Archive for category Productivity
The Spittoon Polisher
Posted by enrique s in Career, Motivation, Productivity on June 7th, 2010
Parkinson’s Law - Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
Truer words have never been written. Why does everything miraculously get finished at the deadline? Because that’s how much time is allotted to complete the assignment. People who have sat on their ass all week suddenly spring to action an hour before a deadline, going balls to the wall. Somehow, everything gets done on time.
I took Parkinson’s Law to the extreme every time that I had a college term paper due. I would never write a rough copy; I would type my final version straight from my notes, starting with the body of the report. Oh, and I started the night before it was due, downing much coffee and eating boxes of Entenmann’s cookies to fuel my madness. After a couple hours of sleep, I’d finish up the intro and conclusion, along with any works cited. It’s a good thing that I thrive under pressure; I graduated Magna Cum Laude.
What makes rational people act irrationally, procrastinating to the point of sheer lunacy? I once worked with a guy who always worked right up to deadlines. My boss called him the Spittoon Polisher. I can remember going to a VP’s meeting, re-stapling the presentations as we walked down the hallway, because the Spittoon Polisher had a last-minute change.
He was called the Spittoon Polisher after a story that my boss told us:
There once was a man who polished brass spittoons to a gleaming luster. When a customer asked the polisher, “How do you know when you are finished?”, the polisher answered, “When my boss physically pries the spittoon from my hands, and I can polish no more.”
People like the Spittoon Polisher will never finish early. They, like my college-aged self, are strict adherents to Parkinson’s Law. They will use every available minute before a deadline to complete a task. It puts a strain on those that are at their mercy. I know it drove me nuts!
My frustrations from my time with the Spittoon Polisher forced me to confront my own procrastination. I thought about how arrogant it was to make others wait on me, never knowing if I was going to come through. So I evolved. Rather than relying on a Hail Mary at the end of regulation, I learned how to work smarter. I forced myself to become more efficient. I wanted to become the go-to guy, the one who could be relied upon to hold up his end of the bargain.
So I jumped on my responsibilities. I became the guy that finished early. Like Tommy Henrich of the Yankees, Old Reliable himself, I came through in the clutch.
Parkinson’s Law my ass!
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Don’t Go Through Life Seeking Forgiveness
Posted by enrique s in Career, Motivation, Productivity, Rants on January 26th, 2010
Photo by spud murphy
We all run into the type of person who’s always sorry for disappointing you. They’re late for a holiday dinner. “I couldn’t find my car keys.” They forget to pick up milk on the way home. “I was in a rush, and forgot to write it down.” They don’t show up for an important meeting. “I was on a telecon with the rep from XYZ Corp, and couldn’t break away.” Sometimes, we might even do it ourselves, and we expect to be forgiven for our small indiscretion.
My dog ate my homework
But what happens when it becomes a pattern, a modus operandi? You’re always apologizing for something that you did or didn’t do. Your reputation suffers. People label you as a person that can’t be counted on, because your track record shows that you’ll eventually fail to come through in the clutch. If you can’t be relied upon, what value do you have to other people? I worked for a controller who fired a highly skilled worker because he called in sick too often on Mondays. How much was too often? Twice. I kid you not.
…but at least you’re here
I had a cousin who wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, if you get my point. But his boss absolutely loved him, no matter how many times he had to re-do his work. The secret: he always perservered, and left no job unfinished. He was a man of his word. He always showed up for work, too, and on time. The saying, “You ain’t worth a damn, but at least you’re here”, would apply in this case. His boss valued his reliability over his somewhat lacking ability.
Pull your weight
I had a discussion in this vein with my son the other day. We were talking about the remaining free agent pitchers, and Jon Garland’s name came up. I told him that I thought that Garland was just mediocre, but that he always ate up lots of innings. In other words, he wasn’t in the same class as John Lackey or Rich Harden, but that you could count on him for his consistency. He would win about 12 games and give the bullpen a break, just what you look for in a 5th starter. Harden and Ben Sheets, while possessing far more ability, are always coming up with sore arms. Garland will probably make about $4 million this year. Not too shabby for mediocrity.
Making the cut
Look around your office. It might be full of mediocre workers, but they probably share some of the same traits as my cousin and Jon Garland. They always show up, like cops to a loud party. They can be counted on, and their reliability may be the only thing keeping them employed. So when push comes to shove, and it’s time for downsizing, a worker who is more skilled but less reliable might be sacrificed instead of a less skilled worker who can always be counted on.
Think about that before you have to make an excuse. Like Jethro Gibbs says, don’t apologize. It’s a sign of weakness.
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Police Your Area
Posted by enrique s in Organizing, Productivity, Rants, lifehack on January 19th, 2010
On my morning walks, I notice the same items of refuse strewn along the side of the road. There’s the Afrin bottle that some sinus sufferer discarded. Empty beer cans from some long-ago party. The occasional roadkill bird or squirrel. The stuff never seems to move. I wonder why the homeowners don’t clean up this junk; doesn’t it bother them that this junk has taken up residence outside of their residences? They have failed to “police the area.”
This got me thinking, between puffs on my cigar in the frigid morning air, about the other things that we should clean up in our lives but never get around to. I can’t help it, it’s just my OCD rearing its ugly head, forcing me to organize. At work, it could be that pile of reports on the edge of your desk. Like the Afrin bottle, they probably had some value at one point, but have outlived their usefulness. Or that elliptical trainer in your basement, the one that serves as a clothesline for your laundry. In this instance, policing the area might include posting this unused gym equipment on Craigslist.
Of course, you don’t have to limit this to physical things. How about unused gym memberships? Good intentions that went for naught. Or subscriptions to magazines that you don’t have any interest in reading. Anybody out there have a Netflix subscription? When was the last time you rented a movie? Police this area by canceling those memberships that are underutilized.
Then I thought about my relationships. My life-long friends, they’ll never be cast to the curb. But of my casual acquaintances, I’m sure that I could think of a few that aren’t doing it for me anymore, notably the Conspiracy Guy at work. Who needs the negative vibe that he gives off? It’s tougher to police this area, especially when feelings could get hurt. I’ll have to be delicate. Or sneaky.
So, unlike my neighbors who don’t clean up their front yards, I’m going to “police the area” of my life, starting with things, and moving on to relationships. I’m sure that all of this junk piling up is affecting my productivity. Time to run lean and mean.
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Are You on “Lombardi Time”?
Posted by enrique s in Career, Motivation, Productivity, Rants on January 14th, 2010
Vince Lombardi, the all-time great football coach of the Green Bay Packers, epitomized preparation and hard work. He also operated on “Lombardi Time”, the principle that you should show up to a meeting, prepared, at least 10-15 minutes early. His winning record speaks to the success of his time management. Alas, Lombardi Time seems to be foreign to many of my coworkers, and they demonstrate their ignorance of this principle far too often.
“The individual who is habitually tardy in meeting and appointment, will never be respected or successful in life” - Rev. Willbur Fisk
Early this week, I was in two separate meetings where the start time was treated as a loose guideline. In one meeting, one late comer literally stood on a chair and turned the clock back to joke that he was early. Everyone laughed, except the guy running the meeting. In the second meeting, another late arrival disrupted the meeting by slamming the door shut, stepping on another person’s foot, and grunting his way out of his coat. I’m sure that Miss Manners would have been horrified. I know that Jake would have been fuming.
“He was always late on principle, his principle being that punctuality is the thief of time.” - Oscar Wilde
Jake, you ask? Jake was a big shot in the first company that I worked for. Jake also operated on Lombardi Time, which is where I first heard the expression. Jake expected all of his managers to be on time for his monthly staff meeting. I pity the fool who arrived late for Jake. See, Jake wouldn’t tolerate any Johnny-come-latelies who barged in and disrupted the proceedings. Jake was an old-school hardass. His remedy was locking the door at the scheduled start time, and then taking attendance! If your name didn’t show up on the attendance list, you were in for an ass-whoopin’. Needless to say, you were only late for Jake’s meeting once. The second lateness was your ticket out the door.
“The trouble with being punctual is that nobody’s there to appreciate it.” - Franklin P. Jones
I’m not saying you should show up for every meeting 15 minutes early. The cost of the time spent waiting for meetings to start over the course of a year would be staggering. I’m just saying that you should show up early. Let’s say two minutes early. That gives you enough time to pick out a choice seat and spread out your materials. Oh, yeah, and when your Outlook calendar reminder pops up 15 minutes before the meeting, this is not the time to start printing out the attachments for the meeting. If you follow my end-of-the-day system, the attachments should already be sitting on your desk when you walk in (you’ll have printed them the night before). If you are late, try to be a little less conspicuous. You’ll be a less disruptive force. And Jesus, don’t step on my feet!
I used to be arrogant, and felt that my time was more important than anyone else’s. Running a few of your own meetings makes you appreciate the punctual people. I’m not perfect; I’ll still occasionally find myself racing toward the closing door of a meeting. But I’m working on improving my on-time performance, especially after reading this quote:
Punctuality is the stern virtue of men of business, and the graceful courtesy of princes. ~ Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton
Here’s some good reading from the coach:
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Lessons from Watching Jeopardy!
Posted by enrique s in Career, Leadership, Productivity on January 5th, 2010
The wise man knows he doesn’t know. The fool doesn’t know he doesn’t know. - Lao Tzu
One of the TV shows that I like to watch is Jeopardy! Sure, I like to show off how smart I am for my wife, which counteracts my failure to remember to take out the garbage. But I also use it as a barometer of how much I don’t know. And that’s today lesson, grasshopper.
The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.
-William Shakespeare
I think it’s in our nature to want to learn new things. The problem is, many corporations develop procedures that force everyone to do things the same exact way. While this does create a consistency, it can also stifle any positive development. I’ve talked about this in the past in this post:
The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. -Socrates
Procedures serve their purpose. You need some consistency in the day-to-day operations of your company. But procedures should be written that allow a little “wiggle room”, in order to let you deviate a bit. Otherwise, they should be changed when necessary. The business world is constantly evolving, and companies must be flexible enough to be able to change on the fly.
Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomfort. - Arnold Bennett
Procedures keep us in our comfort zones. They are the Golden Handcuffs, the leash that keeps us in line. They’re the excuse of last resort. If your strategy doesn’t work, you can always blame it on the procedure that you followed. But why blindly follow a procedure that’s forcing your company to weaken itself? Take a hard look at your procedures, and change the ones that do more harm than good. Break out of that cage right now!
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Keep it Simple, Stupid
Posted by enrique s in Career, Organizing, Productivity, Rants on December 21st, 2009
Photo by ThrasherDave
Simplicity is an acquired taste. Mankind, left free, instinctively complicates life. - Katharine Fullerton Gerould
One of my coworkers was seeking authorization to spend funds in advance of the receipt of a contract. In other words, he wanted the company to foot the bill for some long-lead-time material so that he could make his deliveries to his customer on time. The contract award was bogged down on the negotiation of terms and conditions, and the customer had instituted a faster-than-normal delivery schedule. Not wanting to disappoint the customer, my coworker took the proactive step of securing the funds. But that’s not the point I’m writing about.
Photo by Matt Ryall
The art of simplicity is a puzzle of complexity. - Douglas Horton
See, he had to fill out an authorization form. It included cost projections, an estimated date of when we would receive the contract from our customer, and a termination liability profile. It also included a box that needed to be filled in called “Maximum Potential for Future Income”. There were convoluted instructions for filling in the box that would have made Rube Goldberg’s head spin, including a confusing formula. We stood around staring at it like a bunch of chimpanzees contemplating a shiny object. After running the numbers, and making a few phone calls, it became apparent that what they were looking for was a projection of net income. Why they didn’t just label the box “Net Income” is beyond me.
Photo by miss_rogue
Progress is man’s ability to complicate simplicity. - Thor Heyerdahl
Unfortunately, this is but one example of over-complication that I’ve run into at work. I’ve had to read and re-read procedures to get to the basic points that they contain. On more than one occasion, we’ve found situations that were not addressed in these wordy procedures. The writer of the procedure would have been better served by explaining the standards in plain language, rather than talking like a Philadelphia lawyer. My car lease has less words in the fine print!
Photo by caesararum
Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. - Edsger Dijkstra
So, I beseech you. Keep it simple. What you gain by forgoing the flowery dialogue will help speed things up significantly. In the example that I used, no less than 6 people were involved in figuring out what “”Maximum Potential for Future Income” meant. Everyone at work already knows how smart you are. Save your fellow chimps some time by cutting to the chase and keeping it simple.
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Deming’s 14 Points
Posted by enrique s in Leadership, Motivation, Productivity on November 30th, 2009
Back when I was working towards my MBA, I had a professor that was very passionate. Let’s call him Nick. One night, Nick polled the class, asking us who we thought was the epitome of a great leader, a person whose policies allowed for everyone to win. When one of my classmates offered Lee Iacocca, the then-chairman of Chrysler as an example, I swear that I could see steam pouring out of Nick’s ears. “LEE IACOCCA!” he bellowed. “Lee Iacocca is building his engines in Mexico! How does that help everybody win? He’s trying to solely increase the bottom line by costing Americans jobs!”
You’re kidding, right?
Rather than ague with Nick, lest he burst a blood vessel in his forehead, we let him rant on. When he finally calmed down, he gave us his example of a good leader: H. Ross Perot. Yup. This was before he ran for president, and just after he sold his business, EDS to General Motors. All that I knew about Ross Perot was that Richard Crenna played him in that movie about a hostage rescue in Iran. As part of this diatribe, Nick also managed to dismiss Peter Drucker and Management By Objectives (MBO), and introduced us to W. Edwards Deming.
Who?
W. Edwards Deming was a statistician by trade, who wound up in postwar Japan to work on the census. He was invited to teach statistical control and the concepts of quality to a group of engineers, managers, and scholars. His concepts were put into practice by Japanese industry, and the rest is history. Japanese goods became renowned for their quality and reliability. Couple that with the energy crisis in the 1970s, and you can understand why Japanese automakers took away market share from Ford, Chrysler, and GM.
Indelible mark
See, while American auto companies were giving us the Corvair and the Pinto, Japanese car companies were building a reputation for quality that trumps American car companies to this day. Maybe Iacocca should have listened to Deming. Anyway, here are his 14 Points:
1. Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service, with the aim to become competitive and stay in business, and to provide jobs.
2. Adopt the new philosophy. We are in a new economic age. Western management must awaken to the challenge, must learn their responsibilities, and take on leadership for change.
3. Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality. Eliminate the need for inspection on a mass basis by building quality into the product in the first place.
4. End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tag. Instead, minimize total cost. Move towards a single supplier for any one item, on a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust.
5. Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service, to improve quality and productivity, and thus constantly decrease costs.
6. Institute training on the job.
7. Institute leadership. The aim of supervision should be to help people and machines and gadgets to do a better job. Supervision of management is in need of overhaul, as well as supervision of production workers.
8. Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company.
9. Break down barriers between departments. People in research, design, sales, and production must work as a team, to foresee problems of production and in use that may be encountered with the product or service.
10. Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the work force asking for zero defects and new levels of productivity. Such exhortations only create adversarial relationships, as the bulk of the causes of low quality and low productivity belong to the system and thus lie beyond the power of the work force.
11.a. Eliminate work standards (quotas) on the factory floor. Substitute leadership.
11.b. Eliminate management by objective. Eliminate management by numbers, numerical goals. Substitute leadership.
12.a. Remove barriers that rob the hourly worker of his right to pride of workmanship. The responsibility of supervisors must be changed from sheer numbers to quality.
12.b. Remove barriers that rob people in management and in engineering of their right to pride of workmanship. This means, inter alia, abolishment of the annual or merit rating and of management by objective.
13. Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement.
14. Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody’s job.
It’s funny how these concepts are just being accepted now, more than 20 years after Deming wrote about them in his book Out of the Crisis. My company has started preaching the “factory without walls” concept to help our diverse divisions work together to bring in new business. Too bad they’re still stuck on slogans. Here’s a link to a Wikipedia entry that provides more background on Dr. Deming: W. Edwards Deming at Wikipedia
I’ll be revisiting Deming in the coming weeks, so stay tuned! Why not subscribe, so you don’t miss a new installment? Subscribe
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Slacking Off at Work
Posted by enrique s in Career, Leadership, Motivation, Productivity, Rants on November 26th, 2009
Photo by cell105
As we get toward the end of the year, people in my area of expertise (finance) tend to get busy. Very busy. It starts just before Thanksgiving, and just gets crazier as the end of the year gets closer. So today it’s Thanksgiving, and I’m planning on slacking off big-time. Because when the bell rings on Monday, all Hell will break loose.
To everything there is a season…
Some professions have their busy seasons, while others don’t fall prey to quarterly reporting like finance and accounting people do. In my case, these are the engineers, who work on projects that may span years. Sure, they have certain milestones to meet along the way, such as Technical Readiness Reviews, Critical Design Reviews, and Functional Bench Tests, but these aren’t contingent on the calendar year.
I guess it’s just not my season
So, for my friends in Engineering, the time after Thanksgiving is slack-off time. Holiday parties are arranged. Extra vacation time is burned. Trips to Rockefeller Center to see the tree are taken. I know this, because the ranks are thin in Engineering during the holiday season. I had one guy tell me years ago, as I was going balls to the wall in order to get home at a decent hour, that he was “pretty much finished” with his work for the year. This was two weeks before Christmas. I must be in the wrong racket.
Personal Standard of Excellence
So, as I kick myself in the ass for not becoming an engineer, I see that my technical brethren are just enjoying the spoils of their craft. I can’t blame them for exploiting the peculiarities of their profession. But even if I had the opportunity, I don’t think that I’m wired for slacking off. I think way back to college, and one of my business lessons that dealt with motivation and the responsibilities of managers. My favorite teacher, Professor Stanford, told us a tale of a worker who lowered his productivity to that of his coworkers. One of my fellow students thought that the worker was smart for not “rocking the boat.” Prof. Stanford admonished him for not upholding his own personal standard of excellence, regardless of what those around him were doing. Wow. That one really hit home, and I carry it with me to this day.
Less bullshit, more work
If I think even farther back, I had a lesson in not slacking off from my older cousin, on a roofing job. His was less subtle, however. It went something like, “Less bullshit, more work”, accompanied by an angry shake of his fist, but the message was basically the same. He was also bigger and could beat the crap out of me, so work hard I did. I consider it a primer for Stanford’s more elegant lesson.
So, before you slack off, think about your personal standard of excellence, and whether you want to risk compromising it by getting caught goofing off. But, you can goof off today.
Happy Thanksgiving! Gobble ’til you wobble!
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The Conspiracy Guy
Posted by enrique s in Career, Motivation, Productivity, Rants on November 25th, 2009
Photo by Marko Miloševi�
One of my coworkers is a little paranoid. Well, maybe more than a little. He’s always looking for hidden meanings in the most pedestrian announcements that are issued by our company. To him, black is white, up is down, right is left, etc. He thinks someone is always trying to put one over on him. He’s Oliver Stone in corporate casual. He’s the Conspiracy Guy.
If an announcement comes out about changes to our pension plan calculation, Conspiracy Guy thinks the worst. He starts spreading the word that the company is scrapping the pension plan, sending all of the other Nervous Nellies into a frenzy. I’m sure that HR appreciates all of the phone calls. He worries constantly about the health of the company. When a big shot retires, he wonders what scandal will be breaking in the news, be it sexual harassment, bribery, or other unethical behavior. When layoffs are announced, he thinks the survivors are part of some sort of productivity experiment.
Conspiracy Guy is a tortured soul. I feel for him. If I were that paranoid, I would seek professional help. While it’s prudent to keep an eye on the trends of your company, doing it to the extreme will only make you sick. And let me tell you, he doesn’t look so good. A week away from work would do wonders for him. I’m sure this must have a carryover effect into his personal life, and I feel bad for his family. I also feel bad for my coworkers.
Because Conspiracy Guy is affecting his coworkers. Each unfounded rumor spreads through the ranks like wildfire, and Conspiracy Guy is there to fan the flames. His behavior is hurting the productivity, not to mention the motivation, of anyone who happens to catch his shtick. My old buddy Ed had a saying: “When you’re up to your ass in alligators, it’s hard to remember that your job was to drain the swamp.” Conspiracy Guy is creating these imaginary “alligators”, and his coworkers focus more on those than on their real duties. The more rational of us just think that he’s a little nuts.
I was taught a lesson about work a long time ago. At one of my earlier jobs, I complained to my boss that some guy in another department wasn’t pulling his weight. The exchange went something like this:
Me: Frank doesn’t do anything all day. He just bullshits on the phone.
Boss: Does he owe you anything that you need to finish your work?
Me: No, but he shouldn’t be slacking off like that, it looks bad.
Boss: Listen, when it’s your job to clean out the barn, just keep shoveling until it’s empty.
Me: Huh?
Boss: You’re not in charge of Frank. That’s his boss’ job. Just worry about your own responsibilities.
That’s a lesson that Conspiracy Guy needs to learn. Just worry about your own job. I’ll leave you with this familiar affirmation:
God give me the strength to change the things I can. The courage to accept the things that I cannot. And the wisdom to know the difference.
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A Tale of Two Meetings
Posted by enrique s in Career, Motivation, Productivity, Rants on November 11th, 2009
Photo by Svadilfari
I had two meetings yesterday. One was a status meeting with a group of engineers, and the other was a meeting with a proposal manager. What struck me was the difference in how people behaved during each of the meetings.
…it was the spring of hope…
The first meeting, with the engineers, was a weekly status meeting on a development program. It was held in a conference room in the engineering area of my building. The conference room was a bare-bones affair, with a nondescript table and chairs, and no windows. The walls were covered with project schedules, and every available inch of counter space held a prototype of some unknown product. This was where work got done. It was cramped, to be generous, and I kept hitting elbows with the lefty seated to my right.
…it was the winter of despair…
The second meeting, with the proposal manager, was held in a conference room that was brightly lit from a south-facing window. This room was located in what is commonly referred to as “mahogany row”, the executive area of the building. The only reason you ever get called down there is to take your lumps in front of the VP for some screw up. It’s the place where angels fear to tread. But I digress. This cavernous conference room had a shiny cherry wood table with matching chair rail, and plush leather chairs that I could have taken a nap in. The matching cherry sidebar held two trays of pastries. First class, all the way.
Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There’s no better rule. - Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
Guess which meeting was more productive? While the engineers in the first meeting resembled a frat party, the proposal meeting took on the ambiance of a court martial. My great expectations were dashed. The first meeting, in the crappier conference room, offered a forum for everyone to speak freely. Problems were addressed, without judgments being passed for minor errors. There was a positive vibe, an exuberance that though they had experienced some setbacks, they could ultimately make the design work. The second meeting had all of the exuberance of a chess match. Things were not going well for this proposal, and time was running out. I had the sense that everyone was sharpening their knives, ready to pounce on the person who dared to utter a discouraging word. After an hour and change, not much was accomplished.
My point? It doesn’t take fancy conference rooms and ultra-modern equipment to get things accomplished; what matters most is the mix of people involved. Surround yourself with the wrong crew, and misery awaits. Find the right people, and you can accomplish anything. To paraphrase Dickens, it will be a far, far better thing that you do for your career, than you have ever done.
I have another proposal meeting this afternoon. I hope they still have pastries.
Follow me on Twitter: CorpBarbarian
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