Whose Job Is It Anyway?

One of my favourite maxims is "vision without execution is hallucination".  Not sure who coined the phrase but I like it.  It's all very well saying "let's do something" and it's something else to actually get it done, especially if it involves people.

It's helpful to have some "getting stuff done" tools in your toolkit and one tool that I've found helpful in the past is "RACI".

To get from an idea to reality, we need to know who is going to do the work.  This is where RACI comes in.

RACI stands for "Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed".  It's a usually framework to understand the roles of all the actors in a system required to get a task done.

Responsible
The responsible person is the doer.  (Or doers, i.e. those that actually do the work and deliver to the agreed standards, time frames or expectations).

Accountable
The buck stops here.  This person is answerable for the correct and thorough completion of the task.  It can only be be one person.  The accountable person may well delegate their tasks to a responsible person but they cannot delegate their accountability.

Consulted
Their opinion is sought, these are experts whose skills or knowledge can influence the success of the task.  It's a two way communication flow between the Responsible and Consulted parties. It can be more than one person.

Informed
(Or - told). Those who need to know what's going on.  Not necessarily during task, more likely on completion.  It's a one way communication and it's usually many people.

In any project, you write down all of the tasks down as the rows in your matrix.  In the columns, write either names or job titles.  In the grid, type R, A, C or I in each cell. 



If you do this with all of the people involved you can then get consensus on who does what.

It provides a good grounding for the next part of organising - what interactions (e.g. meetings) and documents are required during the project to make sure everyone gets what they need from the others involved.

To Scale Or Not Scale?

I was at an event earlier this week with a room full of tech start-up and growth company COOs.

One word that was used often in conversation was "scaling". 

"As the business scales", "When you're scaling up", "scaling the business", "scaling the team", "bringing scale to the team"... these were all typical soundbites.

I've heard people use the term so much over the past few years.  In a start-up it's easier to talk about "growth" and "scale" than trickier subjects such as "revenue" and "profit".

So, to clear things up, just what is "scaling".

Well, in my opinion, it's something more than just "size".

It's about efficiency of resource utilisation.

Here's a simple example.  You have £100,000 in revenue.  You have 5 people.  You have 2 web servers.

What happens when you double the revenue?  Do you double the team and double the number of servers?  If you do, you are not scaling.  You are just growing. 

Scaling would mean that you doubled the revenue, but the team size and web servers did not need to double.  Maybe the team went to 6 people and the web servers stayed the same.  Now you're starting to scale.

Scaling come from the term "economies of scale". 

The more transactions that take place, the cost per transaction comes down.

So - are you scaling or growing?  Ideally both!

Tune Out To Tune In

Where do you get your ideas?

I get my best ones in all sorts of strange places. In the shower, walking for the bus, on my bike. Rarely do ideas come to me at my desk.

Archimedes had his "Eureka" moment in the bath. You might do too.

CEOs seem to have ideas at the weekend. That's no co-incidence.

Creativity is an elusive thing. Try too hard and you'll not get anywhere. Ideas seem to have a life of their own and they are definitely not 9-5 office workers.

Here's something I learnt about ideas which really has helped me find more of these little creatures.

If I think about a problem hard and consciously, if I try to start solving it, even if I don't solve it, it plants a seed in my brain. My conscious mind works on the problem. Unless I've solved this problem before, rarely will a new idea form from conscious thought.

It's the unconscious mind which unlocks ideas. How scientifically true this is I cannot say. From experience though, I can say for sure that your unconscious mind continues to work on a problem long after your conscious mind has switched off.

You can be daydreaming in the shower and then pow! It comes to you. Taking that idea back into the conscious world you can do something with it and get cracking.

If you are short of ideas, discuss the issue at hand with someone and then leave it for a day or two. The unconscious mind will work it over and you might come up with new ways of looking at the situation.

Getting started is often the most important thing you can do. Just start the thinking consciously. Then pause. Reflect (not consciously). Wait. Discuss again. Reflect.

To really tune into a problem you sometimes need to tune out.

What's For Tea?

In our household there's sometimes a discussion that starts late morning or early afternoon with the question, "what shall we have for tea?" 

(Tea by the way meaning evening meal).

I usually say, "I don't know, it depends what's in the fridge".

My wife on the other hand likes to know what it is she is going to look forward to.

She'll think of a dish that she'd like and then asks what's missing to make it. If we need one or two ingredients, she'll buy them.

I on the other hand prefer to freestyle and make do with what we've got. Where she sees an empty cupboard, I see three or four alternative dishes. As I am the one cooking in these situations, I prefer to go with the flow.  It's not that I don't plan. I do plan. I plan by putting in place a lot of ingredients in our weekly shop. The cupboard is always stocked with lots of flavour and base items.

I however am less likely to imagine a meal in advance. I will perhaps look in a recipe book for ideas if we're having guests. My wife will think of lots of alternatives.

What about you? Who are you most like?

Both personality types serve a purpose. To be able to envision a future and make it happen is a great trait for entrepreneurs. Let nothing get in the way, get what you want.

Equally, the ability to adapt, optimise and deliver based on limited resources (making sure there are the right ingredients in place) is a great trait needed by teams who are working to build businesses.

Both tendencies have their advantages. Put both together and you get a formidable team.

By the way, it's no coincidence that my wife comes from a sales background and that I come from an operations background.

Just don't ask me what we are having for tea. Trust me, it'll taste great.

How Do You Do?

From time to time, all of us face at work THE REVIEW. 

In this article I'll share a tip on how to navigate the review process with confidence. My tip is based around one word, "How". 

The review process, normally designed by an enthusiast in HR is imposed on you as a member of the organisation. 

If done well, a review meeting can be a very helpful discussion between team member and manager. It does however require preparation on both sides to be worth doing at all. 

A review is a reflective process followed by a trusting exchange of opinion and fact. At least that's what it should be. So often however it's a one way affair where either the manager or team member have not taken time to reflect, gather information and organise their thoughts. When neither have done so it becomes a farce and worse than useless. 

The sense of trepidation many people feel going into a review either as a manager or as a person being reviewed is sometimes caused by anxiety about the outcome. I'd suggest that it's also caused by a lack of preparation. 

Remember the 7 Ps?

If not, here's a reminder; the 7 Ps is a British Army adage for "Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance".

To prepare properly for a review you need 3 things;

1. Something to review against
2. Facts
3. Understanding

Something to review against would normally be previously agreed goals, targets or objectives. If you don't have these for any reason, a job description is a good back up. 

Facts are useful. Sounds obvious, but you'll need solid examples, numbers, customer feedback, sales figures, project delivery dates etc. 

The understanding piece comes back to the word "how".  "How" is the word that can help you prepare better for a review. 

"How did I/you achieve X?"

By asking this one question you can identify the positive behaviours that need to be encouraged or highlighted. 

It can be used to describe context in a way that facts alone cannot. 

It's a useful little word, whichever side of the table you are on. 

Just ask

Picture courtesy of Andrew Kidd

This morning I was asked "why" questions, one after the other. A barrage of questions about why things are the way they are. This wasn't in a team meeting or a management discussion. It was over the breakfast table with an insistent four year old.

That's the thing about four year olds, they just ask you straight up. They're not worried about what you think of them, they just want to know. It's a natural curiosity.

Some of the greatest minds in human history kept asking questions long after the age of four. Some of the best never stopped.

I recently resumed learning to play guitar after a 25 year gap. This time around I have a massive advantage because I can find the answer to almost any question straight away. How do I play a specific song? Look it up on YouTube and there are plenty of people ready with a show and tell.

There's a revolution in online learning happening right now thanks to the internet. That's the difference that the last 25 years have given us. Universities such as Stanford are putting entire courses online. Wikipedia is available almost anywhere, anytime to anyone. Put it this way, if you have a question, it's never been easier to find an answer.

The ability to ask the right questions is an underrated skill. If I were interviewing someone for a job, I am much more interested in the questions they ask than the answers they give. The ability and willingness to ask useful and insightful questions is the mark of someone that applies themselves to a problem and who will overcome obstacles.

It's never been more important than now to keep asking questions. As an adult it's a habit and skill we need to nurture. The good news is that it's never been easier to get answers.

This gives me great optimism for humanity and the world that today's 4 year olds will inherit.

It also is a humbling reminder that today like every day I need to  keep asking questions.

"If You're Going Through Hell, Don't Stop"

You start your holiday with excitement and energy.  Woo-hoo!  No more work for two weeks, we're off!

How long does that feeling last?  When do the arguments start?  Unless you're off back-packing by yourself, you'll be either with friends or family or both.

Here's typically what happens;

Day 1 - excitement, chatter, interest in other people, sharing plans, news and celebrating
Day 2 - more of the same, just a little slower but you're still all on best behaviour
Day 3 - starting to get tired, needing a little more space and time, starting to make less effort towards each other
Day 4 - the arguments start.  You can no longer maintain the being on best behaviour at all times.  You start to say what you really think.  Others do the same.  A few disagreements maybe.  Maybe a full blown out row or face off
Day 5 - you start to adjust to your real travelling companions, their needs and wants, your own needs and wants, your new environment and living space, maybe a few apologies, a few honest and frank conversations
Day 6 - now you're all just being yourself and relating to others in a truthful way, you start to find ways to enjoy yourselves together on this new level
Day 7 - you're more relaxed, start to enjoy the holiday for what it really is
Day 8 onwards - you're having a great time

Does that ring a bell?  Have you ever been in a holiday situation like that?

The pattern repeats itself whenever a new member joins the group or there is some kind of instability such as a change in environment.  You all go back a few steps until you readjust.

The pattern has a name, you might have heard it before... Form, Storm, Norm, Perform

Form - the honeymoon period, everyone is on their best behaviour
Storm - the truth comes out, friction and strife
Norm - adjusting to the reality of the group
Perform - getting the best out of the group in a truthful way

This pattern doesn't just apply to holidays.  It applies to any new collaboration of two or more people.

It applies to relationships.  Remember those first 6 months?  That's the form period.  Some people come off that 6 month period wondering what happened.  You're suddenly arguing about things you never used to argue about.  Here's the truth - it's completely normal to have these arguments (storm).  You need to get through them and accept the other person for who they truly are (norm) before you can be strong as a couple (perform)

It applies to companies.  New people join a company and go through their own form storm norm perform before they truly settle.  Some people just get out at the storm stage but others will persist and that's the route to performance.

It applies to projects.  There's always a doom and gloom middle part of the project where the project manager feels like it's never going to happen.  But it does.

It applies to sport. Setting out (form) on the path to glory (perform) requires a lot of soul searching and pain as you put the training in (storm and norm) to become the athlete you want to become.

In applies to studying.  Learning a new skill is exciting at first (form), but you realise that it's very difficult to commit and put the hours in (storm) and until you manage to do that consistently (norm) you won't succeed (perform).

I've observed this pattern many many times in life and it's helped me enormously.  When the euphoria of a new start wears off I think "hey - this is perfectly normal and to be expected - let's keep going" and it gives me strength.  My expectations are more realistic and I'm less prone to reacting badly to when things go wrong.  I had to learn this the hard way.  Simon, my manager when I was at Eurocamp said observantly, "David, you don't like it when things go wrong, do you?"  He was right of course.  That's still the case, I like to get things right first time.  Now I realise that is an ideal and the real world will hit me hard and I need to push through to see the success on the other side.

As Winston Churchill famously said, "If you're going through hell, don't stop"

Further reading....
Wikipedia Tuckman's stages of group development

Algebra: What is the role of a COO?

The role of a COO (Chief Operating Officer) is not always clear to outsiders.  Nor, I would I add, is it always clear to us COO's.  It's different from company to company and from time to time.

As a member of the Executive Team, the COO contributes to making decisions on the direction of the company.  Figuring out what direction to take and why.

Direction = Vision + Strategy

And for the company to be successful it needs to be capable to pursue that direction.

Success = Direction x Capability

The word "Capability" in the above equation is where the COO has to focus.  He/she needs to create and improve the "capability" of the company in order that it can pursue it's objectives effectively.

Digging deeper, capability has two main drivers...

Capability = Competence x Capacity

Competence is how good we are at doing something and it's driven by 4 main factors;

Competence = Communication x Skills x Experience x Information

Capacity however is how fast we are at doing it and it's driven by how many resources we have (money, people, assets) and how productive or efficient we are with those resources.

Capacity = Resources x Efficiency

If the COO is concerned with Capability, then the COO's time by neccessity needs to centre around Communication, Skills, Information, Resources and Efficiency.

That means that COOs tend to think about organisational health, talent, inventory, feedback loops, processes, procedures, controls, systems, planning, reporting and troubleshooting.

So if Success = Direction x Capability

then

Success = (Vision + Strategy) x ((Resources x Efficiency) x (Communication x Experience x Skills x Information))

The COO contributes in part to "Direction" but mainly to "Capability".

At least that's the way I understand things, for now.

What Google Says Makes A Good Manager

The latest issue of Wired UK magazine has a great section on initiatives companies are taking to improve their workplace and culture.

Of note, there's a section on Google's approach to measuring the quality of it's managers.

In 2009 their HR team analysed who were the best and most successful managers and what particular traits they had.  This research led them to conclude that there are 8 behaviours that make a great manager and they measure their managers against these 8 behaviours.

The project was called "Project Oxygen" and they call these 8 traits the "Oxygen Eight"...

1. Be a good coach

2. Don't micromanage

3. Express interest in employees' well-being

4. Be productive and results orientated

5. Listen to your team

6. Help employees' career development

7. Have a clear vision

8. Have key technical skills

Spending one to one time with people and taking a genuine interest in their lives was the single most appreciated trait of a manager by their team.

Here's a report in more detail from the NY Times (2011)