Project X Discussions

Readiness

I mentioned previously how important high quality documents were for us at Gellman, Hayward.  However to our great frustration, we would produce a high quality report for a client and receive high praise but nothing would change. 

In the mid 70's  Harvey discovered an article by Bob Schaffer and showed to me.  Having read it, I flippantly said “Clearly he does not understand consulting he does not talk about ‘the report’.”  However the article was very profound and insightful.  The basic theme was that nobody does anything they are not ready to do (Readiness).  Thus the praise we received for our report was a method the client used to putting distance between himself and us.  We then realized what we really wanted to deliver was change, not a high quality report.  The report could be a tool but not the product.  Readiness is a simple but very profound concept.  The concept applies to the consultant as well as the client.  Many consultants have difficulty with their egos and really want praise even though they know it likely means a failed consulting job.  I always had difficulty with that aspect of readiness.  This event dramatically changed the way we delivered our consulting services.

Although we continued to produce quality documents, we paid much more attention to the consulting dynamics.  I was so excited about this new revelation that I decided to make a readiness assessment at the first opportunity.  I was asked to propose on a piece of work and set about to assess readiness.  I discovered the assessment was much more difficult than the concept.  I did not have a clue and realized that there is more to this concept than a simple idea.  

Over the years, as I attempted to apply the concept, I realized the difficulty of making a readiness assessment.  I have many stories of readiness assessments and my lack of readiness to accept the reality of many situations.  In the process of assessing readiness, the readiness of the consultant is just as important as the readiness of the client.  So many times, I want to apply a previous experience to a new situation and do not pay attention to the specific details of the current situation.

One of the things that I look for in any consulting situation is early successes for the client.  I believe early success increases the client’s readiness to take on more change.  I think that is true but often the client wants a proposal for the big fix.  Often I will try to propose both, a longer term strategy and some early wins.  I suspect in some circumstances the idea of early wins scares the client particularly if the readiness for change is low.   A better strategy might be to propose what the client wants and as the work progresses, I can find some early wins in the context of the longer term strategy.  These early wins will give the client courage to tackle some of the more difficult changes.  Once we are into the project, we can much more reliably assess the client’s readiness for change.

A simple of example of a statement of lack of readiness is a person saying “I should …….”   One of my teachers taught me that that is a statement of bad intentions.   He taught me to hear an additional phrase at the end, “but I am not gonna.”   Another fellow said, “People are full of shoulds.” 

Over the years I have learned not to jump to conclusions about readiness and remain skeptical.  One of my rules of thumb is to watch the feet, not the words.  Readiness is demonstrated by actions, not words.

Everybody Deserves Respect

One of the things that was special about Harvey was his respect for everybody no matter what their role or station.  He believed that everybody had a special role.  He felt very passionately about this and my first experience with this was with the support staff.  He watched very carefully how people treated support staff and demanded they be treated with respect.  He certainly modelled this behaviour in everything that he did.

I am sure all the support staff at Gellman Hayward felt very important and special.  He also demonstrated this with the maintenance staff in the office building.  They had such a positive feeling for him they came to his retirement party in the office.  He also knew about all our children and my children all remember Harvey. 

This characteristic is most interesting because Harvey was not a warm and demonstrative person.  However there was no question he was quite fanatical about everyone deserving respect.

All the support staff in our office building experienced the respect of Harvey.  The cleaning and the maintenance staff in our building all knew Harvey and he knew something about each one of them.  For many of us, these people are transparent but not for Harvey.  He knew something about them all.

When a reporter came to interview Harvey, one thing I noted is that Harvey would find out something about this person was and established a relationship with them.  He sincerely took and interest in each and every person he came in contact with.  He was always ready to help and support people. 

One lasting image I have of Harvey, the President of our firm, is him cleaning up the coffee stains and coffee mugs in our kitchen in the office.  He was a man of service with respect for others

Future Open Source Economics and the Web

Just looked at an interesting TED presentation by Yochai Benkler on open source economics.  Little dated but interesting. http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/yochai_benkler_on_the_new_open_source_economics.html

What is in your EDW?

I have been discussing with Graham the problem of finding out what information is in the data warehouse.  The general solution is to store some information about what is in the warehouse somewhere.  This data about the data is often called Metadata.   Often no rules exists about the structure of the metadata and people construct metadata using spreadsheets which help them find the data in the warehouse and provides definitions of the data.

The difficulty with this approach is that it is often designed by the person constructing the metadata.  I am a firm believer that we need to have some rules and structure around the metadata.  Also we need some simple ways of searching the metadata.

The first step is to propose a standard way of describing the metadata.  The format of the metadata needs to be very flexible to allow for different descriptions for different types of data.  A simple design is really key and one that the business analyst and business user will understand and be able to use.  Another key factor is ease of maintenance.  The data stewards should be able to maintain this metadata easily.  The next factor is to find a simple search tool, like Google, to search the metadata and return back the information quickly in an accessible form.

The big effort is to populate the metadata repository.  I suggest that initially new data being added will be the first in the repository.  As the metadata repository evolves and is being used by more data stewards, the older data will gradually be added.   One other route would be to extract data from metadata spreadsheets and populate the repository.

The major objection to starting to construct the metadata repository is the size of the effort in describing everything in the data warehouse.   I strongly suggest that you start with one project and, instead of a spreadsheet, populate a metadata repository.  Once we have this repository, test the concept and the design and only move on when the repository is working well.

Hidden Factors

In my search for the meaning of life, the universe and everything, I must keep reminding myself that things are not always as they appear.  This fact is really evident in business and I refer to them as the "hidden factors".  These are the items that people do not reveal but are major influencers.  These are both personal things and broader issues. 

If a person has a substance abuse problem or marital difficulties, you may never know but the issue will affect everything.  If the person is about to lose his job or had a seriously bad appraisal by his boss, how might they behave with you?   If the person has had bad experiences in dealing with other people in your role, for example salesperson or consultant, they will be very guarded.  Underlying prejudices of all types can be very insidious.  What happened just before you met with this person?   Things are often not as they appear. 

I find that if I keep this idea in my awareness I am less likely to jump to conclusions that might lead me down the wrong path.  This idea brings to my mind one of Harvey's favourite saying, "I am confused, help me understand."  It works miracles if the statement must be authentic expression of your feelings.  However if we remember the hidden factors, we are often confused. 

One of the dangers in coping with hidden factors is our discomfort in dealing with uncertainty.  The main coping mechanism in dealing with uncertainty is to fill the gap with speculation and guesses.  The strategy works as long as you are ready to change your mind as facts appear.  I notice often I get so attached to my guesses that I disregard facts.  Ignoring reality is never a good consulting technique.

Editing and Proofreading

Harvey believed that every document we produced must error free and high quality.  In the days of the typewriter, that was no mean feat.  We did not even have white-out on our letters or published reports.  Everybody in the firm supported that position. 

Harvey got us all to be believers.  In order to achieve that level of quality, Harvey got the firm to institute a procedure where every document that went out the door had two editors and two proof readers.  I have yet to figure how Harvey got us to accept this procedure but one thing he did was model this behavior.  He had a game he would play with  proofreaders.  He would give the reader a quarter for every error that was found.  

The bigger challenge was to get two editors to review your document.  The editor’s job was to make sure the document delivered its intended message in a clear manner.  The difficulty with this process was that most of us attached our ego to our creations and find the feedback difficult to accept.  However we got to the point that we looked forward to getting our documents back with red marks all over it.  To get the firm to get to that level was really a challenge.  For us we fervently believed in this concept.   We achieve something really special.  It was a standard procedure that nobody questioned.  His point was that the only visible thing the remains when we leave the client was our documents.  Thus quality of our documents was evidence of the quality of our work.  I think this fact is like Tom Peters saying in “In search of Excellence”, people judge how well an airline maintains their engines by the cleanliness of the flip down trays. 

I must also mention the downside of this search for perfection discouraged me from doing much writing earlier in my career.  I have now decided that passing on my experiences and learning is more important than the prose being perfect.

The Best Interest of the Client

Another saying which I mentioned previously but deserves its own note is "What is in the best interest of the client?"

Often when I had a tough client situation and was not quite sure what to do I would have a discussion with Harvey.  He always listened carefully and always ask the above question.  Of course it is a simple question but not simple to answer.  A discussion always followed about who was the client and how did we determine "best interest".  The discussion was always helpful and I always came away will a plan of action.  I do not remember Harvey making many suggestions but the session was productive.  He usually just asked really good questions.  Many of Harvey's associates still remember the question and use it to help in difficult client situations.

I would like to make this idea more concrete.  I had a potential client who wanted to embark on a full scale IT Strategic Plan and they wanted me to propose on the project.  Based on my initial assessment I concluded they were not ready for such a plan.  The prospect of a big project was very tempting but the organization clearly had no confidence in their IT department.   I proposed an alternative approach to help the IT department gain the confidence of the organization.  We would then move forward on a IT Strategic Plan.  Although the initial engagement was much smaller, we were able to build confidence in the IT organization and later move forward with an ambitious plan with the support of senior management.  I was very pleased that I was able to act in the best interest of my client.

Many consulting firms in the IT business these days propose massive transformation project for their clients.  These projects involve millions of dollars and take several years to provide benefits.  Although these systems may be necessary to transform the organization I have a real concern that the patient may die in the operation.  I believe that these projects are often more in the interest of the consulting firm than the client.  With more creativity and less of a big bang, many organizations can take an approach that produces results more quickly and helps the organization change.  Of course the project design is more complex but often is in the best interest of the client.

I think these projects can really deliver value early and still support the longer term strategy and the larger project goals.   However I am baffled by why so many organizations take on these huge projects that are very high risk and huge dollars without attempting to also provide some short term gains.

I invite your ideas and comments.

Harvey's Saying "The Client is King"

Do you have a simple operating philosophy or principle that you live by? 

I had a business partner, Harvey Gellman, who was a really clear thinker and liked to keep things simple.  We were in a consulting business together since the 60's and the saying he kept repeating was "The Client is King". .

At that time it sounded ridiculous and impractical.  People would say "what about profit?" or "you got to be kidding, that is really stupid".  The saying sounded too simple to be practical.  His point was clearly that you have to put the client first.  Everything else is secondary.  I find it difficult to recall how ridiculous that sounded at the time because now it is really obvious, at least for me.. 

We have come a long way in our thinking about customer service since then.  However I wonder how many of us practice putting the client first.  The point Harvey was making is that the only real asset most consultants have is their client and they must be your primary focus.   

At that time I was just learning the consulting business and I often would go to Harvey with a client problem.    Harvey was a really clear thinker and liked to keep things simple.  The question he would ask me was "What is in the best interest of the client?"  Such a simple question but not one that is easy to answer.  It always helped.  So putting the client first, and other issues secondary always worked for me.

I wonder why this principle is so difficult for many businesses to put into practice.  I think most businesses think they are in the business of selling some product or service and spend all their time trying to sell more services or making more profit.  Most people are trying to sell the latest feature or the latest idea.  Rather than being customer focused, they become product focused. 

Most businesses measure sales and profits and rarely measure customer satisfaction.  They measure the customers they lose but do they know why.  Were they acting in the best interest of the customer?  In the volume selling business, I think everybody assumes the price is the determining factor.  I believe that going the extra mile for the customer is the key to success.     

Another problem might be that the best interest of the customer is a very intangible thing.  In comparison, the product is very tangible and can be thought about in a concrete way.  If we really care about the customer and their interests,  we might behave quite differently.

So Harvey’s simple saying,.”The client is king”, is still very relevant and still a challenge today.  Does your operating philosophy involve your customer?  Do you have a simple guiding principle?

Comments welcome.