Boosted Quips from Sinking Ships

OK, OK... so the title shows I'm a bit punchy on a Sunday night.  It's been a roller-coaster-of-a-weekend-from-circumstances-well-beyond-my-control-but-I-decided-to-make-the-best-of-it-anyway past couple of days.

That's still not preventing me from sending out a huge THANK YOU to Michael Krigsman from that Titanic-induced blog, Rearranging The Deck Chairs.  I've referenced Michael before, and if you have not had the chance to read his blog, his wit and wisdom while analyzing project failure is head and shoulders above the rest.  While many choose to whine and wallow in the world of project failure, Michael picks it up, turns it around, dissects it, puts it under a microscope, holds it down, beats it up, steals its lunch money, and then posts it on his blog for all to see.

The reason for my kudos is Michael's recent review of Race Through The Forest - A Project Management Fable.  Some excerpts from his post:

Race Through the Forest offers many project management lessons, using an unusual writing and teaching approach. Instead of being a dry project management textbook, it is written as a short novel — in fact, the book is subtitled A Project Management Fable. This novel is carefully crafted to present project management issues in a readable, light, and engaging format.

Along the way, Timothy seamlessly weaves in project management lessons, teaching through an engaging and easy-to-read writing style. In a sense, the book is similar to a business school case study only on a larger scale. Timothy is an expert in the field and I enjoyed reading the book.

Thanks again, MIchael... I appreciate the great assessment.  (And welcome back to the blogosphere after your summer "off"... it's been awesome to read your posts again.)

Name Your Game Ball

Fall is always a sport-lovers overload.  The second baseball's last pitch is thrown out, basketball begins.  Overlaying all of this is the ever-intense football season.  And that's just at the professional level.  If you add in college and high school sports, one can seriously overdose on anything where there's a score and ball of some sort.

Hmmm... sort of sounds like office politics.  The only problem being, we often don't know the score (until the game is over) and we're scratching our heads trying to figure out what the game ball is.  While surfing over blogs recently, I stumbled across the blog of a young professional woman named Michelle, who was bemoaning a burgeoning drama in her workplace, all because she disagreed publicly with another coworker over the planning of an event.  In her own words:

That’s what sparked this. I didn’t fling poo – I disagreed in a non-warm, non-fuzzy way. I intended the email to express my displeasure at the hour long discussion we had about this issue being ignored. It has become a federal case – she went whining to the director. We now all have to sit down together and talk it out. WHAT? Just because we don’t like each other shouldn’t mean that we can’t work together on this one project.

Wow... what an interesting dilemma.  Michelle was blindsided because she didn't realize there was a game brewing.  What's more, she didn't realize that she appeared to start this game by her public disagreement.  That's an interesting aspect about politics, though.  Often, the victims of office politics and turf wars unwittingly begin the game by throwing out the game ball.  The other "players" pick up that ball and tend to run roughshod over the initiator.  An email, a comment, a simple request... each of these can snowball into a major drama.

But what is the game ball of office politics?  That's a critical question you have to answer.  Every political game centers around manipulating something.  In general, there are three categories:

Resources - dollars, budgets, staff-power, floor space, equipment

Information - data, perceptions, innuendo, reports, availability vs. privacy

People - relationships, reporting structures

And it doesn't have to fall into one category.  The most complex turf wars generally involve components from two or all three categories.  Your trick, as a budding savvy politician is to first figure out what the game ball is... what is being manipulated to make your work life challenging.  Obviously, resources can be one of the easier "game balls" to resolve, as this is dealing more with tangible items.  In Michelle's case, a "people game ball" (disagreement) has morphed into a "resource game ball" (budget for additional resources at an event).  That can happen.

So... what's your game ball?  And what are you going to do about it?

I Trust You'll Treat Her Well

As a project manager, I sometimes get a little sad at the end of a project, when it's time to pass the baton to some nameless, faceless functional manager who will take over ownership of "my baby" and try to manage it from here on out.  That feeling, however, is dwarfed by the thought of sending my child to school, and that feeling is at its amplified worst on the child's first day of Kindergarten.  (That was last year... I'm still recovering.)  This essay by Dan Valentine (modified ever so slightly) states those feelings better than I could ever put into words:

World-

I bequeath to you today one little girl in a crisp dress... with two blue eyes... and a happy laugh that ripples all day long... and a batch of light brown hair that bounces in the sunlight when she runs.  I trust you'll treat her well.

She's slipping out of the backyard of my heart this morning and skipping off down the street to her first day of school.  And never again will she be completely mine.  Prim and proud, she'll wave a young and independent hand this morning, and say good-bye, and walk with little lady steps to the nearby school house.

Gone will be the chattering little girl who lived only for play, the delightful little child who roamed the yard like a proud princess with nary a care in her little world.  Now she will learn to stand in lines... and wait by the alphabet for her name to be called.  She will learn to tune her little girl ears for the sound of school bells and for deadlines... She will learn to giggle and gossip... and to look at the ceiling in a disinterested way when the little boy across the aisle sticks out his tongue.  Now she will learn to be jealous... and now she will learn how it is to feel hurt inside... and now she will learn how not to cry.

No longer will she have time to sit on the front porch steps on a summer day and watch while an ant scurries across a crack in the sidewalk.  Nor will she have time to pop out of bed with the dawn to kiss lilac blossoms in the morning dew.  Now she will worry about "important things"... like grades... and what dresses to wear... and whose best friend is whose.  Now she will worry about the little boy who pulls her hair at recess time... and staying after school... and which little girls like which little boys.

And the magic of books and knowledge will soon take the place of the magic of her blocks and dolls.  And she'll find new heroes.  For five full years I've been her sage and Santa Claus... her pal and playmate... her parent and friend.  Now (alas) she'll learn to share her worship and adoration with her teachers (which is only right).  No longer will her parents be the smartest and the greatest in the world.

Today, when the first school bell rings, she'll learn how it is to be a member of a group... with all its privileges and, of course, its disadvantages, too.  She'll learn in time that proper young ladies don't laugh out loud... or keep frogs in pickle jars in the bedroom... or watch ants scurry across the cracks in a summer sidewalk.  Today, she'll begin to learn that all who smile at her are not her friends.  That "the group" can be a demanding mistress... and I'll stand on the porch and watch her start out on the long, long journey to becoming a woman.

So, World, I bequeath to you today one little girl in a crisp dress, with two blue eyes, and a happy laugh that ripples all day long, and a patch of of light brown hair that bounces in the sunlight when she runs.  I trust you'll treat her well.

Are You My Leader?

Mary was a project manager.  More than just a project manager, she was a pretty darn good project manager.  She understood the importance of planning, and she had become very proficient on MS Project to the point where she could make the software sing.  Her deliverables were of the highest quality, and she followed through to obtain feedback, changes, and eventually signoff.  Mary's communication style allowed her to navigate company politics and trenches to ensure that stakeholders were kept abreast of status and issues.  Overall, Mary stood head-and-shoulders above the average WUHOT project manager wanna-be's in her company.

One day, Mary sought out her project sponsor, Ted.  She had heard rumblings of a "massive reorganization" following on the heels of the announcement about a surprise merger with a competitor.  As any good project manager would be, Mary was curious about the impacts to her project.  She had not talked to Ted in a couple of weeks due to schedules, trips, and the other issues that life and work tend to throw, and she was looking forward to catching up.  She arrived to find Ted's office empty.  Not as in "Ted's-not-here-stop-back-later" empty.  More like "How-The-Grinch-Stole-Christmas-and-It's-Morning-in-Whoville" kind of empty.  No Ted.  No furniture.  No files.  Nada.  Zip.

"Where's Ted?" Mary asked one of the cubicle-dwellers sitting near his office.  "Did he move?"  The cubicle-bound drone informed her that he had never heard of this Ted person, and that his department had just been relocated to this floor.

Mary checked the email and phone systems to determine that Ted was no longer in existence on either one.  "That's odd..." she thought, but being undeterred in her effort to hunt down executive support, Mary sought out Denise, another VP who sat on the Steering Committee.  Because of all of the hullabaloo going on, it had been a while since the project team had met with the Steering Committee.  And, up until today, there had been no major issues worth reporting.  Denise politely informed Mary that her own duties had been reassigned, and that Mary might need to seek assistance elsewhere (of course, no mentioning what that "elsewhere" migh be).

Mary checked with Frederick.  Also missing in action.

Mary checked with Donna.  "Who are you?" was the response.

Mary checked with Elaine.  "I knew nothing of this project.  What do you expect me to do?" was all she had time to mutter.

Mary checked with Bart.  "Hmmm... well, not sure what to tell you, Mary.  Few things going on right now.  Go ahead and keep plugging away, and we'll let you know if we need a status report from you."

The project was cancelled a couple of months later, amid name-calling and finger-pointing and caught in the cross-fire of two competing organizations.  I lost track of Mary after that.  Frustrated and defeated, she moved to another city and opened a craft store.  Bummer.  She was one of the good ones.

Executive leadership consistently ranks high in the Standish Group statistics on the project failure CHAOS report.  Successful projects have strong executive leadership.  Failed projects consistently do not have strong executives.  One does not have to have a PhD in Statistics to understand that correlation.

Executive leadership is a tricky thing.... but from below, it can be surprisingly simple.  Just maintain a presence for us to communicate.  Eliminate our obstacles when we come to you (and trust me, we'll try not to overload you with issues for you to resolve... we still have ownership of this project).  Protect our priorities from the hot-crisis-of-the-day syndrome.  Provide us with the visible verbal and financial support, which includes attending meetings without interruptions from your cell and your Blackberry.  We're not asking for the world.  Just the support from you to help us change it.

But Can They "Play Dead"?

To the folks at Overheard In The Office, I say, "Try this one on for size!"

Sometimes having fun with my client's overdependence on acronyms and technical jargon has unintended consequences (hilariously funny nonetheless).

I'll try not to be too technical here, but bear with me on this paragraph... it's worth it.  We were in a meeting last week to lay out the timeline for testing the software that our project is implementing.  If you recall my previous post about Subject Quality User Acceptance Testing (SQUAT), there is another phase of testing called System Integration Testing (SIT).  Two other events in our timeline are a data load, where we put all the data into the system so we have something to test, and then there is a system "freeze" at the end of the year, where nothing is allowed to be implemented so it does not mess up year-end processing (common practice).

OK, so we were in the testing timeline meeting when the following statement was made... with a straight face...

"If we can load before we SIT, then there will still be time to SQUAT.  However, if it takes us 2 to 3 times longer to SIT, then we won't be able to SQUAT before the freeze."

Dead Silence as the statement sunk in... and you can guess what happened next.

So maybe you had to be there.  Corporate types still make me laugh.  Have a great weekend.

Ken & Barbarian

This past spring, I heard a fascinating speaker talk about the Scythians.  For those of you unfamiliar with Greek history, these barbarians were a pretty fierce bunch.  In battle, they would drink the blood of the first man they killed.  Whomever he slayed, he cut off their head (to present to the king later as "proof of purchase").  The scalps he turned into a kind of napkin, that he hung from his horse's bridle (you know, bragging rights).  The skull bone was lined with leather or even something as nice as gold (those wealthy Scythians sure knew how to live).  He would use these drinking utensils for dinner parties, regaling his guests with the gory details of how each poor sap died.  Over all, they just were not nice people to know.

An amazing thing happened over time, though.  The Scythians' fierceness imploded.  They became a laughingstock to all the people who knew about them.  They were the butt of jokes.  "Did you hear the one about the two Scythians who walked into a bar...?"  Their mean-spirited reputation got the better of them.

But this isn't a post about ancient bullies.  It's actually a post about modern ones.  And, unfortunately, these bullies inhabit the bodies of executives.  Being a consultant, I've dealt with quite a few bully executives over my career.  These executives are powerful enough to affect the careers of many people.  I've embodied all of these executives into one character that we'll call "Ken."  Here are a few of Ken's antics:

• Whenever he was about to announce something totally unfair, he would preface it by saying "in all fairness."  We would keep IAF counts during meetings, because the number of times he said this phrase, the more unfair we knew the edict was.
• Ken would make himself totally unavailable for meetings... until he knew that the project team had a critical meeting scheduled.  Then he would insist that we had a meeting with him right then and there... only to cancel it at the last second.
• Ken would blow his top - verbally, loudly, and publicly - when he perceived he had been crossed or challenged in any way.  One time, Ken had neglected to communicate a critical message he had promised he would handle "right then and there."  When a person in that meeting with Ken sent out an email the following day to the affected parties referencing the message he was supposed to have sent, he stormed to that person's office and ripped into the poor soul such that everyone on the floor could hear.
• He was exceptionally irrational, and he only cared about being right and winning arguments.  In one meeting, he actually said (actually, screamed to the point of popping a vein), "I don't care what the facts say.  The only fact you need to care about is that I'm right."
• Ken was aware of his reputation and would boast about his "bad boy" behavior.  He would use profanity regularly, and he was proud of his ability to supposedly strike fear into the hearts of others.

But...

• Ken was mocked behind his back by these same people.  His peers and his subordinates would make snide comments, roll their eyes. and openly laugh at Ken's behavior.  Ken's "ferocity" had imploded on itself to the point where his credibility no longer existed among the people who should have counted.  People would hold "Did you hear what Ken did this time?" meetings... just to share their latest Ken stories.  Ken's outbursts would burden the email system as they spread like wildfire throughout the company (and to other companies).  One such "Ken" ended up getting fired from the company, and it took him months to find a new job since all of the "corpses in his wake" ran to their HR departments with red flags and warning signals.

The bottom line is that being a bully executive has an undesired ripple effect.  To all the Kens out there, you may think your bad behavior is getting your way in meetings and transactions, but you're only winning the battle to lose the war.  To the rest of us who have to deal with the Kens of the world, what's been your best strategy for handling him (besides passive-aggressive behind-the-back ridicule)?

Contest Final Call

Just a reminder:  tonight is the deadline for the Project Naming Contest.  I got the idea from Anna Farmery's post, telling how her project team named their project "Bob" just to give him an identity and make him more life-like.  So... what would you name your project?  Slash?  Damien?  Let the good times roll!

Kevin Brady Reviews Race Through The Forest

Wow... I was pleasantly surprised to see a great review from a blog buddy "across the pond."  Kevin Brady of Clarety Consulting (U.K.) provided some great commentary on Race Through The Forest.  You can read his review by clicking here.  Thank you, Kevin, for the kind comments.  For those of you who have not yet discovered his blog, he's a very knowledgeable strategist when it comes to IT projects, and he infuses his subtle, pithy, British humor into otherwise weighty technical and project issues.

Deep Fried Project Management On A Stick

We made our annual family trek to the Iowa State Fair today.  You non-Iowan Philistines may scoff all you like, but the event is listed as one of the 1000 Places to See Before You Die.  It really provides a good cross section of central Americana, and celebrates the agricultural roots that has populated Iowa with great down-to-earth people.

The core of the fair is the food.  You can virtually get anything deep fried and/or on a stick (yes, including "beer on a stick"... just don't ask). And, like many other fairs, there is a robust midway with every ride imaginable that will thrust your body in every direction imaginable.  Now, for the "fair neophyte," one possible scenario might be to try the peppermint-ice-cream-hot-fudge-oreo sandwich (a Bauder's favorite), a corn dog (of course, this is Iowa after all), deep fried cheese curds, deep-fried Twinkies, and the foot-long polish sausage... then go to the midway and ride the Twist-a-Tilt-a-Whirl-a-Drop-a-Spin.

Urp.

Maybe not.  (But my, you're turning a lovely shade of green.)

We adults know better - or should know better - than to put our bodies through a culinary train wreck and then go ride on something gravity defying.  Full stomachs and centripetal force do not mix well (or is it centrifugal force?  Just don't tell my high school physics teacher I'm having this internal conflict).  Yes, project managers do that all too often.  We'll spend weeks or months defining a robust work breakdown structure, and we're proud that we have inventoried every task for our project.  But when it comes to sequencing, we just seem to throw up our hands and say, "Whatever..."

There are three primary types of task dependencies, the most common being finish-to-start.  We all know that one.  Finish Task A before you start Task B.  Simple enough.  More advanced project managers will venture into start-to-start and finish-to-finish task dependencies, where things must converge either at the beginning or the end of a set of tasks.  Again, not rocket science, yet still complex enough to befuddle beginners to project planning.  There are other types of dependencies, but I won't bore you with them here.  Suffice it to say that these three are the most commonly used in projects (when dependencies are used at all).

The tricky part comes in when you consider whether your dependencies among tasks are hard, resolute, etched-in-stone, cannot budge sequencing... or whether there's some "soft-and-squishy give-and-take" (the technical project term for "gee, I just wanted to put one task in front of the other but there was little logic behind it").  This is the important part where you pull in the project stakeholders who helped you identify the tasks in the first place and ask them to help you also sequence those same tasks.  Make the sequencing logical.  Add in date constraints (only as necessary).  Play with the lag and lead times.  But make sure everyone is nodding his or her head that you've sequenced the tasks in the right order.  Otherwise, you eventually will be grabbing for the project-barf-bag on the midway of accomplishment.

10 Ways To Make It Great

In an era of busy schedules and shifting priorities, it can be difficult to find time to read material that is truly beneficial and impactful.  Even more challenging is finding the material in the first place.

Phil Gerbyshak's first foray into book publication is a grand slam on all accounts.  He has created a book that is, first and foremost, easily digestible.  It is short enough to be absorbed in a single sitting.  If one chooses to savor the nuggets of wisdom within, it is segmented in such a way that it can be easily laid down and picked back up at one's leisure.

Let me say that I'm a huge fan of Stephen Covey.  His book, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, was one of the more impactfully enduring business books of the 20th Century when it came to assessing self and relationships with others.  In true Covey-esque fashion, Phil has managed to encompass the simple yet important concepts that so easily elude us in this day and age of busy-ness.

Phil has structured the book logically, moving in a progression that meets you where you currently are and gently compels you to where you want and need to be.  Through his positively-charged word choice, Phil holds your hand through the entire book, not in a condescending way, but in a tone that says, "Hey, I've been there; you've got a buddy for this journey."  He graciously and seamlessly balances anecdotal evidence, statistics, admissions of shortcomings, and thought-provoking action-oriented exercises throughout the pages.

Phil has earned a coveted spot in my "Should Be In Your Library" section.  Don't think of this as purchasing a book; view it as investing in your life.

But My Mom Already Knew This About Me...

Thanks to John Koetsier and his team at bizhack, I've been awarded the title of SLOB.  I'm truly humbled (in more ways than you can blog about) to be called a Startling Loquacious Outstanding Blogger, and I only hope I can live up to the expectations.  I'm in some very good company:  Seth Godin, Mike Wagner, Duct Tape Marketing, and Horse Pig Cow.

OK, OK, I know this is going to sound academy-award-speech-ish, but I have one person who really deserves to be recognized and thanked for my blogging recognition:  my blog coach, Mike Sansone.  The fact that he has two clients who are SLOBs should say a lot for his business blogging prowess.  If you are thinking about business blogging, quit screwing around and hire him (unless you're going to compete directly with me, then ignore that).

Thanks, John, for the recognition.  I'll wear the title proudly.

I Will Call Him Squishy

Anna Farmery at The Engaging Brand recently had a fun post called Bring Projects Alive, where she talks about a project her team named in the past.  (Thanks, Steve, for sending me the link.)  What a great thought:  personification of our projects.  So... for all of you out there who have named children and pets, what would you name your project?  Would you give it a cool name like Blade or Jagger?  Something conservative like Beatrice or Cecil?  Or something ridiculous that would get it beaten up on the project playground?

I'll tell you what:  we'll have a little contest here.  Post a comment telling me what you would name your project (current or past) and at least 1-2 sentences explaining why.  A week from now, I will select the most creative one (if I get enough, I'll select the top 2 or 3).  Each of the winners will receive a free autographed copy of Race Through The Forest.  I can't be the only one having all the creative fun on the blogosphere, so tell your friends and let's be goofy.

Case File 060805

Lurking in the Shadows

In my previous post, the issue was raised about people not staying around an employer long enough to learn the ins and outs of office politics, corporate culture, and teamwork.  Telling these people to "slow down and stick it out" probably won't solve the problem, as company loyalty is no longer valued as strongly as it once was.  As a consultant, I've had to become very sensitive to the "quick ramp up" issue also, as every few months brings about a new project, a new team, a new department, and a new company.

When I taught the MBA class on Creativity in Business last fall, John agreed to come and be one of my guest speakers.  John is not an artist (at least not in the pure sense of the word), nor is he being written up in magazines for entrepreneurial brilliance (although he possesses it).  John is a police investigator.  He was the chief investigator for one of central Iowa's most brutal and notorial serial killer cases ever (and yes, he got his man put behind bars).  In twelve years of teaching, John is the only guest speaker who's kept my class (and me) captivated for 100 minutes straight... no breaks.  In listening to him speak about how he cracked the case, I learned a few things about ramping up quickly in a new (and sometimes hostile) environment.  We'll call them the ABCs of Acclimation.

Atmosphere - the serial killer's second victim was John's first introduction to his new case.  He described how - when he first arrived at the scene - he sat in the doorway of the hotel room where the body was found.  For 45 minutes, all he did was sit and observe.  And how that initial, quiet observation yielded many clues that became vital in cracking the case.  When some people arrive in a new environment, they start off like a bulldozer in heat, making a very loud first impression.  Sometimes, it's important to just quietly observe the atmosphere.  Who appears to have the power in the office?  Who talks with whom?  What is the anxiety level?  Are people collaborative or individualistic?  Surveying the landscape before you engage can mean the difference between successful and unsuccessful political maneuvering later.

Behavior - Because John came into the investigation in the middle, there were other police officers who were already vested in the case, and were not thrilled that he was involved.  One other thing about John that you must know is that he is a master interrogator.  His questions are directed with laser-accuracy and each one carries the informational weight of an atomic bomb.  Through asking a few simple questions, he could easily determine which police officers would be the most challenging.  When arriving into a new department or new company, it's always wise to ask more questions of people than you tell them information.  "How long have you worked in the department?" and "What are some things you wish you'd known on your first day?" can be helpful at obtaining information about the person with whom you are talking and also about others in the department.  Another key factor is body language.  Eye contact, folded arms and legs, body posturing, and proximity all carry information about other people.  Use this information wisely.

Carrots - OK, this one is a stretch, but everybody is motivated by something (whether they admit it or not).  In John's case, he mentioned that every serial killer is motivated to act by some trigger, a person or an event which pushes them to kill.  Every serial killer also generally leaves some kind of calling card, generally motivated by ego, a signal that says, "Yeah, this was me again... I did it and got away with it."  Those two points of motivation led him eventually to the killer.  While we may not have serial killers lurking in our corporate hallways, people's actions are motivated by something buried deep in their value systems (ask Mel Gibson about that, given his recent DUI rantings).  Additionally, people also leave their calling cards - their personal brands - on almost every transaction.  Knowing these motivations can provide much needed information when you are quickly trying to learn the ropes of a department or a company.

Differentiation - John showed my class actual crime scene photos and then asked the class what they saw.  The students would answer through their perceptual filters, ascribing more to the photo than what was actually there.  In a fit of pure passion, John would yell, "No!  You're making assumptions!  When I assume things, killers go free and innocent people die.  Now... again... what do you SEE???"  In a little over an hour and a half, he taught them the most valuable lesson of all:  differentiating fact from assumption.  We do that a lot in our professional exchanges, don't we?  We think we see something based on our perceptual filters, when actually we're just making assumptions.  Try people watching at a mall or airport sometime and make a note of what facts you can observe about a person first... then try to figure out what logical assumptions can be drawn based on those facts.  The results might surprise you.

While there is no substitute for the investment of time to build relationships and cultivate trust and learn the environment, if you absolutely must ramp up quickly on corporate culture and office politics, lessons from a serial killer investigator can help you move more nimbly at acclimating yourself into a new workplace.

Now I Know My ABC's

One of my favorite movie scenes is from the Sound of Music, when Sister Maria is teaching the von Trapp children how to sing:

"Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.  When you read, you begin with A-B-C.  When you sing, you begin with Do-Re-Mi..."

The basics.  The foundations.  The building blocks.  The fundamentals.

But - as my children would ask on a long car trip - "are we there yet?"  Are we even allowing people to learn the fundamentals of office politics, of corporate culture, of teamwork?  Employee loyalty is at an all-time low.  People switch jobs... not after a matter of years, but months.  David St. Lawrence just posted a wonderfully written essay about lessons from his early career, when his skills were in high demand and he could switch employers with ease.  How it was later in his career, when his skills had become a commodity, that he realized that it was the soft skills I mentioned earlier that were missing.  He was smart, though.  He recognized the shortcomings quickly and was able to reinvent himself.

In our easily downsizable corporate environments, it is not hard to find corporate cultures with short attention spans.  In his book, The Fifth Discipline, Peter Senge describes this phenomenon quite well.  He shares a story of an engineer who began to understand the concept of systems thinking:

"After a few days, I am beginning to 'get' what this systems thinking and mental models stuff is all about.  It reminds me of when I first studied calculus.  At first, I was totally lost.  Calculus was a totally new way of thinking for me.  But then I started to 'get it.'  Within a year I had mastered the basics.  Within five years it was a core part of my professional capabilities.  If calculus were invented today, none of our corporations would learn it.  We'd send everyone off to a three-day course.  We'd then give them three months to try it out and see if 'it worked.'  After it had failed, we'd conclude that it was of little value and move on to something else."  (Senge, Fifth Discipline, Introduction, page X)

Ah-ha!  That's why many of our professionals today are woefully underdeveloped on skills like office politics and learning corporate culture.  Either we don't stick around a company long enough to learn the players and the issues, or we don't allow ourselves the chance to reinvent our skill sets.  So... what to do about this problem?

Well... that's the next post (you see... the first lesson is to learn some patience...)

Technorati Tags: David St. Lawrence, office politics, corporate culture, Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline, Systems Thinking, Mental Models, Calculus, Reinvention