Principles Inform Practices Which Inform Process

Continuing in my nerdy output of management concepts** I want to highlight an important idea about management processes.

Studs in motion

Imagine a carpenter who took the blueprints for a house, read them once and then never checked back to make sure that all the details were right.  That carpenter built the whole house and upon completion the inspector showed up to review the first phase of the work.  The inspector would require that all the drywall would need to be ripped out so that the plumbing and electrical and structural work was done properly.   In fact if the foundation wasn’t properly inspected they may make you tear the whole house down to the foundation.  The mechanisms in place to make sure that the house can be moved into are strict to make sure that people who move into a house are safe and to confirm that the home will meet the minimum requirements of building code.

Final inspection processes are the worst gating mechanisms as far as efficiency is concerned.  Gating mechanisms are used to control bad output/content/products from hitting the public or releasing into production.  This is part of quality control work, which is important.  However, often decisions are made that trump the processes and I’d like to address that idea here.

Principles are basic assumptions that lead to actions for the individual.  If a company has hired an employee who has either under-developed, compromised, or incorrect principles then the outcome will be under-developed, compromised or incorrect.  This applies to me as much as anyone else as an employee.  I’ve had bugs in software because I compromised on my principles for the sake of time or in response to perceived pressure and the outcome was compromised [read: bugs in the code].  Instead I needed to work with the discipline and conviction that were the principles I knew.  This would involve test driven development, careful use of the tools that I had, and doing things the ‘right’ way.  Software Craftsmanship principles that lead to a quality outcome over and over.

Principles lead to practices – they’re things that I do and tell other people about so that when they’re doing what they do they might consider changing their practices based on the principles I’ve informed them of.  Maybe they add test driven development to their repertoire.  Maybe they break changes down into better modules of code so as to make it more  testable.  Maybe they teach me a principle so that I can do a better job because my personal craftsmanship toolbox is added to.  In the end the principles lead to best practices that are applied and expected between myself and the community of developers (or team) that I work with.

Processes – being required/enforced by an outside party (management, C?O’s, clients) – should almost appear as an afterthought.  They should be affirmed, but they should never trigger a gating situation.  Internal processes should exist, but should not come up as tests or mechanisms that lead to surprises.  Instead the value of  the process is to confirm that the right principles and the right practices were in place.  You see if the wrong principles and practices are in place then the technicians employing their trade can either figure out a way to bypass them, or they’ll slow down the whole race to completion of work because they ignored them and the problems weren’t discovered until the end.  If processes are finding issues then the principles and practices should be addressed first because they are the location of the problem.  You don’t need more processes, you need quality in the principles and practices of your team.

I’m learning this about myself the hard way – so this isn’t something that I’ve known all along, it is what I’ve seen in myself.  More processes will just slow down the final work of your team as they reach a release.  However, if the team is not responsive to education and learning proper craftsmanship principles and embracing practices of maturing craftsmen (and craftswomen) then they’re not going to be helped by more processes.  They may be a bad fit for your company or project.

Make sure you know the blue prints.  Make sure you know the best way to do things.  And for heavens sake, don’t let the inspector find your mistakes and make you do the work again – do it right the first time.

** ignoring that a majority of my readers are family who could probably care less

She’s a Bad Nurse

The 6yo said today, “I went to the nurse, but all she gave me was some water.  She’s a really bad nurse.”  The 6yo has a cold and no other needs of any sort. I would suggest that the nurse does a fine job, and the 6yo needs to adjust her standards.

Five Whys

In problem solving you will find some business leaders suggesting a technique called “The Five Whys”.  When you find that you have a problem you’ll be inclined to ask why the problem is there.  You’ll see an answer to that question.  But don’t stop there.  Ask why (up to) five times.  It often leads to the real problem.  If you stop early you’ll get to a problem source, but you need to dig deep and be honest.

This works for business, sure, but it also has real-life, personal implications.  If adulthood is (in part) about honestly looking at what’s around you and facing it honestly, then asking an honest series of why’s is important.  I’ve been dealing with various stresses this year (and every year prior) but it wasn’t until recently that I started to consider the five whys and looking at their implications on my own needs and opportunities.

Why not ask why more often, more deeply, and more honestly?

Serve

Aside

Remember: if you don’t let people serve you, you’re short changing them.

If you’re not serving people, you’re short changing them.

On Grandness of Vision

I’ve had a lot on my mind lately, but one of those things is having a personal vision, having a vision for my family, as well as a vision in my job.  The theme has come up over and over again since October when I talked to my friend Dave O’Hara who started the dominoes tipping.  I’m not talking about simple goals like, “don’t worry, be happy,” but instead I’m referring to the massively grand vision.  Let me explain a bit.

My grandfather, on my dad’s side, created multi-track recording equipment that is rumored to have been used by the Beatles because it was so innovative.  He’s created special instruments for all sorts of technological needs.  He’s an inventor (still, even in his 80’s).  In his lifetime he’s done some pretty amazing things that outstrip most lives in stories and impact.  He still has a 5 year plan that involves working on projects as well as ministry and evangelism.

My dad has so far turned around two businesses of two different kinds in ways that were unconventional, but really impacted lives by enabling employees and letting them know their ability to contribute to a grand vision.  He saved hundreds if not thousands of jobs.  He’s still impacting lives with an even grander vision as an elder at Holly HIlls Bible Church.

I write software for a living.  I want to create the equivalent to “something the Beatles used,” or turning an entire company around.  My vision for my life needs to be bigger, longer term, and most definitely grand.  Personally I need to have areas I know I’m growing.  As a husband and leader of a family my direction for my family needs vision so I can make better decisions about our stewardship of finances.  As an employee I need to have a vision for the projects I’m given that is bigger than everyone else’s vision for the project because I want to exceed expectations.

Do you have a grand vision?  Can you set goals and make plans without one?  I would contend you cannot push out into deeper waters without a plan, but you can’t have a good plan without a better vision.

Of course vision requires context, but that’s probably better for another post.