Shipulski On Design

Posts Tagged ‘Lessons Learned’

There is no such thing as losing time.  Time doesn’t reverse itself, at least outside the theoretical physics textbooks. We can spend time on things that will never go anywhere, but that’s wasted time, not lost time. The trick with this type of project is to learn that there’s a fundamental constraint BEFORE running the full project.  Here’s a rule:

If there is a fundamental constraint that blocks the project, work on a different project.

We can work on projects that generate zero customer value, but, again, that’s wasted time, not lost time. The trick with projects that deliver zero customer value is to verify there IS customer value BEFORE running the full project.  Here’s a rule:

If the project will not deliver customer value, work on a different project.

But, to be clear, it is insufficient to demonstrate that the project might deliver customer value.  You must demonstrate that the project delivered customer value.  You should now ask me, “Mike, how can we demonstrate the project delivered (past tense) customer value before we run the project in full?”  The answer is to demonstrate traction.  Traction is objective evidence that the customer spent time and energy in ways that are surrogates for “buying” the offering.

If you create a one-page sales tool, show it to a customer, and they want to buy five, that’s traction.  If, after you show them the one-pager and ask for a $200 deposit, and they give it to you, that’s traction. If you make a non-functional prototype, show it to a customer and describe how it helps them make progress, and they want to buy the prototype, that’s traction.

While, as I said, there is no such thing as losing time, there is another way to think about things that is, I think, closer to losing time.  When you use all your resources to do project A, you lose the opportunity to spend your time on project B. When you do a project that will never launch, you lose the opportunity to spend your time on a project that will.  And when you do a project that delivers zero customer value, you lose the opportunity to spend your time on a project that delivers massive customer value.  This perspective, I think, is preferred because it forces a value comparison among all candidate projects instead of simply evaluating the value of a single project.

And timing matters.  There is a viable time window for each project.  You can be too early and smash your head on a viability window that has not yet opened, or you can start a project too late, and the viability window slams shut on your fingers before you can launch.  And in that way, you can lose out on a project’s viable time window.  This isn’t losing time in the strict sense, but I think talking through time windows is helpful.

Before running a full project, learn that there’s no fundamental constraint.

Before allocating significant project resources, demonstrate enormous customer value.

Before starting a project, assess the relative value of all the viable projects. Think opportunity cost.

Before going all in on a project, make sure the timing is right.  Think viable time window.

Image credit — Tsutomu Taksu

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

When you know the answer, do you ask the question to test others?

When you know the answer, do you ask the question to help others think differently?

When you know the answer, do you keep quiet because it’s not the right time for a question?

When you know the answer, do you ask the question even though it’s not the right time for a question?

What does that say about you?

When you think you know the answer, do you ask the question to seek the right answer?

When you think you know the answer, do you ask the question and risk looking like you don’t know?

When you think you know the answer, do you keep quiet for reasons you don’t understand?

What does that say about you?

When you don’t know the answer, do you ask in public to solicit diverse perspectives?

When you don’t know the answer, do you ask someone you trust in private?

When you don’t know the answer, do you throw away the question?

What does that say about you?

When you’re asked a question that doesn’t need to be answered yet, do you ask, “Do we need to know that yet?”

When you’re asked a question that cannot be answered yet, do you ask, “Can we know that yet?”

When you’re asked a question that is too costly to answer, do you ask, “Do we have enough time and money to know that?”

Do you have the courage to ask those three questions?

What does that say about you?

Image credit – Tambako The Jaguar

When the cost of the experiment is small, the downside of its potential failure is also small.

Small improvements cost little and can be implemented quickly.

Small improvements make a difference.

If the transformational improvement never sees the light of day because it costs too much to implement, its realized value is less than the smallest improvement that was implemented.

When a small experiment does not go as planned, the learning can be significant (and fast).

Small experiments are funded by small investments that don’t require approval.  Don’t seek approval. Run the experiment.

The second small improvement stands on the shoulders of the first one

If the improvement is never implemented, it’s not an improvement.

Small improvements can be tested under the radar.  When they work well, give the credit to someone who deserves it. When they go poorly, try something else.

Like ants, small improvements gang up to make a real difference.

Once a small improvement is implemented, it stays implemented.  Like a one-way ratchet, there’s no backsliding.

Small improvements add up over time, but only if you bring them to life.

When it comes to improvements, small is beautiful.

Image credit — Jim Roberts – Papa I’m only a little sparrow

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

Success locks in current practice.

May you have the blessing of declining revenues to see what must change.

Year-on-year growth hides inefficiencies.

May you have one bad year to help you see those inefficiencies.

Past success blinds us to the onset of decline.

May you have brave heretics to sound the alarm early in the decline.

A strong track record of growth prevents new ideas from seeing the light of day.

May you allocate revenue from that growth to bring the next-generation offering to life.

High market share creates intellectual inertia and stagnation.

May you have the luxury of strong competitors that get stronger every year.

A history of unassailable technical advantage breeds competence-induced failure.

May you have the courage to obsolete your best work.

A strong focus on process, combined with remarkable success, extends standard work beyond its useful life.

May you recognize that commercial conditions have changed, and it’s time to dismantle the very thing that generated your success.

Image credit — Thomas_H_foto

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

Don’t tell me what I can do; tell me what I cannot do, so everything else is available to me.

It’s faster if you give me smart, hardworking people with little experience.  I won’t have to re-teach them, and we can get started right away.

Tell me what you want done, but not how to do it.  Choose someone else because I won’t listen.

Don’t ask me to do something that’s been done before. That work is for someone else, and I will teach them how to do it.

I won’t have an answer to your question if it’s not yet time to know the answer.  I know you’ll likely be uncomfortable with that.

With administrative requests, I’ll be minimally compliant.  I want to conserve my energy for work that everyone else is afraid to try.

Tell me what cannot change so I can constrain that out of the approach.  There’s nothing worse than trying to change the unchangeable.

Don’t give me a destination or an idealized future state.  I’ll define our location, and we’ll discuss several directions of travel we can investigate in parallel.

Give me an unreasonable time constraint.  I’ll have no other choice but to be immensely productive right now.

If at the time of your question, there’s no way I can know the answer, I will tell you.  I’m sure you’ll be displeased with me.

Don’t judge me on efficiency because I’m all about effectiveness.  Solving the wrong problem efficiently is highly ineffective, and I don’t like that.

When I say no to your request, I always have a reason. But I’m not always aware of the reason.

When I see things differently, I’ll tell you.  I’m not being disagreeable. My cynicism is a sign that I care.

When you’re doing new work, it’s okay to be misunderstood.  More strongly – if you’re not misunderstood, you’re not trying hard enough.

May you find work that demands you’re misunderstood.

Image credit — Marian Kloon

I’ve written a blog post every Wednesday for the last sixteen years.

The first years were difficult because I was unsure if my writing was worth reading.  Writing became easier when I realized it wasn’t about what others thought of my writing.  For the next ten years, I let go and wrote about things I wanted to write about.  I transitioned from describing things to others to writing to understand things for myself.  I learned that writing about a topic helped me understand it better.

By writing every week, my writing skills improved.  I learned to eliminate words and write densely.  Early on, I wanted to sound smart and, over time, I became comfortable using plain language and everyday words.  My improved writing skills have helped my career.

Over the last several years, writing has become difficult for me.  After 800 blog posts, it became difficult to come up with new topics, and I started putting pressure on myself by trying to live up to an imaginary standard.  I blocked my own flow, everything tightened, and the words came reluctantly.

Then I became tired of paragraphs. I wrote in topic sentences, bulletized lists, and a sequence of questions.  Each topic sentence could have been the topic of a blog post; the individual bullets were standalone thoughts; and the questions ganged up to build the skeleton of a big theme.  For some reason, it was easier to come up with a collection of big thoughts than to write in detail about a single topic.

I’m not sure what the future will bring, but thanks for reading,

Mike

Image credit — chuddlesworth

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