted is that Harvey would find out something about this person was and established a relationship with them.  He sincerely took and interest in each and every person he came in contact with.  He was always ready to help and support people. 

One lasting image I have of Harvey, the President of our firm, is him cleaning up the coffee stains and coffee mugs in our kitchen in the office.  He was a man of service with respect for others

Future Open Source Economics and the Web

Just looked at an interesting TED presentation by Yochai Benkler on open source economics.  Little dated but interesting. http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/yochai_benkler_on_the_new_open_source_economics.html

What is in your EDW?

I have been discussing with Graham the problem of finding out what information is in the data warehouse.  The general solution is to store some information about what is in the warehouse somewhere.  This data about the data is often called Metadata.   Often no rules exists about the structure of the metadata and people construct metadata using spreadsheets which help them find the data in the warehouse and provides definitions of the data.

The difficulty with this approach is that it is often designed by the person constructing the metadata.  I am a firm believer that we need to have some rules and structure around the metadata.  Also we need some simple ways of searching the metadata.

The first step is to propose a standard way of describing the metadata.  The format of the metadata needs to be very flexible to allow for different descriptions for different types of data.  A simple design is really key and one that the business analyst and business user will understand and be able to use.  Another key factor is ease of maintenance.  The data stewards should be able to maintain this metadata easily.  The next factor is to find a simple search tool, like Google, to search the metadata and return back the information quickly in an accessible form.

The big effort is to populate the metadata repository.  I suggest that initially new data being added will be the first in the repository.  As the metadata repository evolves and is being used by more data stewards, the older data will gradually be added.   One other route would be to extract data from metadata spreadsheets and populate the repository.

The major objection to starting to construct the metadata repository is the size of the effort in describing everything in the data warehouse.   I strongly suggest that you start with one project and, instead of a spreadsheet, populate a metadata repository.  Once we have this repository, test the concept and the design and only move on when the repository is working well.

Hidden Factors

In my search for the meaning of life, the universe and everything, I must keep reminding myself that things are not always as they appear.  This fact is really evident in business and I refer to them as the "hidden factors".  These are the items that people do not reveal but are major influencers.  These are both personal things and broader issues. 

If a person has a substance abuse problem or marital difficulties, you may never know but the issue will affect everything.  If the person is about to lose his job or had a seriously bad appraisal by his boss, how might they behave with you?   If the person has had bad experiences in dealing with other people in your role, for example salesperson or consultant, they will be very guarded.  Underlying prejudices of all types can be very insidious.  What happened just before you met with this person?   Things are often not as they appear. 

I find that if I keep this idea in my awareness I am less likely to jump to conclusions that might lead me down the wrong path.  This idea brings to my mind one of Harvey's favourite saying, "I am confused, help me understand."  It works miracles if the statement must be authentic expression of your feelings.  However if we remember the hidden factors, we are often confused. 

One of the dangers in coping with hidden factors is our discomfort in dealing with uncertainty.  The main coping mechanism in dealing with uncertainty is to fill the gap with speculation and guesses.  The strategy works as long as you are ready to change your mind as facts appear.  I notice often I get so attached to my guesses that I disregard facts.  Ignoring reality is never a good consulting technique.

Why Jim Blogs

I expect many people who read my blogs wonder why I write what I write.   For sometime I wondered myself and did it because it felt right.  I think I now know why.  I love to help people and guide them along the path to effectiveness and success.  My intention is provide as much help as possible from my many years of experience in the IT consulting business.  I started consulting in the late 60's as a programmer and learned from my experience and other people lots of lessons.  I would like to share these lessons with as many people as possible.  The Project X Ltd. blog is a great opportunity for me to share.  The idea fits perfectly with our values.  Project x Ltd. believes that if we work together and cooperate everybody wins.  I think we are very special in that way. 

I am reading a book called "Love is a Killer App" by Tim Sanders which helped me understand why I blog.  He really takes a quite a different philosophy towards business than most people and it really resonated with me.  The idea is that love in business is defined as all the things you do to help others grow and be effective.

One of my credo's in my business life is always answering the question "What have you learned lately?"  I love learning new slants on old ideas and new approaches to common problems.  I also know that the best way so solidify my learning is to share these ideas with others.  If you can explain the key ideas to somebody else, my knowledge becomes more solid.  I find that knowledge and useful ideas are expanding rapidly and so many ideas are so much more accessible these days.

I belong to business book discussion group called the Senge Group.  We meet each month to discuss books that one of us thinks would be interesting.  We started the group many years ago discussing Peter Senge's book "The Fifth Discipline", that still remains as one of the best business books.  The discussion really helps us all understand this important book about creating a learning organization.   We have read and discussed many books since and I find the group very stimulating and helps expand my understanding.  I strongly recommend we all form such groups and commit to meeting regularly at a time convenient to the members.  The members need to give the group some real priority in their lives because we all very busy people.  I suggest you form a group of like minded people who do not work together and meet to discuss the concept of a discussion group.  If you cannot form a group, find at least one other person you can share good book titles.

I blog because I want to share my ideas and experiences, expand and consolidate my own ideas.  

I would welcome comments and feedback.       

Editing and Proofreading

Harvey believed that every document we produced must error free and high quality.  In the days of the typewriter, that was no mean feat.  We did not even have white-out on our letters or published reports.  Everybody in the firm supported that position. 

Harvey got us all to be believers.  In order to achieve that level of quality, Harvey got the firm to institute a procedure where every document that went out the door had two editors and two proof readers.  I have yet to figure how Harvey got us to accept this procedure but one thing he did was model this behavior.  He had a game he would play with  proofreaders.  He would give the reader a quarter for every error that was found.  

The bigger challenge was to get two editors to review your document.  The editor’s job was to make sure the document delivered its intended message in a clear manner.  The difficulty with this process was that most of us attached our ego to our creations and find the feedback difficult to accept.  However we got to the point that we looked forward to getting our documents back with red marks all over it.  To get the firm to get to that level was really a challenge.  For us we fervently believed in this concept.   We achieve something really special.  It was a standard procedure that nobody questioned.  His point was that the only visible thing the remains when we leave the client was our documents.  Thus quality of our documents was evidence of the quality of our work.  I think this fact is like Tom Peters saying in “In search of Excellence”, people judge how well an airline maintains their engines by the cleanliness of the flip down trays. 

I must also mention the downside of this search for perfection discouraged me from doing much writing earlier in my career.  I have now decided that passing on my experiences and learning is more important than the prose being perfect.

The Best Interest of the Client

Another saying which I mentioned previously but deserves its own note is "What is in the best interest of the client?"

Often when I had a tough client situation and was not quite sure what to do I would have a discussion with Harvey.  He always listened carefully and always ask the above question.  Of course it is a simple question but not simple to answer.  A discussion always followed about who was the client and how did we determine "best interest".  The discussion was always helpful and I always came away will a plan of action.  I do not remember Harvey making many suggestions but the session was productive.  He usually just asked really good questions.  Many of Harvey's associates still remember the question and use it to help in difficult client situations.

I would like to make this idea more concrete.  I had a potential client who wanted to embark on a full scale IT Strategic Plan and they wanted me to propose on the project.  Based on my initial assessment I concluded they were not ready for such a plan.  The prospect of a big project was very tempting but the organization clearly had no confidence in their IT department.   I proposed an alternative approach to help the IT department gain the confidence of the organization.  We would then move forward on a IT Strategic Plan.  Although the initial engagement was much smaller, we were able to build confidence in the IT organization and later move forward with an ambitious plan with the support of senior management.  I was very pleased that I was able to act in the best interest of my client.

Many consulting firms in the IT business these days propose massive transformation project for their clients.  These projects involve millions of dollars and take several years to provide benefits.  Although these systems may be necessary to transform the organization I have a real concern that the patient may die in the operation.  I believe that these projects are often more in the interest of the consulting firm than the client.  With more creativity and less of a big bang, many organizations can take an approach that produces results more quickly and helps the organization change.  Of course the project design is more complex but often is in the best interest of the client.

I think these projects can really deliver value early and still support the longer term strategy and the larger project goals.   However I am baffled by why so many organizations take on these huge projects that are very high risk and huge dollars without attempting to also provide some short term gains.

I invite your ideas and comments.

Commander's Intent

"No plans survive contact with the enemy."  The military have discovered that the plans that were made in detail to think through all the issues  can change radically in the heat of battle.  In the 1980's they added an element to the planning called the Commanders Intent (CI).  This was a short succinct statement that help the people under the commander know the overall intent and make decision in the heat of battle which supported the CI.  In business, I believe the same principle applies.  If you know your leaders intent, you can make decisions that support the intent even if the actions were not in the plan.  We make lots of decisions everyday which need to fit with our commander's intent.

At Project X Ltd., we have a CI which expresses itself in the phrase "Always act in the best interest of the client.'  In every situation, this intent gives us guidance on how to act.  I do not mean to imply that the solution is easy but at least the intent is clear and memorable.  

Another which we keep in the front of our mind is "Business Value Through Rapid Results."  This Commander's Intent is always on our mind as we work on the business and IT challenges which face us daily.   We have frequent ad hoc meetings looking for ways of creating breakthroughs for our clients on projects.   I find the idea really helps in our decision making.     

The real key with the CI is that is a simple message that will be remembered under pressure and will be helpful in making decisions.  I have found in my experience this phrase is quite helpful.

Many plans in business do not transmit the CI in a simple, memorable and practical terms.  Many organization issue CI messages that people who are doing the work find it difficult to use as a basis for decision making.  For example, "increasing shareholder value" or "increasing the firms profitability by X%", neither of these will help the person dealing with customer complaint or fixing some problem on a production line.  They certainly will not have guidance from that intent.   However if the people in the particular area could translate that into an intent for their area or department then it might stick.

One example is the story on Sony in the early days of transistors.  Sony was struggling to find its niche and was building rice cookers and many other things.  One fellow decided to give the company the challenge of "Building a pocket-able radio."  At the time radios were a big piece of furniture and the vision was considered impossible.  The intent was clear and launch Sony on a journey to leadership in the electronics business. 

JFK's intent to have a man on the moon walk on the moon and return safely within the decade is an amazing example of CI.

Can you think of great examples of Commander's Intent?  What is your intent?    

   

Harvey's Saying "The Client is King"

Do you have a simple operating philosophy or principle that you live by? 

I had a business partner, Harvey Gellman, who was a really clear thinker and liked to keep things simple.  We were in a consulting business together since the 60's and the saying he kept repeating was "The Client is King". .

At that time it sounded ridiculous and impractical.  People would say "what about profit?" or "you got to be kidding, that is really stupid".  The saying sounded too simple to be practical.  His point was clearly that you have to put the client first.  Everything else is secondary.  I find it difficult to recall how ridiculous that sounded at the time because now it is really obvious, at least for me.. 

We have come a long way in our thinking about customer service since then.  However I wonder how many of us practice putting the client first.  The point Harvey was making is that the only real asset most consultants have is their client and they must be your primary focus.   

At that time I was just learning the consulting business and I often would go to Harvey with a client problem.    Harvey was a really clear thinker and liked to keep things simple.  The question he would ask me was "What is in the best interest of the client?"  Such a simple question but not one that is easy to answer.  It always helped.  So putting the client first, and other issues secondary always worked for me.

I wonder why this principle is so difficult for many businesses to put into practice.  I think most businesses think they are in the business of selling some product or service and spend all their time trying to sell more services or making more profit.  Most people are trying to sell the latest feature or the latest idea.  Rather than being customer focused, they become product focused. 

Most businesses measure sales and profits and rarely measure customer satisfaction.  They measure the customers they lose but do they know why.  Were they acting in the best interest of the customer?  In the volume selling business, I think everybody assumes the price is the determining factor.  I believe that going the extra mile for the customer is the key to success.     

Another problem might be that the best interest of the customer is a very intangible thing.  In comparison, the product is very tangible and can be thought about in a concrete way.  If we really care about the customer and their interests,  we might behave quite differently.

So Harvey’s simple saying,.”The client is king”, is still very relevant and still a challenge today.  Does your operating philosophy involve your customer?  Do you have a simple guiding principle?

Comments welcome. 

Making a Message Stick The Shreddies Example

Shreddies had a problem.  Many people still liked their product but they were losing market share in the competitive world of breakfast cereal.  How to freshen up the message? 

Somebody decided that they could re-market the squares as diamonds.  They test marketed the idea in one market area and it was so successful that they cut the trial short and did a major introduction.  Shreddies market share leaped by 18%.  How amazing is that!  The whole idea captured major media attention, which is priceless.

This is a great example of simple message that really stuck.  People realize that it is just simply looking at the product differently but they came back to a product they already liked.  Now the question is "Do you like squares better than diamonds?" 

I think the campaign was quite ingenious and the people were not insulted.  I think the characteristic that made this stick was that it was unexpected and got people's attention.  Also the message was simple and very concrete, with a little mystery thrown in for good measure.

Data Governance Part 10 Introducing Data Governance

Successful introduction of data governance is really key to making the overall project successful.  The activity of data governance in practical terms is really not new to most organizations but the word is new.

Most organizations have created discipline around the rules governing who adds and changes data and data definitions in a single system.  An order entry system has all kinds of rules and discipline about who is authorized to make changes in the data definitions and rules.  Knowledge about how these disciplines work for these systems is key to making data governance work for the data warehouse.  The difference with a data warehouse is that the data provided comes from multiple systems.  The responsibilities must be created out of the existing organization. 

Before we add complexity of conflicts to the data definitions, a great first step would be to find out who are the data stewards for the systems feed the warehouse.  In many cases this responsibility has been defined and that person will likely be the identified data steward.   I think an important first step would be to identify these people in a data governance data base.  

Let us take an example from health care, wait time is big issue and the definition has provoked much discussion.  The important first step is to identify who are the data stewards for the existing tracking systems for the various systems tracking wait time.  At that point, we then can initiate some discussion with this group about rules and definitions.  Without this dialog with people with knowledge and responsibility, no progress can be made.  Often we get distracted by the tools we can use and spend too little time working with the key data stewards. 

In the context of a longer term development of data governance, we need to be very careful to build on what exists within the current organization and acknowledging the roles of key people.  What works in one organization will not work for another.  We need to carefully design a process that fits with each organization.  

Making a Message Stick Part 2 Keep it Simple

Do you recall the expression "Keep It Simple Stupid,"  the KISS principle.  One thing that all messages that stick have in common is that they are simple and easy to understand.  A sticky message is something we can understand quickly. 

When you are writing for a busy person, the message must be delivered in the first sentence and if it is of interest the person will read on.  These days they are called "sound bites."  These words are designed to get your attention and relate to things that are meaningful to you. 

Newspaper reporters write the story in a way that gets the key message in the headline and the first paragraph.  Then the article will give more details in the body of the article.  If the initial piece does not interest you then you will not read on.

However simple does not mean that the message is not profound and important.   Many people who are trying to deliver a message think that the message is so important that to make it simple would be misleading.  I recall recently being in church and the priest was talking about mercy and encouraging us to exercise mercy.  I found that I had no idea what he meant.  Mercy is certainly not a simple concept.   I do recall his words but have no idea of the message.

To make a complex issue simple and understandable takes a lot of work and careful use of words.  Considering the essence of your message and working on the first few sentences is critical.  I recall reading that Hemingway spent more time working the initial sentence than any other part of the book.  How many of us recall the words "It was the best of times and the worst of times."  Dickens certainly new how the communicate an idea simply.  

After you have written something, go back and review the first sentence and consider if you have expressed the essence of your idea in a simple way.  You can provide more details in the body of the piece but make sure the first sentence works. 

The opposite of simple is an academic paper.  The words and ideas are designed to be only accessible to the most determined.  The person writing the article or paper must think that to be intellectually honest the writing must express the complexity of the problem.     

My partner, Harvey Gellman, would say to us often, "I am a simple man so please make it simple for me."  He continually challenged us to keep our message simple so that people will understand and remember our message.  I suggest we all work on keeping our message simple if we want it to stick.  

However simple is good but not enough.  Future blogs will reveal more principle of making a message stick.  

Making a Message Stick Part 1

Do you know why you can complete the phrase "A stitch in time ----------------" ?  Why does that saying stick? 

Harvey Gellman used a phrase that everybody who worked with him will recall "The Client is King."

One that sticks for me about consulting is "What is in the best interest of the client?"

Why do some ideas stick and others never get remembered?  

I have been researching how communicate ideas and am fascinated by some of the things I have learned.  

At our golf course we have been trying to get people to put the rakes a certain way in the bunkers.  Nothing seemed to work.  Then somebody created a simple sketch of where the rakes should be placed in the bunkers and posted it.  One place it was posted was above the urinals in the men's locker room.  Now the rakes are rarely misplaced.  Why? 

 Word pictures that communicate ideas in a ways that people can relate is another concept.   A man who had abandoned by his family for a younger woman got a letter from his daughter.  The letter said she and her mother were driving their family car,that he used to like but was now showing its age, down their street when it was struck by her dad driving in a new car.  The family was badly hurt and had to go to the hospital and will take a long time to recover.  The man was so stuck by the message that he returned home and repaired the damage.  This word picture was effective when all other ways of communicating with the man failed.   Why?

Do I have your attention?  In future blogs, I will pursue this idea further and give you some concrete and practical ideas.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team Discussion Part 3

One of the things that can really bring a team together is adversity.  I think we have all been in difficult situations with others and the experience of the team pulling together is something we will never forget.  When we first formed our consulting company, survival was the thing that pulled the team together and it was a marvelous experience.  Later when survival was not as much of an issue, I think we were not as much of a team. 

When we are in the heat of the moment, we can find it hard to appreciate the experience  but on reflection we realize how great it was.  As the book points out, working as a team does not mean we all agree but that we share our views, our views are respected.  When the team then decides, everyone works to support the decision.  I think peak performance comes in these moments. 

We also must hold each other accountable and support each other. 

These crises really bring out the best in a team.  I wonder if we need these things to really create a team.  Once the team has pulled together and succeeded, the next challenge is to keep the team functioning as a team instead of reverting to old habits.  We all need to remember "life is a journey not a destination."

Customer Care

The last 5 months have been a complete blur to me as we have gone through some growth and are working on a fantastic couple of engagements.  I have been a lot more present than normal hoping to ensure client success and satisfaction.

This week though my Apple Macbook Pro was giving me some grief on the big front panel by the mouse pad.  When I typed, it clicked the mouse. 

So I sent a service request to our new IT support desk.  They responded immediately with the steps to deal with it.  So of we went to the Apple store near by for service (as I had bought this, we decided to go together to ensure speedy service and choices).

Booked online an appointment with a tech two days prior.  They asked me to be there 5 minutes early.  Got there.  Was first in the queue.  The guy went through my issues, poked the computer and said.  'We will need to replace the front bezel.  Take one day.  Let me check on whether we have the part.'  He didn't, but he made sure I could still use the machine and then ordered the part, walked me through what would happen and then told me 'no charge'.  This all took me less than 15 minutes and gave a good answer.

This was handled so well and smoothly I am really happy with the process and look forward to a known next step and resolution.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team Discussion Part 2

One of the most compelling ideas in the book is the concept of team work.  The example used in the book is a basketball team.  If you have a really good player but he does not care if the team wins or loses but how many points he makes, he really is not helping the team.  I understood the concept in the team sport where the measurement of success of the team is easy to measure.  Moving the idea into business teams, the key really is to create agreement on the meaning of winning and how to keep a team score as opposed to individual scores.

In the last blog I talked about the challenge of the consulting firm we formed many years ago.  We were all practicing consultants and measured our individual revenue and sales contribution.  The difficulty was measuring the success as a team.  We certainly evaluated each partner on their own performance and did that well I believe.  However I am not sure we worked well on the common goal.  The difficulty was we did not have that clear measure of the team score.   Particularly in consulting organizations and many professional firms, the firm is a collection of individuals who are highly skilled and working on their own practice.  The senior people often have juniors working with them but rarely do the partners work together on anything but overall management issues.   

We had a code word for our problem and we called it "overall management."  Based on the above analysis. we were not far from the mark.  From the book, we had a problem with "team 1." 

I am now wondering what we could have done differently.  I wonder if the partners were evaluated more on the overall performance of the firm and less on the individual performance, would we have performed more like a team?   Each one of the partners was more focused on their team and not on the success of the "team one."    I think the partners were committed to the success of the firm in their own way but did not know how to solve the "team one" issue.

How many times in a team effort we focus on the shortcoming of one member rather than treating it as a team problem? 

Applying the idea from the book are really a challenge, I will continue to ponder these issues and write more later.  I welcome any comments or thoughts. 

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team Discussion Part 1

This blog is a continuation of my discussion of the ideas in the book.  See my first blog on this subject  http://blog.pxltd.ca/2009/04/the-five-dysfunctions-of-a-team-introduction-unfinished.html

I have been thinking about the book and how the lessons could be applied to my previous experiences.  Several years ago we formed a consulting firm and we did very well for several years and I think the partnership became dysfunctional.  After reading the book, I think one of the problems was that we did not share a common goal.  We were a highly talented group of individuals who wanted to further our own goals.  

In the book, at each of the team building sessions the new CEO introduces the session with the challenge for the executive team, a highly talented group of people who were under performing their competition.   The CEO kept reminding the team that their challenge was to take leadership in their market.  

So what went wrong with our consulting firm?  Initially after we formed the firm, survival was a common goal.  As we became more successful and the partnership matured, each partner was pursuing his own practice without much thought to the overall success of the firm.  I think each person's assumption was that if I can be successful, the firm will be successful.  We were a bunch of people building our own practices.  

We had some common values and did quality consulting work and served our clients well.  The code word for our problem was "overall management."  I now see that likely we did not share a common goal and wanted to develop our own parts of the business.  

So what might we have done differently?  At the time we did try some team building exercises but they were of the type that took us out of our environment and did some good exercises.  The difficulty we had was translating the lessons into our work environment.  

I think some stronger leadership on the working on our common goal and making some hard decisions about people who did not share the common goal.   I wonder if we had read the book and worked through some of the dysfunctions of the team would things have turned out differently.

I encourage all organizations to take the ideas from the book seriously and treat the challenge of building a team a a work in process.   

I welcome peoples comments and reactions to the book.