At work, we recently had a fairly significant success. The customer reported that the end result was good, they were pleased.
It took a lot of work to get there, much of it is not repeatable work.
Which brings me to the "kinda like."
Business processes are like gardening. Sometimes you have the small plot and harvest for beans, peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes and the like.
This is fine, and appropriate for the outcome. You won't get grapes this way.
If you want to grow grapes, you need to come at things a little differently. You can't plow over the garden and replant everything the next year.
So, when you are working through your processes, are you trying to reach orchard / vineyard level, or do you need to replot and replant every year?
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Working out
Quality is business is kinda like an exercise program.
Or maybe even good oral hygiene.
Or perhaps housekeeping.
All have a single thing in common: Discipline.
My daughter wakes up at 4AM. She has a couple tasks to perform: Dress, put her hair up, and eat breakfast. She does these and has time to help make mom's lunch and a few other things. She is out the door at 4:45 AM.
That's in the morning.
My daughter is 9.
What role do I play in this? Am I knocking on her door at 3:30 with the soft wake-up call? Is her mom pounding on the door at 3:50 with the last chance call to action?
No. Generally, we hear her tap on the bedroom door reminding us to get up and drive her to the rink.
She is a figure skater. It is what she loves to do. She also loves to draw, search for fairies, dress up cats and have fashion shows with her puppies. We nearly had a meltdown when she couldn't get on netflix the other day.
That didn't seem to match, did it? A motivated kid shouldn't want to watch movies on netflix all the time. They should be motivated and engaged all the time.
A kid is a kid. We help her, she learns stuff, and she keeps doing things. We encourage things we like, discourage things we don't, and try to level the field.
So, how does this match the business space? Do you know where your policies and procedures are kept? My kid knows where her skates are. Do you know the status of your projects? My kid knows what moves she is working on. Do you have a budget in place and are you tracking it? My kid knows what she is practicing and how much more she needs to do to have her routine ready.
What I am trying to say: If you are continuously fighting fires, you aren't gaining any momentum. It's because you don't have discipline. Stop fighting fires, work deliberately on a plan that establishes / re-establishes a foundation.
Working out 15 minutes on New Years Day is not going to get you ready for a marathon. It isn't even going to prepare you for a full day of yardwork.
Flossing the day after you have your annual cleaning isn't going to help your gums stay healthy and stave off heart disease.
Making the bed just after you wash the sheets isn't going to make the house ready when you have guests over.
Discipline.
Or maybe even good oral hygiene.
Or perhaps housekeeping.
All have a single thing in common: Discipline.
My daughter wakes up at 4AM. She has a couple tasks to perform: Dress, put her hair up, and eat breakfast. She does these and has time to help make mom's lunch and a few other things. She is out the door at 4:45 AM.
That's in the morning.
My daughter is 9.
What role do I play in this? Am I knocking on her door at 3:30 with the soft wake-up call? Is her mom pounding on the door at 3:50 with the last chance call to action?
No. Generally, we hear her tap on the bedroom door reminding us to get up and drive her to the rink.
She is a figure skater. It is what she loves to do. She also loves to draw, search for fairies, dress up cats and have fashion shows with her puppies. We nearly had a meltdown when she couldn't get on netflix the other day.
That didn't seem to match, did it? A motivated kid shouldn't want to watch movies on netflix all the time. They should be motivated and engaged all the time.
A kid is a kid. We help her, she learns stuff, and she keeps doing things. We encourage things we like, discourage things we don't, and try to level the field.
So, how does this match the business space? Do you know where your policies and procedures are kept? My kid knows where her skates are. Do you know the status of your projects? My kid knows what moves she is working on. Do you have a budget in place and are you tracking it? My kid knows what she is practicing and how much more she needs to do to have her routine ready.
What I am trying to say: If you are continuously fighting fires, you aren't gaining any momentum. It's because you don't have discipline. Stop fighting fires, work deliberately on a plan that establishes / re-establishes a foundation.
Working out 15 minutes on New Years Day is not going to get you ready for a marathon. It isn't even going to prepare you for a full day of yardwork.
Flossing the day after you have your annual cleaning isn't going to help your gums stay healthy and stave off heart disease.
Making the bed just after you wash the sheets isn't going to make the house ready when you have guests over.
Discipline.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Why the we aren't all still vikings
Took me a while to come up with the title. What I was going for: a sense of something that was successful and untamed. Perhaps "the perpetual entrepreneur at rest" or "Shiva's Dance" would have worked as well.
I'm a big fan of the problem solvers of the world. The people that see a problem, wrestle it to the ground, and solve it so it stays fixed. I'm amazing by what this individuals accomplish and how we grow as a society because of what they do.
I've recently gained a hefty appreciation for the "neat and tidy" people too. The ones that identify the problems and make sure the solutions don't get out of hand. The ones that say: crack the eggs before you add them to the cake or pass laws to make people wear helmets.
It is odd that I've only recently come to this appreciation. For years I have preached that music is made because we have the confines of notes, that paintings are wonderful because we've established the Primary and Secondary colors, that the rules help make room for creativity. But I am not sure that I was actually getting it. Hopefully I was able to help others realize what I was saying even if it wasn't fully sinking in for me.
At work, I have a series of processes and steps to follow. When I talk about how things are today and the problems we face, I frequently find out that the problem existed in the past and the way we do things today doesn't include the steps we took in the past to avoid the problem. That's a lot of words to say: we stopped testing it because it wasn't worth the time.
Only, it was worth the time. It was worth the time even when what was being tested was right. Even when nothing was wrong, having someone test it means someone has to know HOW to test it. It means there is a right and a wrong answer. It means there is Good and Bad. Not testing it begins to introduce the whole "Is it good enough?" question.
As a customer, are you okay with "good enough?"
Why would you sell something that was good enough and expect your customer to think it was okay? If you have dehumanized your customer to that state, is there any hope that you can recover and regain their trust? Do you frequently seek out people you don't trust to buy "good enough" stuff?
I don't. And, to go farther, I don't want my kid to have "good enough."
How does this happen?
Okay, back to the title: "Why we aren't all still vikings"
Because vikings didn't have enough structure and gave too much power to the powerful. That's all. I like to think I am one of those that deserves "things" because of the effort I have put in. BUT, I know I don't deserve "things" at the expense of other people. The vikings didn't grasp this concept and were unable to have sufficient discipline to extend their rule.
If you have an entrepreneur as a founder at your company, or a first generation heir that can't (or won't) follow rules because they feel the need to be a continuous "problem solver", you will run into trouble. I've seen it more than once, but I haven't seen where these individuals are massively successful yet. Vikings won battles, fought wars, and explored the world. Just think what they might have accomplished with a little Project Management, Process, and Systems Based Thinking. Oh, and Design of Experiments.
Oh, and Shiva's Dance? Because the destroyer follows in the wake of creation. If what you create isn't healthy and strong, if the solution you use today is just a quick fix, Shiva will pull that into Chaos to fast it will make your head spin. Just sayin'.
I'm a big fan of the problem solvers of the world. The people that see a problem, wrestle it to the ground, and solve it so it stays fixed. I'm amazing by what this individuals accomplish and how we grow as a society because of what they do.
I've recently gained a hefty appreciation for the "neat and tidy" people too. The ones that identify the problems and make sure the solutions don't get out of hand. The ones that say: crack the eggs before you add them to the cake or pass laws to make people wear helmets.
It is odd that I've only recently come to this appreciation. For years I have preached that music is made because we have the confines of notes, that paintings are wonderful because we've established the Primary and Secondary colors, that the rules help make room for creativity. But I am not sure that I was actually getting it. Hopefully I was able to help others realize what I was saying even if it wasn't fully sinking in for me.
At work, I have a series of processes and steps to follow. When I talk about how things are today and the problems we face, I frequently find out that the problem existed in the past and the way we do things today doesn't include the steps we took in the past to avoid the problem. That's a lot of words to say: we stopped testing it because it wasn't worth the time.
Only, it was worth the time. It was worth the time even when what was being tested was right. Even when nothing was wrong, having someone test it means someone has to know HOW to test it. It means there is a right and a wrong answer. It means there is Good and Bad. Not testing it begins to introduce the whole "Is it good enough?" question.
As a customer, are you okay with "good enough?"
Why would you sell something that was good enough and expect your customer to think it was okay? If you have dehumanized your customer to that state, is there any hope that you can recover and regain their trust? Do you frequently seek out people you don't trust to buy "good enough" stuff?
I don't. And, to go farther, I don't want my kid to have "good enough."
How does this happen?
Okay, back to the title: "Why we aren't all still vikings"
Because vikings didn't have enough structure and gave too much power to the powerful. That's all. I like to think I am one of those that deserves "things" because of the effort I have put in. BUT, I know I don't deserve "things" at the expense of other people. The vikings didn't grasp this concept and were unable to have sufficient discipline to extend their rule.
If you have an entrepreneur as a founder at your company, or a first generation heir that can't (or won't) follow rules because they feel the need to be a continuous "problem solver", you will run into trouble. I've seen it more than once, but I haven't seen where these individuals are massively successful yet. Vikings won battles, fought wars, and explored the world. Just think what they might have accomplished with a little Project Management, Process, and Systems Based Thinking. Oh, and Design of Experiments.
Oh, and Shiva's Dance? Because the destroyer follows in the wake of creation. If what you create isn't healthy and strong, if the solution you use today is just a quick fix, Shiva will pull that into Chaos to fast it will make your head spin. Just sayin'.
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