Nobody’s perfect

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I was walking through the TUM the other day when I saw a label above a nice architectural exhibit showing a building project, which read, “Der Zweck der Planung ist die Realisierung.” How very German that sentence is: three nouns and no real verb, like a stone temple of language. Nobody is doing anything in this sentence. Instead, it seems like there is one big purpose, one beautiful plan and one perfect realization. Oh, come on. That’s not how things work, is it? I, for one, would be in deep trouble if I had to get everything right in one step.

Photo by Trey Ratcliff – see his photography blog: www.StuckInCustoms.com

Sure you need a plan. But project planning is a process involving lots of people and changing complex environments. Everyone makes mistakes and there are countless problems that need your attention all the time. It seems that everyone I know is talking about the famous Pareto rule: The first 80 percent (or so) of anything you do are easy and take only 20% of your time and energy. But getting the last 20% done and fussing over all those tiny details uses up the other 80%. How do you keep from going insane over the absurd labors of Sisyphus? Well, common sense dictates that we need to focus on the essential things, on the things that matter. Image: IMTEK

There is actually a conceptual framework for software engineering that follows this sane principle, and it’s called “agile software development.” The team focuses on outcome and on perfecting the essential parts in very short cycles in which the whole process is “iterated”, which is fancy project talk for revisiting and testing. After each review you reevaluate your priorities and decide what needs to be done next. That allows everyone to pay attention to the core issues. Instead of having a “big plan up front” and then spending a lot of time and money putting it all into practice, you see very quickly what works and what doesn’t, so you don’t waste your energy on irrelevant details. And most importantly, you don’t start going down paths that don’t make sense in the grand scheme of things. In their manifesto, the founders say that they value:

• individuals and interactions over processes and tools
• working software over comprehensive documentation
• customer collaboration over contract negotiation
• and responding to change over following a plan

Sounds good to me, but I do see some potential problems here. You need real freedom to select the tools to fit the client ad hoc – and if you’re constrained by contracts, that flexibility goes right out the window. Favoring face-to-face communication over written documentation can be a liability in terms of knowledge management. And then I can see that a preference for collaboration over negotiation could be a problem for external service providers because they can’t always bank on the security that the idea of “team work” suggests. Never mind: As long as this type of work produces quality in this age of measurable results, that’s what sells.What got me thinking about perfection and perfectibility was a talk by Jonathan Rosenberg, the Senior Vice President of Product Management at Google, telling students at his old college about how Google manages to stay technically innovative. He lays out 16 interesting rules, which I’m going to summarize for you. OK? Ready?

1. Hire the best and put them together in small work spaces and then just watch the sparks fly. No distance workers, no specialists.
2. Ideas come from anywhere – and from anyone – so take advantage of the “wisdom of crowds“.
3. Practice openness and sharing – put everything on the intranet and use the concept of “wikinomics“. “You win, not by locking people and their ideas in, but by being better at the things you have actually done.”
4. Morph ideas, don’t kill them – because we are constantly revisting ideas that didn’t work before and reapplying them.
5. Users come first – because they punish companies that do the wrong thing and reward the ones that do the right thing.
6. Data drives all decisions. Rosenberg says, “Don’t come into a meeting at Google and say ‘I think’. Come in and show us with data that comes from our log systems that we know to be true.”
7. Iterate a product – don’t use a project plan – just get people working on a demo, see what users do and make it better.
8. Keep your vision simple and share it with everyone.
9. Give people creative freedom. (You know how Google lets its staff work on their own projects for 20% of their time.)
10. Think big. Don’t under-promise and over-deliver. At Google people are expected to achieve about 60% of what they aimed for. (I’m not sure this would work in Germany. But, hey, it’s an American company – we like big talkers!)
11. Bet on a trend.
12. Accept a smaller piece of a larger pie.
13. Feed the winners, starve the losers. (Hello Darwin!)
14. Avoid the highest paid person’s opinion (“hippos”).
15. Take a pragmatic view of the law. (Don’t take risks you can’t afford!)
16. Reward innovation. Profit sharing doesn’t work. Rosenberg says, “Life’s not fair.”

Pretty impressive, huh? Pretty tough, too. No wonder Google is tops. But you know, I find Rosenberg’s nerdy, alpha-male posturing really hard to take. I hated his presentation. Mind you, he’s totally brilliant, but he’s just not a brilliant speaker. See? Not even the head honchos at Google have to be perfect.

Links:

• See video: Jonathan Rosenberg, “Inside the Black Box: Technical Innovation at Google”, talking to students and faculty at his alma mater on 27 February 2008. 45 minutes. Skip the first 10 minutes, or jump in anywhere.
  
• Google self-promotion. Nice work if you can get it. One job there is up for grabs: Chief Innovation Officer
• www.google.com was selected as the top of the 101 most useful websites by the Telegraph (nice list!)
• Medicine for perfectionists, from musicians:
  “If you hit a wrong note, then make it right by what you play afterwards.” -Joe Pass
  “Doing your best is a process of trying to do your best.” -Townes Van Zandt

Learning the ropes – Vokabelprojekt

label – Beschriftung
noun – Substantiv
purpose – Grund, Zweck

be in deep trouble – ein großes Problem haben
environment – Umfeld, Umgebung
countless – unzählig
to fuss over – großen Wirbel um Kleinkram machen
to go insane – wahnsinnig werden
the labors of Sisyphus – Sisyphusarbeit
common sense – gesunder Menschenverstand
to dictate – vorschreiben
actually – eigentlich
conceptual framework – Rahmenkonzept
software engineering – Softwareentwicklung
sane – vernünftig, gesund
agile – beweglich
outcome – Ergebnis
cycle – Zyklus
to iterate – wiederholen (Fachsprache IT)
to reevaluate – neubewerten
priority, -ies – Priorität
to pay attention – aufpassen, aufmerksam verfolgen
core issues – Kernthemen
go down a path – einen Weg einschlagen, einen Pfad verfolgen
in the grand scheme of things – im größeren Zusammenhang
tools – Werkzeuge
comprehensive – umfassend
customer – Kunde
collaboration – Kooperation
contract – Vertrag
negotiation – Verhandlung
to respond – reagieren, antworten
potential problems – mögliche Probleme
constrained – eingeengt
it goes right out the window – fliegt zum Fenster hinaus
to favor sth over sth else – bevorzugen
face-to-face – persönlich
liability – hier: Gefahr; Haftung, Bürde, Leistungspflicht, Verbindlichkeit
in terms of – hinsichtlich
knowledge management – Wissensmanagement
preference – Vorliebe
service providers – Dienstleister
to bank on sth. – mit etw. rechnen
security – Sicherheit
Never mind – egal
measurable results – messbare Ergebnisse
it sells – es lässt sich gut verkaufen
perfectibility – Perfektionierbarkeit
talk – Vortrag
college – Hochschule
to lay out – ausbreiten
to summarize – zusammenfassen
hire – einstellen
the sparks – die Funken
distance workers – Fern-/ Heimarbeiter
to take advantage of sth – sich zunutze machen
wisdom of crowds – Buchtitel: Die Weisheit der Vielen
sharing – teilenwikinomics – wiki + economics = Konzept der Wissenskonstruktion durch Zusammenarbeit
to lock in – einsperren
to morph – die Gestalt verwandeln
to revisit – sich wieder vorknüpfen, wörtlich “wieder hingehen”
to reapply – wieder anwenden
to punish -bestrafen
to reward – belohnen
to drive – vorrantreiben
decision – Entscheidung
staff – Mitarbeiter
under-promise and over-deliver – weniger als erwartet versprechen, mehr als erwartet liefern
to achieve – erreichen
to aim for – abzielen auf
big talkers – Großschwätzer
pie – Kuchen
avoid – vermeiden
opinion – Meinung
take a view of – eine Perspektive einnehmen
can afford – sich leisten können
impressive – beeindruckend
tough – hart
tops – beste
nerdy – intelligent, aber sozial unbeholfen
alpha-male posturing – Mackergehabe
hard to take – schwer zu ertragen
mind you – wohlgemerkt
(head) honcho – (USA coll., aus dem Japanischen) (Ober-) Manager, Chef, Boss
faculty – Lehrkräfte an der Schule/ Hochschule
alma mater – Uni, an der man studiert hat
figure out – dahinter kommen
up for grabs – zu haben (to grab for sth. = nach etw. greifen)
daft – bekloppt, bescheuert, albern

Note on job titles

Senior Vice President of Product Management – Titel sind nicht übersetzbar, jeder Versuch ist ein fauler Kompromiss. Das hier is wohl sowas wie Führender Stellvertretender Vorstandsvorsitzender verantwortlich für Produktmanagement.


English tip of the week

Choose a word you like and locate it on or around your body. Dance it. Use your hands. So: Where’s your common sense? What’s a honcho? What is up for grabs?