Ideas, prototypes and Murphy's law...

The following is the original and the rewrite can be found by clicking here.

To this day I remember this short engagement between a sales professional and a "hardened" General Manager (hGM)... it went something like this - 

Sales Professional: "I think we need to do this... I would do it this way... It would be great for the company and I know people who could help us get it done."

hGM: "Great idea... You have my support to do it. Let me know if you need anything."

Sales Professional: "Really? Great... I'm going to do it."

There was some more enthusiastic discussion about the idea and then the sales professional moved off to another discussion.

hGM: "He will never do it you know"

I looked at the hardened General Manager and sipped my wine. He was right, the sales professional never did what he was so enthusiastic about. His idea never happened... either because he had no intention to do more than talk about it (as the hGM surmised) or maybe, he simply didn't know how to bring it to life. 

An idea, in the end, is just "cocktail conversation with a hGM" until you are able to bring action or tangibility to it and make it physically real. So what does it take to bring an idea to life?

Well in my experience you need...

a Time and Event Schedule To Make IT Happen (TESTMITH): This is a detailed calendar of events broken into weekly blocks that outline all the activities needed to progressively build your idea and make something tangible with it. It usually starts with a completion date in mind and then you work backwards identifying all the activities needed to develop something real. The order of these activities need to be reviewed as some activities build upon others, and so forth; my experience is bringing ideas to life is an iterative process. There is an important mechanism that comes with the TESTMITH - A weekly review, as well as creating a simple dashboard using GREEN for complete, YELLOW for in progress and RED for not started. This makes it easy to map your progress, communicate and identify future roadblocks. Plus it's very colourful.

To build a Prototype: Prototypes are exciting for a number of reasons!

• Your idea is now real... you can touch it, you can see it, and more importantly, so can others. 
• You have insight into what is needed to build it, the challenges, and what will be needed to build more (aspects of scale up).
• You now have the first iteration that all other improved versions will be build from.  
• They help show progress, as some prototypes are needed for the next activity in your TESTMITH.

Resources: Approach all of this with the assumption that resources are slim; more often than not it will be you, and if lucky, a trusted few to make it happen. And you will have you roll up your own sleeves, as there is not much opportunity to delegate here; people and processes are not used to making small quantities or "one offs". More often than not you will have to be creative with material and the resources needed to "build it". It is even tougher when money is in short supply -  Creativity, inventiveness and resourcefulness come in handy.

And this brings it us to Murphy's law, which states, and I quote, "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong." 

No mater how well you have planned, reviewed and controlled, something inevitably comes along and throws a wrench in your plans. Just imagine working on 20 prototype kits, where each prototype has over 50 pieces and each needs a label... now imagine, spending a day hand labelling all those pieces just to come back the following day to find a majority of the labels were peeling away. Five days later, more labelling and testing, it turns out the room was much too dry to let the glue on the label cure properly. Who would have thought? I sure hadn't when I started.  

Business literature is filled with characteristics of the human condition that help us deal with Murphy's Law and make our ideas real - Persistence, resilience, courage, conviction, determination, belief, sacrifice, etc. It is here that all ideas become real, and everything else is just "process".

So when Murphy's law strikes and the labels fall off, dig deep into the human condition.

gpe 

Speak up... nothing gets solved unless you do.

The following is the original and the rewrite can be found by clicking here.

I was at a conference today and had the opportunity to listen to a speaker named Talli Osborne. Without getting into her story, I think it is safe to say she was inspirational, motivational and will look back on a very rich life when she is eighty-five.  Click here to go to her website. She told many stories, but I was struck with the story when she consciously decided to speak up.

She spoke of a point in her life where she decided to tell people what she thought when asked... instead of shying away; ultimately she got into the habit of telling people what she thought, even when they didn't ask. She started to influence and change things. I remember hearing the same sentiments from a General Manager I knew long ago, who simply said, "if you are not participating in the conversations to manage the business, what value do you offer". He was a little bit more "harsh" than Talli.

The point of speaking up, speaking your mind, and adding to the conversation is extremely important. Not only for yourself, but for whatever issue, problem, idea or plan you are involved with.

Here's what I have learned so far on this topic - 

• At any given time, you will be the smartest person in the room... so share.
• If you are shy, please get over it. It serves no one, including your self.
• If a leader asks, "are there any questions?"... they mean it, so ask.
• More often than not, if it falls apart it's because the person who had the answer didn't speak up.
• Engagement is the easiest way to tell everyone you care.
• Do not assume people "know what you know"...
• If you want to engage a leader, tell them what you think. They may disagree, but they will respect you. And listen the next time.
• When you ask a question, you can bet 75 % of the room wanted to ask.
• Although it can be said a committee created the camel*, more often than not, you end up with a better solution when there are more "voices" involved. 
• If you don't say it in open forum, you should not be saying it behind closed doors.
• Speaking to "power" can be intimidating, but it can make things happen.
• No one knows what you are thinking unless you "say".

Is this easy? It should be, but sometimes it's not. You still have to speak up though... There is no one stopping you...

gpe

* It is said that the camel was a horse designed by committee.

Lessons for "making something happen"...

Chess is a strategic thinkers game with a simple goal of capturing the king. The strategies to accomplish this however are complex, with advanced thought out moves and counter moves to make it happen. Some have said chess is the board game of life.

Like chess, very activity that we do, more often than not, has a reason behind it; that reason is usually connected to another reason, and so on... ultimately leading us to where we want to be (or having what we want to have). Lately I have become involved with a couple of complex projects and chess, as well as a number of lessons have come to mind. I thought I would take this opportunity to share the lessons I've learned over the years for "making something happen"... 

Have a project plan written down on "paper" or in a spreadsheet. Start with the date you've targeted for completion; from there, work backwards with all the activities and milestones that need to be met.

• This will outline all the activities (or tasks) needed and illustrate how all the activities are interrelated.
• This will quickly illustrate if you have identified what is needed to get it done, as we'll as make clear the complexity.
• This will allow you the ability to communicate the project, particularly the so-called "devil" in the detail.
•  You will have "line of sight" to the resources needed to get it done.

Complex projects will require a team. It is this team that will determine your ability to execute effectively. Don't underestimate how important it is to have the right people, as well as the energy required to ensure they are working in a coordinated manner.

Communication needs to be a dialogue... and constantly ongoing. Do not underestimate the time and energy that is needed to ensure everyone is up-to-date with the latest information... just because you "talked about it", doesn't mean you "were heard". Also remember, email is great for transferring information, but horrible for communicating. 

The greatest plans will "fall off the rails". It has been said that the best plans will become obsolete as soon as they are implemented, as they are now in the real world. This is not to suggest you do not have to develop an execution plan, but rather that things happen, so be flexible and adaptable - What you thought would work today, may not work tomorrow. 

Be Patient. We are notorious for believing things will happen "sooner", "faster" and when we want them to. The universe, more often than not, does not share the same feelings as we do. I am not suggesting urgency should not be your mantra... I am just saying sometimes you need to be patient and wait for things to run the course.

Believe. I am not talking about faith here, but simply referring to being confident in what you are doing, and how you are doing it. If you are leading a team, this becomes even more crucial as others will look to you when the situation seems to be "heading to hell in a hand basket" - They need to know the course they are on is the correct one. 

Victories can be small, but they add up. This definitely occurs with complex projects, as there are many activities between the start and the finish. Look at what you have in front of you, work to the best of your ability and don't dwell on how far you are from the finish line. As they say, "It's the journey, not the destination". This of course, all within the scheduled timeframes.

Hope is not a strategy. Enough said. 

There is one last thing that comes to mind, and that is to start. As much as everyone has the finish line in mind, I believe it is just as important to have a start date - With that, you can then say, "look at all the things I have made happen so far".

gpe.