Project X Discussions

My new iPad

I picked up a newspaper for the first time in months today. I've been getting my news from the Canadian Press, Globe and Mail, and New York Times iPhone apps.

Well in today's Globe, Sondra Gotlieb doesn't get the purpose of a Blackberry & Facebook. And all I can think is that poor dinosaur just can't see the end coming. To extend the metaphor her iceage is the Internet.

And then I started thinking about Harvey Gellman. My first PDA was a clamshell HP 8300 followed closely by a palmpilot, then another HP Windows based device. The reason I think of Harvey is because he and used to play this little game. At the end of a meeting we would arrange to meet again. I'd pull out my PDA and fumble around with it trying to enter the time of our next meeting into the calendar. I'd be half way through this little exercise and Harvey would say "I'm done" because he'd finished pencilling me into his pocket calendar. His calendar being a chequebook sized, pocketable, paperbased system that served him just fine.

Harvey passed away 7 years ago this coming April. In the mean time I've gone through three or four PDAs. While the technologies come a long way in these 7 years I still think I'd loose our little game.

That's why I need the iPad. Maybe it will give me the edge and I'll win the game with Harvey.

Blog posted here.

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

Why Jim Blogs

I expect many people who read my blogs wonder why I write what I write.   For sometime I wondered myself and did it because it felt right.  I think I now know why.  I love to help people and guide them along the path to effectiveness and success.  My intention is provide as much help as possible from my many years of experience in the IT consulting business.  I started consulting in the late 60's as a programmer and learned from my experience and other people lots of lessons.  I would like to share these lessons with as many people as possible.  The Project X Ltd. blog is a great opportunity for me to share.  The idea fits perfectly with our values.  Project x Ltd. believes that if we work together and cooperate everybody wins.  I think we are very special in that way. 

I am reading a book called "Love is a Killer App" by Tim Sanders which helped me understand why I blog.  He really takes a quite a different philosophy towards business than most people and it really resonated with me.  The idea is that love in business is defined as all the things you do to help others grow and be effective.

One of my credo's in my business life is always answering the question "What have you learned lately?"  I love learning new slants on old ideas and new approaches to common problems.  I also know that the best way so solidify my learning is to share these ideas with others.  If you can explain the key ideas to somebody else, my knowledge becomes more solid.  I find that knowledge and useful ideas are expanding rapidly and so many ideas are so much more accessible these days.

I belong to business book discussion group called the Senge Group.  We meet each month to discuss books that one of us thinks would be interesting.  We started the group many years ago discussing Peter Senge's book "The Fifth Discipline", that still remains as one of the best business books.  The discussion really helps us all understand this important book about creating a learning organization.   We have read and discussed many books since and I find the group very stimulating and helps expand my understanding.  I strongly recommend we all form such groups and commit to meeting regularly at a time convenient to the members.  The members need to give the group some real priority in their lives because we all very busy people.  I suggest you form a group of like minded people who do not work together and meet to discuss the concept of a discussion group.  If you cannot form a group, find at least one other person you can share good book titles.

I blog because I want to share my ideas and experiences, expand and consolidate my own ideas.  

I would welcome comments and feedback.       

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. 

Golf Saying

I have been saying that golf is a good metaphor for life.  Based on this wisdom from people wiser than me, maybe life is a poor metaphor for golf.  See especially Number 5.

The Gospel according to Titliest 

1.      Eighteen holes of  match play will teach you more about your foe than 18 years of dealing with  him across a desk. Grantland Rice
2.      Golf appeals to the  idiot in us, and the child. Just how childlike golf players become is proven  by their frequent inability to count past five. John  Updike
3.      It is almost  impossible to remember how tragic a place the world is when one is playing  golf. Robert Lynd
4.      If profanity had any  influence on the flight of the ball, the game of golf would be played far  better than it is. Horace G. Hutchinson
5.      They say golf is  like life, but don't believe them. Golf is more complicated than that.  Gardner Dickinson
6.      If a lot of people  gripped a knife and fork as poorly as they do a golf club, they'd starve to  death. Sam Snead
7.      Golf is a day spent  in a round of strenuous idleness. William  Wordsworth
8.      If you drink, don't  drive. Don't even putt. Dean Martin
9.      If you are going to  throw a club, it is important to throw it ahead of you, down the fairway, so  you don't have to waste energy going back to pick it up. Tommy  Bolt
10.      Man blames fate for  all other accidents, but feels personally responsible when he makes a  hole-in-one. Bishop Sheen
11.      I don't say my golf  game is bad, but if I grew tomatoes they'd come up sliced. Arnold  Palmer
12.      My handicap? Woods  and irons. Chris Codiroli
13.      The ardent golfer  would play Mount Everest if somebody would put a flag stick on top. Pete  Dye
14.      I'm hitting the  woods just great; but having a terrible time getting out of them. Buddy  Hackett
15.      The only time my  prayers are never answered is playing golf. Billy  Graham
16.      If you think it's  hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball. Jack  Lemmon
17.      It's good  sportsmanship to not pick up lost golf balls while they are still rolling.  Mark Twain
18.      Don't play too much  golf. Two rounds a day are plenty. Harry  Vardon
19.      May thy ball lie in  green pastures, and not in still waters. Ben  Hogan
20.      If I hit it right,  it's a slice. If I hit it left, it's a hook. If I hit it straight, it's a  miracle. All Us Hackers
21.     The difference in  golf and government is that in golf you can't improve your lie. George  Deukmejian

  And  Finally

22.      Golf is a game  invented by the same people who think music comes out of a bagpipe. Lee  Trevino

Jim's Sayings - A Review

Over the last few years I have written about many of the lessons I have learned in my consulting practice.  I learned from one of the best, Harvey Gellman.  I would like to review some of these says and give you a reference back to the original post. 

http://blog.pxltd.ca/2006/03/jim_saying_1_yo.html   "You Can't Push on a Rope"

http://blog.pxltd.ca/2006/05/pain_and_growth.html   This post talks about how we are never aware of the growth, only the pain.  I think over the years I have learned that we learn the most from the challenges that we are presented.

http://blog.pxltd.ca/2006/06/be_skeptical.html     This post talks about being careful not to accept things at face value. 

http://blog.pxltd.ca/2006/06/jim_saying_secu.html   This post talks about the fiction of job security. 

http://blog.pxltd.ca/2006/07/jim_saying_4_th.html    This is one of my favourites.  This refers to a lesson from one of my teachers about the courage to be imperfect. 

http://blog.pxltd.ca/2006/07/jims_saying_wha.html   This post continues the theme of learning which I truly think is one of the keys to being effective.   "What have you learned lately?"

http://blog.pxltd.ca/2006/07/jim_saying_6_wh.html   Written by Stephen but a great lesson about asking yourself the right questions.

These are a few of my saying which I thought would be fun to review. 

I would welcome comments or challenges to my ideas.  I am always eager to hear new ideas and learn new things.

Harvey Saying # 1 "The Client is King" - Worth Repeating

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".  His point was clearly you have to put the client first.  Everything else is secondary. 

At that time I was just learning the consulting business and I often would go to him with a client problem.  His first question was always "What is in the best interest of the Client?"  Such a simple question but not that easy to answer.  It always helped.  So putting the client first, and other issues secondary always worked for me.  Try it, you will like it.

Exceeding Customer Expectations

I recall Harvey encouraged us all to deliver ten percent more than the client expected.  I encourage everybody to think about how they can a create a delighted client.  One of the keys in consulting and most businesses is continuing relationships.  In order to develop a continuing relationship we must exceed expectations and develop a trust environment.   Then the client has confidence that you will deliver on your promises and more.

One thing I suggest is if something occurs to you that might help somebody but not really part of your project or scope and if you think it might be helpful, I suggest you make contact with the person and say that while I was in the shower this morning or driving into work I had a thought that I would like to share with you.  As long as you present it in a helpful way, people really appreciate that you care. 

In your current project, are you delivering more than the client expects?  How can you go the extra mile so that you have a delighted customer?