Posts tagged Leadership
Looking Beyond Yourself
Mar 3rd
It’s been weeks since I have been able to gather my thoughts and put out something meaningful into the blogosphere. The scale of the technology migration we’re planning is really showing as we identify all the pieces that will be needed. Migrating 30 years of work is no small task and the pressure is definitely on. We’ve been having some fun with it as that is one way to mitigate the stresses we feel. We now refer to ourselves privately as the "Transformers", will be naming our team room "Cybertron", and have even assigned character names to members of the team. As the architecture groupie I am referred to as "Ironhide", weapons specialist, and one of Optimus Prime’s oldest friends.
Last week Optimus (our team lead) put together a great road map for what we’re doing and we will be distributing that around the company shortly. The road map identifies the key things we need to do starting from the foundation and building up to the bells & whistles we want in our applications. This road map has really become key to what we’re looking to achieve and is guiding us toward our short-term goal of a high-level plan and the associated deliverables.
Security is one of the foundations that is almost number one or at least shares number one with a few other things. After our initial meetings the security umbrella fell to me with heavy involvement from our security guru and other members of the team. We had designed several security solutions in the past and all of those were reviewed and compared to today’s standards which is where we arrived at our first recommendation. This level of work is interesting because it is tempting to want to dive into details, and that’s OK, but you also have to stay high level enough that you aren’t over-designing things from the start. The recommendation made revolved around the use of SAML and WS-Trust and a Security Token Service. Based on our research and experience this was our best "guess" as to what would be appropriate.
Part of this process also involves identifying vendors and products that may fit into some of our high level ideas. We found one vendor who was open enough to have an early dialog with us even though some of our timelines could put us out years and not just months. While their product definitely is very much what we’re looking for we were also looking for some validation that our best guess had some real merit. And this is my key point. The people on this team are very smart and have experienced a lot of things but we know we can’t solve it all and we can’t code it all.
We do know enough to take the business need, merge that with the technology experience, and create our best guess at a solution. Having that validated by what others are doing is critical. In the end, you and your business owners will know what is the best solution in terms of cost and maintainability. Looking to the industry for those best practices and ideas will help you create a solution that gives you the right balance and flexibility you need. You don’t have to have all the answers, but it never hurts to have good places to start looking.
Where do I look when I’m trying to find best practices and guidance to make sure I’m on the right path?
- Friends like Clint Edmonson, Architect Evangelist at Microsoft, Coworkers like Dave and others (who remain blogless)
- Area events such as ArcReady and .NET User Group Meetings
- My favorite blogs and my Delicious.com Bookmarks
- Standards organizations such as OASIS and W3C
- Search engines: Google and Windows Live Search. Try searches such as "Exception handling best practices .Net", etc.
- Vendors who have solutions for the problem I’m trying to solve (Usually found via Google)
The Calm Before: New Role, New Challenge
Jan 18th
I have been quiet the last few weeks though I have been meaning to post a few things. Since the beginning of 2009 I have been working to get several people on my team up-to-speed on Windows Communication Foundation and service oriented design which has proven to be no easy task. Condensing two years of study and experience into short lessons has been difficult because there is no cookie cutter mold that you can hand someone so they can bake up some services. Services take thought and consideration, planning, and careful implementation. Giving someone a template to start from is helpful, but without understanding why the template is set up the way it is much of that experience and knowledge is lost. I think this is largely a fault of my own because of the rushed feeling I have to get this knowledge transfer going into 2009.
On Friday the general manager of REJIS announced something that I think most people saw coming; the beginning of our technology migration plan to move from a Mainframe environment into a Windows based environment. As he outlined it at a very high level we see the picture of a multi-year company-wide effort to make this happen. This is a major shift for REJIS because we are known for our ?green screens? and our core competencies lie in the processes that are running on our mainframe systems. REJIS will be redefining itself as it moves in a new direction to offer new products and services to customers.
Just prior to the announcement I learned the role I would play in this new endeavor. I will be working on the small team that will design the overall architecture as the lead architect. The team is currently comprised of three people including myself. One is a Senior.NET developer and the other comes from the mainframe side though she has spent her more recent time studying .NET and assisting with project designs and documentation. We will be working directly with our IT Director and probably every division of the company as this affects REJIS all the way from the top down.
To say that the coming months and years will be easy would be a gross understatement. We will be converting a collective hundreds of years of peoples work to a new platform. Some of my closest colleagues have literally spent their entire careers building these systems. To call it a conversion is a bit misleading as well. What is being converted is that knowledge and experience in the industry we serve and in that conversion will be a redefining of REJIS into a more agile company ready to handle the changes the future will bring.
For me this is the best opportunity I could be called for. Over the last few years I have been one of several voices calling for better attention to architecture and design on our new systems and for constant attention to how new technologies will affect what we can do and how quickly we can do it. Now will be my opportunity to make REJIS a little bit better and to prepare our IT systems for a future that will allow them to grow, scale, and change in the demanding environment we work in.
I press forward humbled that I will play such a big role in this change and looking to peers and colleagues for their support and advice. People like David who never cease to amaze with their forward thinking, Clint and Denny who make their mark evangelizing the need for architecture and providing sound advice and wisdom from their experience, and my other (blogless) colleagues at REJIS who go along with my crazy ideas and add a little crazy of their own.
The next few weeks will involve a lot of groundwork, some travel, and time to reflect on the road ahead. It will be long and trying and for those of you who subscribe to my feed you will have a front row seat to the transformation that will happen.
Leadership Lessons From The Ranger Handbook
Nov 24th
I have not written about leadership in a little bit so I thought I would post this one. Studying leadership can take you to all sorts of places where leadership happens each and every day. There is probably no other place that leadership has the most visible and known impacts than in the United States military. Each branch of the military has its own unique leadership program that teaches core values and skills for leaders. Many of these leaders are tested in combat where the results are life or death for the leader and the led.
The leadership lessons taught by the military are simply stated in the most understandable manner possible. A great place to find solid leadership advice is Chapter 1 of SH 21-76, The Ranger Handbook. The bullet points tie into FM 22-100 the Army’s 283 page leadership handbook. SH 21-76 does a very good job of fitting these principles to a nice printable page.
From Chapter 1 of the Ranger Handbook, some of the most applicable leadership advice I have found in my studies.
BE
- Technically and tactically proficient
- Able to accomplish to standard all tasks required for the wartime mission.
- Courageous, committed, and candid.
- A leader with integrity.
KNOW
- The four major factors of leadership and how they affect each other are–
- Led
- Leader
- Situation
- Communications
- Yourself, and the strengths and weaknesses in your character, knowledge, and skills. Seek continual self-improvement, that is, develop your strengths and work to overcome your weaknesses.
- Your Rangers, and look out for their well-being by training them for the rigors of combat, taking care of their physical and safety needs, and disciplining and rewarding them.
DO
- Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions; exercise initiative; demonstrate resourcefulness; and take advantage of opportunities on the battlefield that will lead to you to victory; accept fair criticism, and take corrective actions for your mistakes.
- Assess situations rapidly, make sound and timely decisions, gather essential information, announce decisions in time for Rangers to react, and consider the short- and long-term effects of your decision.
- Set the example by serving as a role model for your Rangers. Set high but attainable standards; be willing do what you require of your Rangers; and share dangers and hardships with them.
- Keep your subordinates informed to help them make decisions and execute plans within your intent, encourage initiative, improve teamwork, and enhance morale.
- Develop a sense of responsibility in subordinates by teaching, challenging, and developing them. Delegate to show you trust them. This makes them want more responsibility.
- Ensure the Rangers understand the task; supervise them, and ensure they accomplish it. Rangers need to know what you expect: when and what you want them to do, and to what standard.
- Build the team by training and cross-training your Rangers until they are confident in their technical and tactical abilities. Develop a team spirit that motivates them to go willingly and confidently into combat. Know your unit’s capabilities and limitations, and employ them accordingly.
Simple lessons with direct application to all fields where leadership is needed. Over the next several weeks as I have time I will take each bullet and provide some simple examples of how each one of these principles can be applied in the day-to-day world of the architect as a leader.
On Mindset
Oct 2nd
I never fully understood the true value of mindset until after I survived two rounds fighting cancer in my early 20s. I spent a lot of time studying martial arts in my younger years and as I got older I studied military tactics down to the individual soldier level. Tying all those together it became clear to me that in order to make it through the hard times you have to have the mindset that will get you there.
As a child of the 1980s I grew up with a movie that teaches you more about mindset in three words than these few paragraphs will. My close friend Frank recently unleashed his graphic artist skills pulling a quote from one of my favorite movies from the 1980s.
Head over to his site and download this wallpaper. It will serve as a gentle reminder to stand by your principles and to never, never give up. So put this on your desktop to let your boss know that you won’t be backing down anytime soon.
This Year is Just Practice…Next Year is for Real
Sep 8th
Back in January I made a crucial mistake. I asked for work. I asked for a lot of work. I didn’t get it in January but eventually I did. Last week it looked like my random vacation week was about to get canceled; fortunately it did not. I’m now sitting in my pajamas while my wife is rocking out with Guitar Hero III and I’m trying to get back some of the energy I had when I asked for all that work.
I have a lot of energy and I’m willing to devote it to my employer and to go above and beyond what is necessary. I do that when I have that energy available and when I believe what we are doing is the "right" thing. Apparently I’m not alone in this. Discretionary Energy is a hot topic in leadership and organizational development.
Not that it’s anything new. Militaries have used this throughout history. How else could you get someone to go to their potential death for little or no pay and without other methods of coercion?
Last week we had a reconnect session with the RLF and LLF graduates at REJIS. Dick Dooley was there and we got about an hour worth of verbal ‘beating’ from him (more like gentle reminders of the things we need to be doing). We talked a lot about discretionary energy because every organization needs it and needs its employees to devote some level of it to get the real work done.
The title of this post comes from one of Dick’s sayings which really clicked with me. I think it’s very true and has real meaning to all of us.
Keep practicing hard because the real work happens next year and it won’t be any easier.
Attention Management, a Blackberry, and Back in the Office
Aug 16th
The new hot topic of the Internet is this attention management thing. Merlin Mann recently shared his "Who Moved My Brain?" presentation. I enjoyed it so much I passed it around the office but felt a little jerkish because the content is a in your face and the message it sends is clear. The whole idea of attention management means taking control of your time and when and how people can interrupt you. Doing so can make you feel "inaccessible" at times with the idea being you can do your work then and be accessible at other times.
Someone else asked this raised that issue and Merlin posted his reply. The presentation and his reply are great reads.
My wife and I recently picked up Blackberry PDAs through Verizon. This will be a good test to see if I can really leverage this attention management idea as the Blackberry will definitely make me more interruptible.
I’m also going to be back in the office for a bit. This will be interesting as it is definitely easier to control access to yourself when you are offsite. The results we achieved during the time out of the office were very good but that project is winding down to another phase. Without an office to close the door on I will have to try other strategies to allow me to focus on getting work done while giving coworkers access to the answers they need.
Transformation: Keeping Up With Constant Change
Aug 10th
I was in a meeting last week where some individuals had very real concerns. Their job has been relatively the same for the last 10-15 years and with changes all around our organization they are truly wondering where their future lies in the organization. As I listened to their concern it really hit me that this uncertainty travels to work with people all across the country and the world each day. These individuals are afraid that the knowledge they have acquired over their career is now irrelevant and they were questioning, I think, if it is even possible for them to change and to learn something new.
My IT career started about 12 years ago. Since then I have been through probably a half-dozen or more programming languages, operating systems, vendors, form factors, you name it. The only thing that has ever been stable in my IT career is that some people love computers and some don’t. That and change. I have never been part of a change exempt IT environment and really wonder if one does exist. I know that what I learn today is nearly irrelevant tomorrow. The question is, how do you deal with that?
Early on in my tenure at REJIS it was easy to accuse me of jumping on the new hot technology bandwagon. I did run with a few of them but in the end I have been a little more conservative when it comes to implementing. I did not quit following those bleeding edge things because sooner or later they are relevant, even if for a short time. Microsoft has an entire division devoted to this stuff and Microsoft itself are the ones driving some of the changes their own people get paid to keep up with.
I believe in order to deal with change we must constantly be changing ourselves. What we know, what we think we know, even things we don’t even know that we know. All of it has to be changing a little at a time in order to stay relevant. And I’m not talking just about our skills or those tangible things that enable us in our trade. At the core of who you are you should be challenging yourself each day to be sure of who you are and where you are going. If this isn’t happening then one day the big change comes; maybe you saw it, maybe you didn’t, but either way you will be asking yourself the question: Am I ready to or is it time to do something else?
I am empathetic to those colleagues and I am hopeful someone can find new ways for them to move to another level and remain with the organization. Ultimately the choice will be theirs.
This was also my reminder to keep from getting comfortable. The only comfort we should have is to be comfortable being uncomfortable. Anything else and we’re not on our toes making little changes to survive the big one. It’s happening all around us and one day it will happen to you. The real question is, what are you doing about it?
Technorati Tags: Change,Transformation
The Empty Mind
Jun 28th
When I was in high school I spent quite a bit of time studying martial arts and some eastern philosophy. Some of the concepts taught are truly counter-intuitive to what the we in the west are used to. Our minds are truly the most powerful tool in existence. Minds can also be very busy. Quieting the mind is perhaps the most difficult but rewarding skill to master.
In addition to my day job I also am consulting with my previous employer on their new web site and other technology matters. I have two kids, a wife, a house and I think I can honestly say just about every minute of my day can be filled with things I need to do and even some things I want to do. Since my son was born in May I have spent the majority of my time with my 2-year-old daughter, working, or traveling to LLF seminars. Most of us won’t argue with some extra income but the fact of the matter is that there is a point where the money and the time are not reconciling.
Today I had some real bonding time with my son. He fell asleep in my arms and I sat back in our easy chair (for a 6 week old that is probably as much bonding as you can get…other than changing diapers). The first impulse was to think about all the stuff that I ’should’ be doing. The dishes. my time sheet. the kitchen floor. I need to call someone about our siding. Finish the remaining administrative sections for LCLS’ web site. And on, and on. I did this for about 10 minutes when I finally had a little moment of clarity. The things I need to do are all written down in a notebook with my work bag. They aren’t going anywhere. I decided for the next 15 minutes I would do absolutely nothing other than provide a comfortable spot for my son to sleep. He slept and I actually zoned out for a bit myself.
My wife came over to see if I wanted to set him down on the couch to let him sleep. Often times this backfires but it seems to be working for now. Which leads me to this post.
What if I could do this on command, whenever I needed? What benefit could I see when I’m struggling with the next gray area in a new architecture or trying to achieve a little balance? Sometimes when things are at the most hectic a little clarity may go a long way.
I use music a lot in daily activities and I think I’ll give this a try. Music already helps my focus and I think in combination with an empty mind it could really help give my brain the break it needs to solve the next problem.
Today’s Lesson
Jun 26th
Try to be less easily bothered. Great advice from Paul Horgen, CEO of Think Mutual Bank during a presentation I was privileged to attend in April. I've been thinking about it a lot lately. This small post is my challenge to myself (and you) to give it try.
Go forth and try to be less easily bothered!
The Multitasking Virus
Jun 19th
For the record, I believe that multitasking is the biggest fraud we have deluded ourselves with.
Multitasking is the product of a busy culture that has convinced itself being mediocre at many things is more ‘productive’ than excelling at a few. This is exacerbated by our hyper connected society and the overuse of any communication medium (from person to person to IM). This is amplified by bosses who just assign you more and more each day.
Communication is key to all success and what I am not advocating is the cessation of communication. We absolutely must communicate. What I do advocate is controlling the amount and nature of the communication and ensure you have adequate disruption free time to get the real work done.
In some of my recent reading points made by Tim Ferris in Four Hour Work Week really resonated with me. There are cases in which "emergencies" can cease to happen the moment you execute control over how and when people contact you or you empower those people to handle situations they would normally come to you for. I think in most business Tim is absolutely correct. Very few businesses encounter major emergencies in day-to-day operations. Most emergencies involve people who need (or think they need) answers on items and don’t want to wait or don’t have the latitude to actually make a decision (or both).
What we’re contrasting here is efficiency and effectiveness. Being in IT I will address this from a pretty simple analogy. When I architect a system if I can make it process 100 requests at a time instead of just 1 I have made it efficient. But what happens if when I do that the time it takes to fulfill a request becomes so long that the data is of no use to the user? (I work with Law Enforcement so speed & accuracy of data is critical) In trying to be efficient – getting more done with the same amount of resources – I have just become ineffective. My system response is mediocre instead of great and in my situation I could actually jeopardize the safety of an officer or the public.
Multitasking is like that system. You are trying to do more with the same amount of attention, the same amount of hours in the day and you still believe you are just as effective? You may have answered those hundred emails but if that is all you did today did you really accomplish what you should have? Do you even know what you needed to accomplish or did you let your inbox turn into a to-do list?
I digress a little here but all of this is related – the amount of "messages" and number of mediums we communicate on, our ability to organize and execute what really needs to be done, and our ability to delegate tasks or acknowledge that some things are truly not important.
Strategies to kill the multitasking virus:
Know what you’re good at doing and focus on that (making sure it is vital to your organization!). If you’re not good at something and don’t have the time to be find someone who is and has the time – delegate or collaborate. Make sure people know what you’re good at and help them when they come to you for those skills.
Take control of your time. Unless you are an emergency first responder there are not that many true emergencies that you must drop everything for. Block off time for processing your email and voicemail. Use the 2-minute rule and a trusted system so you are responsive and do not lose issues that need your attention. Create distraction free time and really give things your full attention. When doing this as part of a team make sure the team understands and respects that and allow them the same courtesies.
Don’t let the "I can do it alls" make you feel guilty. I know people who are convinced multitasking is the only way to go. These same people are the ones I do not go to when I need specialized things taken care of because I know they will only give it 10-20% attention when it needs 100% (at least for a short-time). Shedding is a lesson I won’t lecture about in this post but it is related. Deciding you are not effective at things does not make you a failure. Sometimes to be most effective we have to give up things we aren’t good at. That is good common sense but somehow our multitasking infections make us feel rotten about it.
Be effective. Create your multitasking antidote and set an example for others. Results matter and when you are creating results while still holding the trust and respect of your team people will notice. They will also notice that your work stands above the eternal to-do list chasers.
Ask your boss what’s important. Not sure what you should really focus on? Ask. If your boss isn’t sure then he should ask his boss. If no one is sure that you should focus on something it can probably be dropped.
A few resources:
David Allen’s Getting Things Done – Best book I can recommend on being truly effective. Build your own GTD system and start eliminating items from your to-do list. See also Merlin Mann’s Inbox Zero.
Tim Ferris and the Four Hour Work Week – A catchy title that you can take a lot out of even if you don’t outsource your personal assistants and disappear from the office. The book is about taking control of your life, your time, and your attention. The principles apply to cube-dwellers and world-traveling entrepreneurs alike.
