Shipulski On Design

Archive for the ‘Seeing Things As They Are’ Category

Slow down to go fast.

Progress over activity.

Effectiveness before efficiency.

Finish at the expense of starting.

Location is more important than destination.

See the system as it could be, not how it should be.

Brown field designs are real; green field designs are not.

What could go right is more important than what could go wrong.

Uncertainty is flexible, certainty is dangerous.

Learning before scaling.

People first.

Image credit — mhobl

Sometimes it’s difficult to believe in yourself.  Here is a three-step process to elevate your self-belief.

1. Find someone who believes in you.
2. Ask them why they believe in you.
3. Whatever they say, believe them.

What they tell you will be different than what you think of yourself.  They see you differently than you see yourself, and they have an eyeball-based justification for believing in you.  And you are not qualified to dismiss their justification. Their justification is grounded in your behavior. They watched what you did.  They watched you persevere through trying times. They watched you treat people with kindness and respect.  They watched you call out unacceptable behavior.  They watched you say the unpalatable when everyone else was thinking it but was afraid to say.

It may be difficult for you to believe them, but you must.  Their truth, their belief in you, is grounded in your behavior.  They believe in you because they watched you.  They have real examples.  They have personal experience.  Believe them.

And if you still don’t believe in yourself, repeat the process until you do.

Image credit — Wayne S. Grazio

Take a position.  People will have to reconcile their thinking with yours and, together, the crew will deepen the collective understanding.

Take an opposite position.  Announce you are running a thought experiment and take a position that is opposite of the prevailing theory.  Make it good.  Make it deep.  Do it for real.  The prevailing theory will be strengthened, adapted, or discarded, and everything will be better for it.

Take an opposite position to your own prevailing wisdom.  If there’s no one to play with, repeat the previous exercise with yourself.  Give yourself the business.  I bet you’ll teach yourself something and you’ll have better clarity on what you know and what you don’t.

Challenge someone’s best thinking.  Announce you want to help them sharpen their thinking.  Ask them why they think as they do.  When they answer, ask them “why?” again.  Repeat this process until you’ve asked “why?” five times.  This process is aptly named The Five Whys.  If they don’t feel uncomfortable, you’re doing it wrong.

Draw a picture. Announce that you want to help solve the problem. Ask “What’s the problem?”  Then, draw a picture of the problem and show it to the crew.  It won’t be right, but that’s okay.  Ask them to fix the drawing so it captures the problem.  Repeat the process until the picture looks like the problem.  From there, the solving will come easily.  Here’s an old blog post from 2013 with a simple “problem defining” template — How Engineers Create New Markets  and another from 2017 that describes how to sketch a problem — See Differently To Solve Differently.

Make a Map. Check out these two blog posts — To Make Progress, Make a Map (2023) and The Half-Life of Our Maps (2014).

I think it’s better to be clear than correct.  Clarity brings contrast; contrast creates conversation; and conversation begets understanding.

Clarity is king.

Image credit – Natashi Jay

The marathon is a two-to-three-hour race.  The training plan is specialized and designed to get the athletes ready to run twenty-six miles.  And the marathon runners are lean and light because the physics of their event demands it.

The 100-meter sprint is a sub-ten-second race.  The training plan develops explosive power to accelerate quickly and strength to hold on for the last twenty meters.  Sprinters are muscled all over – shoulders, chest, glutes, quads, and calves – because that’s what’s required to win their event.

The decathlon is a multi-day event.  The training plan includes jumping, vaulting, throwing, sprinting, and distance running. Decathletes are strong, nimble, fast, robust, and multi-skilled because they compete in a wide range of events.  They do it all, and they do it on their own.  They are often called the best track athletes because they are highly capable in ten diverse events.  But they cannot outlast a marathon runner or out-accelerate a sprinter.

The 4 X 400-meter relay is a three-plus-minute race in which each of the four teammates runs 400 meters carrying a baton and passes it to their teammate.  They train as a team for their specific distance and build the right amount of strength.  They are muscled all over, but a little less so than the sprinters.  And they must work together with their teammates to time and coordinate a high-speed baton pass within the pass zone.  If they drop the baton, they all lose, so teamwork is a must.

Some questions for you.

What are you built for?

Does your sport fit you?

Do you have a good training plan?

How much time will you spend on your training?

Do you want to work on one thing or ten?

Do you want to run solo or with a relay team?

Image credit – Steve Austin

Reduce the energy cost of virtue so it’s less than the energy cost of sin. (Dave Snowden)

Said another way – make it easy to do the right thing.

Don’t push through.  Move obstacles out of the way.

Don’t tell people about their problem. Ask people about their problem.

Try small experiments and do more of what works and less of what doesn’t.

Don’t tell people they have a problem.  Volunteer to help them.

Instead of Ready, Fire, Aim, try Ready, Aim, Fire.

Before trying to improve things, define the system as it is.

When two competing theories cause disagreement, agree to try both.

Slow down to go faster.

Say no so you can say yes.

Give praise in public and give criticism in private.

Say nothing negative unless you’ve exhausted all other possibilities.

Build trust BEFORE you need it.

These are good ways to create the conditions for good things to happen.

Image credit — Peter Addor – The monkey that makes a monkey of us.

What is this all about?

What is the reason you do what you do? What’s your WHY behind the WHAT?

When you don’t do what you said you’d do, what’s the reason? And what does that say about you?

If the reason is right, I think it can be okay NOT to do something you said you’d do.  But I try to set a high bar on this one.

When things get tough, what gets you to push through?  For me, it’s about doing something for the people I care about.

When things go well, what causes you to give credit to others?  For me, it’s about building momentum and helping people understand the special things they did to make it happen.

Why do you show up?  When you ask yourself, do you have an answer?

How do you show up for? And the more difficult question – WHY?

When is it okay to be compliant in a minimum energy way?  And how do you decide that’s okay?

When do you decide to apply your whole self to something that others think is misaligned with the charter?  I think this says a lot about a person.

What are you willing to do even though you know you’ll be judged negatively for doing it?  I’m often unsure why to do it, but I’m sure it’s the right thing to do.  I don’t know what that says about me, but I’m okay with it.

To me, the WHY is far more important than the WHAT.  The WHY explains things.  The WHY tells the story.  The WHY gives guidance on what will happen next time.

When you do something happen that’s out of the ordinary (a WHAT), I suggest you try to figure out the WHY.  I have found that some seemingly nonsensical WHATs make a lot of sense when you understand the WHY underpinning the WHAT.

And during this holiday season, may you give people the benefit of the doubt on their WHATs, and take the time to understand their highly personal WHYs.  That can make for a happier holiday season for all.

Image credit — Christopher Henry

Some have more than you, some have less. Can you be thankful?

Things will go well, and things will go poorly.  Will you be thankful?

Some will support you, and others will diminish.  Can you be thankful?

Truth will be told, and so will lies. Will you be thankful?

You can prevent some problems, but others you cannot.  Can you be thankful?

Some of your hypotheses will be validated, and others will be invalidated.  Will you be thankful?

Sometimes you will be supported, and other times criticized. Can you be thankful?

You will be healthy, and you will be sick. Will you be thankful?

You will get old.  Can you be thankful?

Sometimes you will be calm, and other times anxious.  But can you be thankful?

Sometimes you will agree with family, and sometimes you will disagree.  Can you be thankful?

You will have everything, then it will all go away? Can you be thankful?

Things will be better and worse. Will you be thankful?

There will be success and failure.  Can you be thankful?

You will be happy and sad. Will you be thankful?

Some family members will live close to you, and others will live far away.  Can you be thankful?

Some friends will support you, and others will bail. Will you be thankful?

Sometimes you will rise to the occasion, and other times you will bail. Can you be thankful?

You will be understood and misunderstood.  Will you be thankful?

Thankfulness is a choice.  What will you choose?

Image credit — Cindi Albright

When do you bring your whole self to the endeavor?  You can’t do this every time, and that’s okay.

What are the conditions that cause you to engage fully?  Full engagement is expensive.  Spend wisely.

What about the situation causes you to run toward the problem? Solve the right ones, but leave some for the rest of us.

Which situations bring out the best in you?  Sometimes your best isn’t very good, and that’s okay.

When do you block yourself from jumping into the adventure?  All adventures aren’t worth the jump.  Block wisely.

What are the conditions that cause you to phone it in? Sometimes the best choice is a phone call.

What about the situation causes you to give others a chance to run toward the problem?  There’s nothing wrong with that.  Save yourself for the right problems.

Which situations demand that you protect your best self?   It’s okay to protect yourself and live to fight another day.  That’s why they make bulletproof vests.

Sometimes we get caught up in the heat of battle and bring our energy in an unskillful way.  And sometimes we are lulled into inaction when bringing our energy is the more skillful action.

I have found that maintaining awareness helps me allocate my energy wisely and skillfully.

May you be aware of your surroundings and your self.

Image credit – Jan Mosimann

When the ocean gets tired from holding its water up to make high tide, it lets go and relaxes into low tide.  The ocean takes direction from the moon who knows it can’t always be high tide.  This is The Way.

When the earth gets tired from heating up the northern hemisphere it wobbles on its axis and relaxes its northern territories into cooler weather.  And the reduced energy demand in the north frees up energy for the earth to focus on heating up its southern hemisphere.  Taking direction from the  sun, the earth knows it cannot always be hot in the north or the south.  And it know it doesn’t have enough energy to make it hot in the north and south at the same time. And it knows it can’t be lazy all year and let it be cold in both hemisheres year round. It’s natural for winter to follow summer and for the hemispheres to be out of phase.  The earth and sun know this.  It’s natural for them.

Bears have their fun in spring summer and fall.  They are all-in on eating, taking care of young bears, and making new ones.  After three seasons of fun and games, bears know they need to hunker down and rest for the winter.  That is how it is with bears and how it will always be. It is natural bear behavior. And it works.

When you work out hard, your body knows it needs to rest the next day.  It knows it needs to recover from the elevated stress of the workout so it gives you feedback that it’s important to do less the following day. There’s nothing wrong with that.  In fact, there’s everything right with that.   It’s natural and it works.

And there are natural rest cycles at work,  After a full week of planning meetings, people need to downshift into work that is less taxing and gives their bodies time to process the plans.  This is not weakness, it’s natural.

And there are even natural hibernation cycles at work in the form of vacations and holidays.  Like with bears, our bodies need (and deserve) deep rest.  And just bears don’t check their email when hibernating, neither should we.  Taking time for deep rest is not irresponsible or wasteful, it’s natural

Without a trough there can be no crest.  And without rest there can be no high performance.  This, too, is natural.

Image credit — Geoff Henson

996 is all the rage.  You work 9 am to 9 pm, 6 days a week.  Startups are doing it.  Might non-startups start doing it?

Productivity is important and competition is severe.  And I’m all for working hard, but I don’t think the 996 schedule is the most effective way to achieve productivity goals, at least not for all jobs.

My decision-making capabilities diminish when I am tired, and I would be tired if I worked a 996 schedule. My interpersonal and organizational effectiveness would suffer if I worked 996. My planning skills would degrade if I worked 996. My family life would suffer if I worked 996.  And my physical and mental health would degrade..

In my work, I make many decisions, I create conditions for teams and organizations to do new work, and I contemplate the future and figure out what to do next.  Maybe I should be able to do this work well with a 996 schedule.  But I know myself, and I know I would be far less effective working 996.  Maybe my work is uniquely unfit for 996? Maybe I am uniquely unfit for 996?

Some questions for you:

• How many hours can you concentrate in one day?
• How about the second day?
• If you worked a 996 schedule, would you get more done?
• How many weeks could you work 996 before the wheels fall off?

The startup pace is rapid.  Progress must be made before the money runs out.  At these early stages, when a company’s existence depends on hitting the super agressive timelines, I think 996 is especially attractive to startup companies  The potential financial upside is large which may make for a fair trade – more hours for the chance of outsized compensation.

But what if an established company sets extremely tight timelines and offers remarkable compensation if those timelines are met?  Does 996 become viable?  What if an established company sets startup-like timelines but without added compensation?  Would 996 be viable in that case?

Some countries and regions work a 996 schedule as a matter of course – no limited to  startups and (likely) no special compensation.  And it seems to work for them, at least from the outside.  And 996 may be an important supporting element of their impressively low costs, high quality, and speed.

If those countries amd regions can sustain their 996 culture, and I think they will, it will create pressure on other countries to adopt a similar approach to avoid falling further behind.

I’m unsure what broad adoption of 996 would mean for the world.

Image credit — Evan

Good new product development projects deliver value to customers.  Bad ones create value for your company, not for customers.  Can you discern between custom value and company value?  What do you do when there’s an abundance of company value and a shortfall of customer value?  Do you run the project anyway or pull the emergency brake as soon as possible?

Customers decide if the new product has value.  That’s a rule. No one likes that rule, but it’s still a rule. The loudest voice doesn’t decide; it only drowns out the customer’s voice.

Having too many projects is worse than having too few.  With too few, you finish projects quickly because shared resources are not overutilized.  With too many, shared resources are overbooked, their service times blossom, and projects are late.   Would you rather start two projects and finish two or start seven and finish none? That’s how it goes with projects.

Three enemies of new product development: waiting, waiting, waiting.  Waiting that extends the critical path is the worst flavor of all.   Can you tell when the waiting is on the critical path?  If you calculate the cost of delay, it’s possible to spend money to eliminate waiting that’s on the critical path and make more money for your company.  H/T to Don Rienertsen.

For projects, effectiveness is more important than efficiency.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Would you rather efficiently run the wrong project (low effectiveness) or run the right project inefficiently?  Do you spend more mental energy on efficiency or effectiveness? (You don’t have to say your answer out loud.)

I think post-mortems of projects have no value.  The next project will be different, and the learning will not be applicable or forgotten altogether.  However, I think pre-mortems are powerful and can improve the effectiveness of a project BEFORE it is started.  I suggest you try it on your next project.

Strategy is realized through projects. Projects generate growth.  Cost savings come to life through projects.  I think building a deeper understanding of your projects is the most important thing you can do.

Image credit — Mike Keeling (one too many head on collisions)