The Power of the Professional Nag

I am a professional nag. I admit it. I am sure it annoys those around me.

There are more like me. I've seen them, and I've seen those nearby roll their eyes at them. I've also seen that a team with a nag is more likely to deliver results on time and on budget. I certainly don't claim that nagging generates more creative or interesting results! In fact the opposite may be true. But unbound creativity can spin in interesting circles until the budget has exploded and the client has started a new RFP process.

So, how do you find the right balance? How to you bring enough nag to the process that you keep things on track but not so much nag that you kill the spirit and energy of the team?

I have been admonished that my nagging (which includes things like schedules, task plans, reminders, detailed goals) means that I don't trust my team. That if I trusted them I would let them run and be thrilled with the results. Interestingly, I have found that if I pull back and force myself NOT to nag, the output is rarely complete or on time. And when the milestone has passed, the players tend to ask "why didn't you remind me?" or "I didn't know that was my responsibility."

I think everyone believes they should be allowed to problem-solve in their own way, in their own time. And maybe in a different world, we could all be painters and sculptors who wait for our muses to inspire us to cross into new creative territories. But, folks, if we need a spreadsheet completed by Thursday, do you really need space to finger paint?

I guess I wish the professional nag was more valued. It is a skillset, and it does serve a purpose. What if, rather than being annoyed, the team could recognize the value AND the potential for pain..then set boundaries.? What if we harnessed the power if the professional nag for good?

Dropped Call Etiquette

I miss the drone of a dial tone.
At least you knew when someone had hung-up on you.

With cell phones, you can be smack in the middle of explaining the most brilliant idea since t-shirts with built-in deodorant...and realize that you've been pitching your breakthrough concept to an empty line.

But worse than realizing the other party is no longer a witness to your discourse, sometimes you find yourself in post-drop limbo...unable to reconnect because either (a) both of you are furiously redialing or (b) each of you assumes that the other schmuck will call back any minute.

Here's a simple tip: the person who initiated the first call should reinitated in the event of a dropped call.

It doesn't matter if you think the other guy's phone is the culprit. It doesn't matter if you're on a landline and he or she is driving through the Everglades.

If you dialed, redial.

But Is It Intuitive?

A client recently voiced the opinion that a software solution was not intuitive and therefore needed more on-screen help text. Now of course "the client is always right," so more help text they shall have! But something about the exchange stuck in my brain.

First, I would argue that if something is not intuitive - that is, it's not obvious at first glance what you're supposed to do - the problem does not lie in the help text, it lies in the design.

If users stare uncomprehending at the screen, there are some foundational issues we need to revisit. And while more help text might make it better and more usable, I would argue that more help text can NEVER make it "more intuitive" - but definition. Right?

Second, I have to ask if intuitive is the appropriate yardstick for successful business solutions.

We live in a iPad world, I suppose, and everything is judge against Apple's ability to ship products with a single, tiny 2"x2" card that tells you how to "get started." The pinnacle of intuitivity (yeah, that's not a word). Or is it?... Are iPads intuitive or are users who just shelled out several hundred smackers just really curious and clever? Left to our own devices by Apple's cleverness, apathy, or hubris - do we just figure it out?

Having just gotten my own iPad out of it's shipping box this week, I'm thinking the latter.

I wanted to figure it out. And there was trial and error -- let's be frank, there is still a lot of trial and error -- but I kept trying until I got the result I wanted, because I wanted the result I got! (stitch that on a pillow, I dare you.)

In a business context, when folks bemoan, "It's not intuitive" -- I think the subtext might be: "I didn't get it on the first bounce, and I didn't care to work it out. It's new. It's hard. My to-do list is long. I'm done."

So I'm not saying "intuitive" isn't a great goal -- but truly elegant design notwithstanding, I think there's more to successful intuitive products than the design work. I think desire is the ingredient that takes it over the edge. When we want to master something new, we do. Then we forget the "labor pains" and relish in the joy of our new "intuitive" skills.

The Database Dilemma

There are big problems in the world today - heck, gigantic problems almost beyond our ability to comprehend. Hunger, war, disease, ignorance...these hover over us and around us, and if we allowed it, these could consume our every waking thought. So we stop thinking about them.

We bring our worry closer to home. The worry-beads for medium-size problems go through our mental fingers: paying the mortgage, the leak over the garage, the kids' braces, the spouse's linger glance at the tennis pro....these, too, can overwhelm if we become too focused. So we stop thinking about them.

And then we're left with small problems. Issue that won't save the planet, won't change our lives, but at least we feel like we can get a handle on them, maybe solve them. Or can we?

Here's one that's infinitesimal in the scheme of things - but it's haunted me for decades. How do you get people to type consistently in databases. I hear you guffaw. "Who cares?" you scoff. And yet, as soon as you have "Jones Co" and Jones Co." and "Jones Company" in the same database, you may as well be writing on cocktail napkins for all the data manipulation you'll be able to do.

Do you go behind and try to clean it up like the poor schmuck who follows the elephant in the parade? Seems unending and thankless.

Do you try to put controls in place? Sounds good, but if Facebook and Twitter have taught us anything it's that control is illusory at best.

Do you just live with the inconsistencies and count yourself better off than if you had no database?

Or do you whip out the cocktail napkins and start writing - enjoying the cocktail as you go?

The Problem is a Problem

It's weird how you sometimes recognized a cluster of similar situations in a narrow time frame, each in different areas of your life. I'm not sure if this is truly a coincidence or more a phenonomen where the first experience makes your sensitive to others.

In any event, I've noticed that more and more people are uncomfortable calling a problem a problem. The oh-so-cloying phrase "oh, it's not a problem, it's an opportunity" has reached epidemic proportions -- and is more virulent, I suspect, than H1N1.

In the dark and distance past, someone wisely said that you'll get further solving a problem when you see it as an opportunity for growth. And I totally agree with that. Problems are the reasons we break paradigms, stretch out of our comfort zones, and leap to new levels of execution. YAY for problems.

But, over time, the wisdom of that simple reframing advice has given way to a politically correct vocabulary where people avoid even uttering the word "problem."

The original idea was not about giving lip-service to a word that lowers our blood pressure and helps us to hide from the powers-that-be. No, the original ideas was really was meant to change our way of thinking and acting, not just our groupspeak. In other words: It's not JUST a problem; it's ALSO an opportunity.

The reason this matters is that those who prefer the "vocabulary substitution" approach cannot even answer the question at the heart of any business relationship: What is the client's problem?

If that question quickens your breath, gives you hives and you find you cannot even label a flipchart with the heading "problem"...then it might be time to re-think your approach.

Your clients have problems. Period. If they didn't, they would not need you.

They don't wake up in the middle of the night and celebrate their opportunities.

They don't lose concentration in the middle of a tennis match because they received a text with an exciting opportunity.

They don't step out of weddings, funerals, and 7th grade band concerts because an opportunity just can't wait.

Nope. They have problems.

And if you can understand and help them define the problems, then and only then, Virginia, you've arrived at an opportunity.

You've Got Spinach in Your Teeth

It's always interesting to notice how many people DON'T take the time to tell you they've found a problem in your work. It could be a typo or other small error, or it could be something more substantial. There are many times when no one tells you, then suddenly you find the problem and you realize everyone already noticed.

Why doesn't someone nudge you with the professional equivalent of "um, you've got some spinach in your teeth..."? Here are some possibilities:

Volleyball Syndrome
They are secure in the belief that if they keep their heads down and avoid eye contact, someone else will get the job done. These are the people who never raised their hands above their heads playing volleyball in gym class. ("Here it comes! You get it!" being their rally cry)

Second-to-the-Summit Syndrome
These folks notice, but assume someone had to have mentioned it, so they don't want to pile on. They reach the summit, but instead of planting a flag they start looking for the Starbucks the first guy franchised.

Karma Syndrome
These people assume it must the universe giving you a little comeuppance, and, really, who are they to interfere?

Battered Ego Syndrome
These souls see the mistake, but then have a silent argument with themselves that they must be wrong. When the mistake is revealed, they sigh "Oh, I knew that, but..."

Next time you notice a mistake, tell the person. It's nice to be nice, but, nicely or not, I'd rather know when my slip is showing (Hmm, does anyone wear slips any more?), my teeth are besmeared with foreign objects, or my infinitive is split wide open. And you?

The Definition Vortex

Defining a problem is important; I don't deny it. If you haven't framed the problem you have no chance to solve it.

And yet, I've seen so many people hide behind the camouflage of defining a problem. "Let's have a meeting and define the problem" turns into weeks of discussion and debate. In the meantime, the problem is getting worse, having children, planting roots -- pick your metaphor -- and we're still talking about how to talk about it.

Long ago a boss told me that if a meeting was rescheduled more than 3 times, it probably was a meeting that didn't need to happen. I propose a corollary:

It the topic of "defining a problem" requires more than 2 meetings, it's very likely you have bitten off too much to chew.

Break it down, pick a part of you CAN define and begin to work to solution. If you are creating flowcharts and Gantt charts that start with the big bang, it might be time to re-frame and simplify.

A wise woman recently told me: "If two things are a mystery, choose one." This is great advice, and this direction could kick many project teams out of the "definition vortex"!