@rands posted a link to this picture.
My thoughts, line by line as I read this:
Line 1: Yes! I agree. This is my ideal. I talk about ideas a bunch, right?
Line 2: Yea, I know. I do that some, mostly about Apple products. But that isn’t all bad, is it?
Line 3: Oh. I do that. Darn it. I need to stop. <sigh, and then with some grumbling> Thanks for the reminder.
Seth Godin in Linchpin:
“Fear of living without a map is the main reason people are so insistent that we tell them what to do. The reasons are pretty obvious: If it’s someone else’s map, it’s not your fault if it doesn’t work out. If you’ve memorized the sales script I gave you and you don’t make the sale, who’s in trouble now?”
I think this sums up the #1 reason I hate procedures. They are used to deflect blame.
My second reason I hate procedures? They are a tactical admission that even though something is so complicated it has to be written down, there is no desire to make it simpler and better. My vote: incrementally make it better till you don’t need the procedure any more.
When you want something done right -the saying goes- do it yourself.
But how would the corollary go? If you want someone else to do it right, do you: a) exhaustively document how to do it -or- b) have an open, honest, and regular conversation with them?
My next question: if your practices do not line up with your answer, why not?
Fred Brooks in an interview with Wired:
“Great design does not come from great processes; it comes from great designers.”
This seems so natural and correct when talking about design. Applied to other professions, you might see:
Yet time and time again, we lean back on the processes that in the best of situations are mediocre and brittle.
Daniel Pink writing for the Telegraph:
“Most of us believe in positive self-talk. “I can achieve anything,” we mouth to the mirror in the morning. “Nobody can stop me,” we tell ourselves before walking into a big meeting. We believe we’ll do better if we banish doubts about our ability or our strategy and instead muster an inner voice that affirms our awesomeness.
But not Bob [the Builder]. Instead of puffing up himself and his team, he first wonders whether they can actually achieve their goal.”
Pink then dives into some research on whether positive self-talk actually improves performance or not.
Spoiler: Having doubts improves performance.
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