Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Nothing new here. Lack of planning still brings emergency responses and all sort of bad reactions.

I suppose we have to be reminded of this from time to time. There are various ways to say it like:

Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part

or

Your lack of planning is not my emergency

or, being blunt

Get your act together and stop bothering me

Sigh. Such are some of the things we encounter when working with others. Somewhere out there lurk monsters. Many of these monsters are small babies. Those small babies are growing while we aren’t watching. When we—or one of our colleagues—least expect it, out pounces the monster, and we have an emergency.

The key word in “we have an emergency” is “we.” Yes, we are in this together. We agreed to that when we stopped being me and started being we.

Aargh. I’m tired of “we.” I am returning to “me.” Maybe that is possible. Maybe that is understandable. Maybe it isn’t. I suppose I have to decide.

Have I planned for that decision or is it to be an emergency for someone else?

by Dwayne Phillips

Those who are supposed to do what I say are revolting. Rejoice. I have succeeded beyond my wildest dreams.

When I was 21, I was clueless at work. I had no idea what I was doing or was supposed to do when I walked in the building in the morning. These older folks were there. They knew what they were doing. They understood things that I didn’t know existed. Please, tell me what to do.

When I was 41, I was an expert. And that isn’t being arrogant. I had written several books and spoken at several conferences and I did know what I was doing.

Leaders had led me and taught me and—most importantly—taught me to learn constantly. They had pulled, pushed, twisted, and every-other-thing they could do to move me from the minion phase to the expert phase and … revolt.

Are your minions revolting? Congratulations. You’ve done your job and done it well.

by Dwayne Phillips

Hushed voices in the workplace and what they tell us about our workplace.

It happens around me—too often. Several persons near me in the great cubicle farm are talking in a “normal tone of voice.” Then the tone changes. They voices become hushed—almost whispers.

My “colleagues” have something to say and they don’t want me to hear it.

Sometimes there are personal, private conversations. Find the appropriate time and place for them.

The rest of the time? Sigh. What can we say about my workplace? Some persons don’t trust some other persons. Persons want to say something about other persons and don’t want the others to hear them. Persons are afraid what others will think of them when they hear what…

Speculation runs rampant. Trust? Transparency? Those are things for consultants to tout and use as sales points for their services. This is REALITY folks! People are afraid!

Let the boss know about this? No. Speak softly. The boss shouldn’t hear this. We don’t really want the boss to know what we think. Write a note on a scrap of paper and pass it under the table like we did in high school.

Like we did in high school? Like we did when we were in third grade?

Sigh.

Am I the boss? Am I the manager? Does this happen in my workplace? What am I doing to encourage this?

by Dwayne Phillips

Don’t like micro managers? Who does? Beware, however, the built-in excuses of the hands-off manager.

“I give you a task. I expect it to be done.”—the charge of the hands-off manager.

Who wouldn’t want to work for the person above? Freedom to use my own judgement and do what I think is right. Wow!

Beware, however, the built-in excuses contained in the above. Remember the conversation between Alice and the Chesire Cat (Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland):

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where—” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“—so long as I get SOMEWHERE,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”

Something from Somewhere may arise. Now the hands-off manager can exclaim, “What is this? What did you do? This is wrong? You have gone down the wrong path to the wrong Somewhere.”

When the hands-off manager gives a task without any details and “expects” it to be done, that manager is saying “I don’t much care where I want to get to. But I reserve the right to proclaim any destination as incorrect.”

Once the wrong destination arrives, the hands-off manager proclaims, “I expected you to do this right. I don’t have the time to manage this. You’re supposed to do this.”

The hands-off manager is assuming the role of Alice. The way to go is unknown, but the manager can judge the destination in any way on any day.

Don’t want to fall into this trap? Ask questions. Pull answers—in writing if possible. Don’t like to do this? Try to find another manager.

by Dwayne Phillips

Past sins? Past poor performance? That is good news. It means we correct mistakes and do better. We have hope for our future.

Good News:

• When we fixed things, we broke things
• When we changed things, we had unintended, bad consequences.
• We wasted money.
• We wasted time.
• We treated on another badly.
• We incarcerated the wrong persons.
• We seated some persons in the back of the bus.
• We only allowed some persons to vote.

This list could continue. This list started with a few local things that some of us did on projects at work. This listed ventured into a few things that we did as a nation and a culture.

Notice the past tense of the verbs. These things happened in the past. WE DID THESE THINGS in the PAST. Somewhere in time, we corrected these things. WE CORRECTED OURSELVES.

We showed the capacity to recognize and correct our mistakes. We still have that capacity. Hence, we have hope for our future.

by Dwayne Phillips

A reminder of some basics about life in America.

We have freedom of speech in America. Anyone can publish a newspaper or a blog or a … well, how long is the list?

This is a free country.

Want peace and quiet and tranquility? Want unanimous public opinion without fake news and hate speech? Go to … it is difficult to make the list without forgetting someone, but let’s start: China, Cuba, North Korea.

“Of course I’m not advocating removal of free speech and such…” Good. Don’t say another word. Well, of course you can say more, but think. If we regulate speech, we have to decide who “we” and “they” are and we may not like who “we” choose to label as “they.”

by Dwayne Phillips

If you want people to focus on the focal point, discuss nonsense first.

Rubbing spaghetti Play-Doh on a surfboard means nothing to no one. (At least I think it means nothing to no one. If someone out there has a strong feeling about it, please let me know.) It is the perfect topic for discussion in a class setting when something else is the thing we want to convey.

Two examples:

(1) I was attending a class on project management. We did a four-hour class exercise. The goal of the exercise was to demonstrate synergy, i.e., how groups of persons had better answers than any one person. At the end of the exercise the numbers clearly showed the point. No one, however, got the point. We—a group of project managers—were all discussing the project management questions and when the answers were right and wrong.

The topic used to show the point was close to us. We argued endlessly about it.

(2) I was attending a class on innovation. We did a two-hour exercise. The goal of the exercise was…well, I never did understand the goal of the exercise. The topic of the exercise was intelligence analysis. The class was full of professional intelligence analyst. Four hours after the two-hour exercise ended, the intelligence analysts were still arguing about the rights and wrongs of intelligence analysis. None of them got the point, and their arguing prevented the rest of us from getting the point as well.

The topic used to show the point was close to most of us. Most of us argued endlessly about it.

Teaching a class? Facilitating some sort of learning session? Have a point to make? Have a discussion to illustrate the point? Discuss nonsense. It will be easier for everyone to grasp the point.

by Dwayne Phillips

I forget the fundamental requirement of knowledge management. Maybe that was it.

I recently met a person who declared that she took great joy in formatting Microsoft Word documents. She loved they way she could align everything on the page and mis-align a few things in just the right places.

I had just met an expert in knowledge management.

This person knew how to organize information. This person knew how to organize and manage knowledge. Others would be able to find what they needed to do their jobs and simply make it through the day.

We have plenty of Microsoft Word documents where I work. That is one format. We have plenty of HTML files, and plenty of spreadsheets, and plenty of everything else.

We have no lack of knowledge.

The trouble we have is that we are we. We simply forget much of what we know, much of what we need, and when we need it.

That is the essence of knowledge management: put the knowledge where I can find it when I forget what I already know.

Of course I already know it. I created the Word or HTML or whatever file. And not only have I forgotten what I put in the file, I also forgot where I put it. I need persons who love to format things, organize things, and manage knowledge.

by Dwayne Phillips

Things, even food, are much easier to carry than people. What does that say about us?

Uber and others have discovered that it is far more profitable to carry meals than to carry the consumers of meals. People can be such a nuisance. We want the car to have the right odor, the right decor, no crumbs on the carpet (when did we start assuming that cars would be carpeted?), and all sorts of things we don’t even mention until they aren’t present.

Hauling food pays more than hauling persons. Sure, food is important (can’t live without it), but aren’t people more important?

What does this say about us? (1) Have we over-regulated and over-expected the transport of persons? (2) Have we under-regulated and under-expected the transport of food? (3) Have we ourselves become so much of “a pain” to one another that we are much happier without one another’s company?

I know little about (1) and (2), so let’s consider (3). A large sack of food in the passenger seat (note how we call it a “passenger” seat and not a “cargo” seat?) never complains, never comments, never bothers the driver. The sack of food also never thanks the driver. Does the passenger thank the driver beyond a quick obligatory mumble while exiting the vehicle?

The sack of food has few expectations of the driver. Does a human passenger have expectations of the driver? Wouldn’t we just be happier if the vehicle drove itself?

The driver has the life of the passenger in hand. That isn’t important? I guess not, and what does that say about us?

by Dwayne Phillips

Perhaps we can find enjoyment anywhere at any time. It is worth the attempt.

Several years ago I had several conversations with the late Jerry Weinberg, one of the best computing consultants we ever had. Jerry told me about how he played golf.

Jerry started playing the game most familiar to everyone. Use clubs, hit a ball, chase the ball around the course and all that. Jerry progressed to playing golf with the clubs, but without the ball. He enjoyed that game more than the usual. Jerry further progressed t playing golf without the clubs as well as without the ball. He would walk through the course and play an enjoyable round. You can guess the next progression—don’t even go to the course. Simply play a most enjoyable round of golf from anywhere at any time.

Alan Bundy is my father-in-law and is one of the great men I have known in my life. He is an avid, life-long angler (fishermen). He has told me about how he relaxes by standing in water and fishing. He also does this from anywhere at any time.

Hmm, perhaps there is something to this. Here is a short list of things that could be done anywhere at any time.

• write a novel
• direct a movie
• teach a class
• play guitar
• chat with a friend

The list could continue. The only limitations are my mind. I could add to the list anywhere at any time.