Shipulski On Design

Archive for the ‘Seeing Things As They Are’ Category

I’m tired of hearing about North Stars and Idealized Future States. I much prefer to define the current state.

I want to move from “let’s do this!” to “how are we doing it today?”

Stop: Imaging what could be.  Start: Defining what’s going on right now.

Every journey starts with a first step.  And that first step is taken from where you are.

Location before destination, that’s what I say.

Where are you?

Before you can decide if you need a course change, you’ve got to know your direction of travel.

Instead of arguing about a new course heading, analyze the current direction of travel.

To determine your direction of travel, look where you were three years ago, two years ago, and one year ago.  From the past, draw a line through today and onward.  That’s your trajectory.

Before you can know where you’re going, you’ve got to know where you’ve been.

Where have you been?

Now that you know where you were, where you are, and where you’re going, you’re ready to run small experiments to find the fertile design space.

Mari Dallavara — small cairn

Sometimes I have nothing to write about.  Generally, that means I’m run down.  Too much going on, not enough exercise, no clarity.

I struggle to choose a topic.  I start to advance a theme, and then I tell myself no one will care about it, or it’s not meaningful.  I choose another line of thinking, and my brain does the same thing again.

I quiet myself and scribble on a piece of paper.  I give myself some time and a deadline.  I start writing at 8:00 PM on Wednesday and complete my post by 10:00 PM.  A deadline helps.  It may not be the best post, but it will be done by 10:00 PM.

To start my writing process, I reflect on what I’ve read and the podcasts I’ve listened to.  I remember conversations and struggles.  I smile at interactions I’ve had with people I care about.

I usually end up writing about people/teams and often choose images of animals to reinforce the sentiment.  The people element is important to me.  Companies are run by people.  Processes are run by people.  Decisions are made by people, at least until AI makes the decisions.  That will be a sad and dangerous day.

I sometimes spend an hour looking for the right image to accompany the post.  I like it when the image gives an off-kilter example of the post’s major theme.  I like to think that readers will try to figure out the connection between the image and the words.  Like a good crossword clue, the connection should be challenging, but not too challenging.

I used to write long introduction paragraphs.  Now I get right to it.

Often, the first sentence I write is short, tight, and formalizes the blog post’s main point.  After writing that first sentence, I usually want to stop writing.  I tell myself there’s no need to write more sentences because I just wrote the whole thing in one sentence.  Then I move that first sentence to the end of the post and write the sentences that provide context for the (now) final sentence.

I like to build a story within the body of the post and twist you around with the final sentences.  I like to catch you off guard and make a different point than the one you thought I’d make.  I don’t always pull that off, but I often try.

I think my best posts are those that share something personal.  I’ll try to do more of that.

Image credit – Tambako The Jaguar (Hybrid Owl)

Progress is made through the processes you have, so it’s helpful to define your processes

Work is done with the tools you have, so make a list of your tools.

Teams are made from the people you have, so create a spreadsheet of the people you have and their knowledge, skills, and abilities.

Projects are completed with processes, tools, and people you have, so measure the goodness and timeliness of your projects.

Improvements of your processes start with the processes you have.

Improvements of your tools start with the tools you have.

Improvements of your projects start with processes, tools, and people you have.

Improvements in your progress are measured against how you do it now.

We get caught up in creating idealized future states and North Stars.  I think it’s more effective to define things as they are and set a direction from there.

Journeys start from where you are, so why not figure out where you are?

Image credit — JOP

This is the first in a series of blog posts on changes that make a difference.   And the first change I will discuss is elevating the importance of the current state and deprioritizing the future state, especially the idealized future state.

Future State To Current State

I bet you are asking to see an idealized future state and the work needed to get there.  Truth is, by definition, you cannot achieve the idealized future state.  You can use it as a navigation aid, but you’ll never get there (H/T Dave Snowden).  At best, it’s aspirational; at worst, the team knows you think it’s achievable (you asked them for a plan to get there).  This makes for a despondent team.  Do you really want that?

And there are other problems with the idealized future state.  Firstly, there is no universal ideal.  Your ideal is not my ideal.  Whose ideal is right? Who decides?  And how do you know it’s ideal?  The team knows there’s no universal ideal. They know the ideal is arbitrary.  And they know you’re asking them to go after this “ideal” state as if it’s truly ideal.  Outwardly, they behave like it’s ideal, and inside, they know it isn’t.  Why do you want to do this to the team that you need to create your next products?

Secondly, the idealized future state is defined in the present moment.  And since your journey is long, things will change along the way.  And these changes make it impossible to predict the idealized future state. The technology will change, the market will change, the laws will change, the regulatory requirements will change, the people will change, and geopolitics will change.  The team knows the future cannot be predicted, and they know the prediction you made is wrong.  They won’t tell you that, but they know.  Why do you want to create the conditions for the team to withhold their thoughts and feelings?

Everyone knows the future cannot be predicted. Why not behave that way?

I think it’s more effective to create a shared understanding of the current state.  To do that, you and the team must agree on your location (current state) at the expense of agreeing on your destination (future state).  All my journeys started from where I was, and all my future journeys will start from where I will be.  Everything starts from where you are. And I think it’s the same with companies.  And when the team agrees on the current state, they are comfortable and confident.  I think it’s in your and your company’s best interest to put the team in that headspace.  It’s good for the team and good for business.

And all journeys start from where you are.  Why not figure out where you are?

If you are curious about mapping in this domain, here are three posts about mapping:

• If you want to make progress, make a map. (2023)
• The Half-Life of Our Maps (2014)
• Situational Awareness (Winter Is Coming) (2018)

Next week, I’ll discuss how to move from Dilution to Focus.

Image credit – Peter Addor – Tree and Birds go in the same direction

AI may be wonderful in some contexts, but AI makes it more difficult to be an effective engineering leader.  Using AI in engineering elevates the training, development, and mentorship requirements that companies must address to make their engineering leaders successful.

When asked questions, AI gives answers.  The answers may be correct or not.  In day-to-day life, that’s not such a big deal.  But in engineering, that’s not good enough.  In engineering, the answers must be right.  Not almost right.  Not maybe right. Not kinda right. The answers must be right. When engineering leaders design products, those products must work, function as advertised, satisfy customers’ needs, meet the cost target, and not hurt people.  If an engineering leader follows AI blindly, there’s no guarantee the product will be successful, profitable, or safe.

When asked the wrong question, AI gives an incorrect answer to the question that should have been asked.  If an engineering leader misunderstands the context, there’s a good chance they’ll ask the wrong question.  And they won’t know it. At best, this will create rework and project delays. And in the worst case, the company could launch a product that hurts people.

And there’s an even more troubling situation: when the engineering team presents solutions to the engineering leader without informing the leader that AI was used to generate the solutions.  To protect against this failure mode, the engineering leader must recognize when AI has been used and dig into the questions/prompts the AI was given.  From there, the engineering leader must use their knowledge of the design context to decide whether the prompts were valid and whether the answer is useful or viable.  This is a heavy lift and requires highly capable engineering leaders who have been trained to recognize AI use and verify the validity of its solutions.

Can your engineering leaders use their knowledge of the design context to provide the right prompts to an AI?

Can your engineering leaders challenge the applicability of an AI’s answer even when they think they’ve provided good prompts to the AI?

Can your engineering leaders detect when their teams have used AI to generate solutions?

Can your engineering leaders challenge the engineering teams when they suspect AI has misled the engineering team?

I hope the answer to those four questions is yes.

Image credit — Richard

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