Building SF ATIS (2003-06-07/2004-03-24)

Sending the final invoice this month for maintenance of the real-time Advanced Traveler Information System (ATIS) Web site for the San Francisco Bay area has me reflecting on my company's past projects to discern what I would like to do next. I liked managing a team to build the site using repeatable processes. I contributed by implementing the site's driving times calculations in SQL and VBScript, writing an SQL test suite, and configuring Big Brother monitoring. Often I reviewed code and design documentation. In fact, some days I mostly made decisions. The result was an accessible and easy-to-use map and text system capable of delivering a million page views per day via (BIG-IP) load-balancing two three-server stacks.

I'm proud of our ability to rapidly reach this result within a fixed fee and schedule. Our team took less time to revise the requirements and build the site than the previous company had taken to produce the requirements--and did so in the remaining budget!

Reading Agile Software Development with Scrum (2007-12-17/2008-01-01)

"Scrum is built on an empirical process control model which is radically different from the defined model that most processes and methodologies use."
--Ken Schwaber and Mike Beedle, Agile Software Development with Scrum

This past month I attended a Seattle XP Users Group meeting, read Agile Software Development with Scrum (one of two books that are primary sources of information about Scrum), and toured SolutionsIQ (a Seattle-area Scrum training and consulting firm). I wanted to see how my company's experience with small teams compares with our colleagues' in the industry. We'd been using agile development methodologies and tools since before starting the company, due to reading Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change, Planning Extreme Programming, and similar books by Kent Beck and Martin Fowler.

Readers of this blog may recognize in agile development methodologies the management paradigms I profess. My management methods led my company to agile development methodologies like Scrum and Extreme Programming. My blog posts on management books provide the following principles:

1. Update opinions from observations. ("The Map is Not the Territory.")
2. Develop a culture of interdependence. ("Mature from Dependence to Independence to Interdependence," and "People are smarter than you think. Give them a chance to prove themselves.")
3. Prioritize what's important. ("Good is the Enemy of Best.")
4. Jointly determine the course. (See The 8th Habit.)
   
5. Set up and manage systems to stay on course. (See The 8th Habit.)
6. Focus talents on results, not methods, then get out of people's way and give help as requested. (See The 8th Habit.)
7. "Never automate something that can be eliminated, and never delegate something that can be automated or streamlined."
   

The principles above aren't articulated in industry terms, however. Specifically in software development these principles lead to the following practices:

1. Inspect results and update process.
2. Rely on people.
3. Work on highest priorities.
4. Teach self-managing teams.
5. Improve processes.
6. Remove impediments.
7. Automate testing.
   

These practices are agile:

1. Agile Software Development with Scrum emphasizes empirical process control.
2. Agile methods have a people-first orientation.
3. Product backlog and sprint backlog are prioritized.
4. Scrum uses self-managing teams.
5. Extreme Programming suggests various process improvements like spike solutions, coding standards, continuous integration.
   
6. A Scrum Master uses a daily stand-up meeting to learn impediments to remove them.
7. Extreme Programming emphasizes automated unit (and acceptance) tests.
   

I would list examples from our experience (e.g., engineering estimation, comparison to CMM Level 2 and key process areas, serving manufacturing clients, consensus decision-making) but this blog post is already long. However, I'll write that I'm pleased with how agile practice embodies good paradigms and principles.

[Updated FAQ link.]

Reading The 4-Hour Workweek (2007-06-19/20)

The 4-Hour Workweek borrows concepts from popular books like The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Getting Things Done while adding an attitude of its own. This post compares and contrasts the time management advice of these three books:

1. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (The 7 Habits) by Stephen R. Covey,
2. Getting Things Done (GTD) by David Allen, and
3. The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss.
   

The numbers below illustrate the areas of unique emphasis (1-3) as well as the areas of overlap (4-6) and an area all three books share (7).

1. The 7 Habits begins with principles and time management paradigms, and then proceeds to habits and time management tools. Previous posts have discussed some of these principles, but the concept most relevant to time management is Quadrant II. This concept affects the habits and tools Covey recommends.
   
   Covey notes that activities vary in both importance and urgency. Classifying activities as "Urgent" or "Not Urgent" and "Important" or "Not Important" produces a time management matrix with four quadrants (illustrated both in The 7 Habits and in First Things First). Quadrant I is important and urgent, Quadrant II is important but not urgent, Quadrant III is urgent but not important, and Quadrant IV is neither important nor urgent.
   
   The habit for time management is Habit 3, "Put First Things First". Habit 3 is based upon Habit 1, "Be Proactive," and--especially--Habit 2, "Begin with the End in Mind." "The basic problem is that their priorities have not become deeply planted in their hearts and minds," writes Covey. His time management advice is essentially, "Organize and execute around priorities." His top-down organization strategy begins with a mission statement, which defines roles, which have goals, which require plans, which become schedules.
   
   Covey also classifies time management tools into four generations: notes and checklists (first generation); calendars and appointment books (second generation); and priorities, goals, and plans (third generation). His fourth generation time management shifts emphasis: from efficiency with things and time, to effectiveness with relationships and results. "Subordinate your schedule to a higher value," he writes.
   
   
2. GTD approaches time management from the bottom up rather than the top down like The 7 Habits. The GTD approach is to deal effectively with internal commitments using simple tools. The problem, writes Allen, is new demands and insufficient resources. His process is managing action; time, information, and priorities aren't changed by management.
   
   Allen's tools are primarily notes, checklists, calendars, and appointment books--the first and second generations of Covey's classification. Similarly his plans are informal and focused on the Next Action.
   
   
3. The 4-Hour Workweek focuses on freedom, so its time management advice is in "Step II: E is for Elimination". Ferriss' question is, "How can one achieve the millionaire lifestyle of complete freedom without first having $1,000,000?"
   
   Since The 4-Hour Workweek is about freedom, and Step II is Elimination, Ferriss calls his chapter 5 "The End of Time Management." The chapter begins, "Just a few words on time management: Forget all about it." His strategy follows from the Pareto principle and Parkinson's law: focus on the vital few by shortening work time. His "Questions and Actions" pages elaborate on this principle by clarifying what activities really get one closer to goals in contrast to activities fill time and help avoid more important (and anxiety-producing) activities.
   
   
4. While The 4-Hour Workweek focuses on freedom, both Covey's The 7 Habits and Allen's GTD focus on peace of mind. For Covey, "Peace of mind comes when your life is in harmony with true principles and values and in no other way." Allen promises relaxed, stress-free productivity, a "mind like water." However, their paths to peace differ.
   
   Covey mentions crises more than stress. For Covey, crises are Quadrant I activities:

   [Effective people] also shrink Quadrant I down to size by spending more time in Quadrant II. Quadrant II is the heart of effective personal management. It deals with things that are not urgent, but are important. It deals with things like building relationships, writing a personal mission statement, long-range planning, exercising, preventive maintenance, preparation--all those things we know we need to do, but somehow seldom get around to doing, because they aren't urgent.
   

   For Allen, being stress-free also involves being prepared, but by being in control (see Ready for Anything as quoted in Wikipedia):
   

   Get everything out of your head. Make decisions about actions required on stuff when it shows up — not when it blows up. Organize reminders of your projects and the next actions on them in appropriate categories. Keep your system current, complete, and reviewed sufficiently to trust your intuitive choices about what you're doing (and not doing) at any time.
   

   Covey and Allen also both specifically address knowledge work. Covey's comments are in The 8th Habit.
   
   
5. Neither GTD nor The 4-Hour Workweek spend much time on principles and values compared to The 7 Habits . For Allen, values don't solve the problems of new demands and insufficient resources. For Ferriss, focus on values first requires free time.
   
   Allen writes, "And what created most of the work that's on those [to do] lists in the first place? Our values!" Priorities are also less important than context, time available, and energy available:

   "Setting priorities" in the traditional sense of focusing on your long-term goals and values, though obviously a necessary core focus, does not provide a practical framework for a vast majority of the decisions and tasks you must engage in day to day.
   

   Ferriss, rather than beginning with "big questions" of principles and values, ends with them in chapter 15: "Filling the Void: Adding Life After Subtracting Work." This chapter proposes "the point of it all" as "life exists to be enjoyed and... the most important thing is to feel good about yourself.... to love, be loved, and never stop learning...." This discussion borrows from Covey without attribution, also calling learning "sharpening the saw," Covey's 7th habit.
   
   
6. While The 4-Hour Workweek leaves values to the end, it begins with imagination and goal-setting in "Step I: D is for Definition." Ferriss, like Covey, starts with imagining a motivating state, both "being" and "doing", and sets goals to reach that end result. Both warn against expending effort that doesn't achieve that end. Covey writes, "It's incredibly easy... to work harder and harder at climbing the ladder of success only to discover it's leaning against the wrong wall." Ferriss, like Covey, contrasts effectiveness and efficiency:
   

   Effectiveness is doing things that get you closer to your goals. Efficiency is performing a given task (whether important or not) in the most economical manner possible. Being efficient without being effective is the default mode....

   In The 4-Hour Workweek, the end is a state of excitement in the next 6 to 12 months. In The 7 Habits, the end is a life mission centered on principles. Nevertheless both emphasize the need for a motivating vision of the future.
   
   
7. All three authors--Covey, Allen, and Ferriss--discuss delegation. Delegation is both a part of work flow and a way to empower.
   
   Delegation plays a similar role in the work flow in both The 7 Habits and GTD. In The 7 Habits plans become either appointments to schedule or stewardship to delegate. In GTD, after determining the Next Action, the next part of the process is to do it (if it takes less than two minutes), delegate it (if someone else is the right person to do it), or defer it. Consistent with its pursuit of freedom, The 4-Hour Workweek has the following advice:

   Delegation is to be used as a further step in reduction, not as an excuse to create more movement or add the unimportant.... Never automate something that can be eliminated, and never delegate something that can be automated or streamlined.

   The 7 Habits and The 4-Hour Workweek also discuss empowerment. The 7 Habits likens empowerment to leverage, enabling a manager to invest a smaller amount of time with equivalent result--provided the person accepting the task takes stewardship of the desired results, within guidelines, and with accountability and consequences. Similarly, The 4-Hour Workweek emphasizes the time advantages of empowering others, and says, "People are smarter than you think. Give them a chance to prove themselves."

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Reading The 8th Habit (2007-03-26/04-26)

Hopefully you're beginning to see how the 8th Habit--Find Your Voice and Inspire Others to Find Theirs--is another way of saying, "Use the empowering knowledge worker, whole-person model. Apply the 7 Habits (personal greatness), the 4 Roles of Leadership (leadership greatness) and the 6 principles or drivers to execution (organizational greatness) to that model."

--Stephen R. Covey, The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness

"Why is the eighth habit longer than the first seven combined?" is a question I heard more than once while reading The 8th Habit. As the quote shows, The 8th Habit applies the seven habits to personal and interpersonal life in "Knowledge Worker Age," and then extends their paradigms into leadership and organizational greatness. Along the way Covey's writing references a confusing number of lists and research.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People proceeds from "private victory" to "public victory." Private victory is essentially making and keeping promises, implemented in the first three habits. Public victory is essentially involving others in the problem and working out the solution together, implemented in the next three habits. Habit 7 (Sharpen the Saw) "embodies all the other habits. It is the habit of continuous improvement...."

To elaborate on the habit of self-improvement for a healthy balanced life (an aim I mentioned in a previous book review), Covey identifies four dimensions: physical, mental, social/emotional, and spiritual. He identifies example activities for each dimension that build a person's productive capacity: exercise, nutrition, and stress management (for body); reading, visualizing, planning, and writing (for mind); service, empathy, synergy, and developing intrinsic security (for heart); and value clarification and commitment, and study and meditation (for spirit).

In Covey's First Things First these dimensions find expression in the subtitle: "To Live, To Love, To Learn, To Leave a Legacy." In The 8th Habit these four dimensions are the "whole person paradigm". The process of "finding your voice" involves answering questions along these dimensions: What drives your economic engine? What can you be the best in the world at? What are you deeply passionate about? What does your conscience counsel?

The entire eighth habit is "find your voice and inspire others to find theirs." Consequently the book proceeds from personal greatness to leadership greatness. From mental vision, physical (or economic) discipline, emotional passion, and spiritual conscience arise Covey's "4 Roles of Leadership": pathfinding, aligning, empowering, and modeling. These roles lead to these leadership activities:

• Jointly determine the course.
• Set up and manage systems to stay on course.
• Focus talents on results, not methods, then get out of people's way and give help as requested.
• Set a good example.

To the discussion of personal and leadership effectiveness, The 8th Habit adds survey results on organizational effectiveness. Covey's survey results suggest that organizations fail in "focus and execution," particularly these areas of execution: clarity, commitment, translation, enabling, synergy, and accountability. Organizational greatness comes from closing these execution gaps.

As its length suggests, there is more material in The 8th Habit than can be easily evaluated and applied after one reading. In fact, Covey suggests it as a yearlong personal growth and development program. Time will tell whether the eighth habit is as memorable as the seven habits were.

Rereading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (2007-03-24/04-21)

Suppose you were to come upon someone in the woods working feverishly to saw down a tree.
"What are you doing?" you ask.
"Can't you see?" comes the impatient reply. "I'm sawing down this tree."
"You look exhausted!" you exclaim. "How long have you been at it?"
"Over five hours," he returns, "and I'm beat! This is hard work."
"Well, why don't you take a break for a few minutes and sharpen that saw?" you inquire. "I'm sure it would go a lot faster."
"I don't have time to sharpen the saw," the man says emphatically. "I'm too busy sawing!"

--Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Last year a friend sent me an email message with this request: "I'm looking for advice on how to become a better contractor/consultant/professional. Any books you would recommend?" Early this year I told him in reply that if he read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People I would re-read it and discuss it with him. As I've made reference in this blog to maturing beyond dependence, putting "first things first", and "sharpening the saw" both mentally and physically; it is appropriate to review this book and present its habits.

Book Review

A list of the seven habits is easy to find, so this review focuses on the underlying principles. (Indeed, being principle-centered rather than tribe- or work-centered is the most significant contrast I see between the writings of Covey and Immelman.) Consequently I have selected a half-dozen of the principles I have found corroborated in other reading and have attempted to practice in my pursuit of a balanced, effective life.

The Map is Not the Territory

The book 7 Habits begins with a discussion of paradigms or patterns of thought. Covey writes that paradigm "was originally a scientific term"; this is probably a reference to The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn. Revolutionary changes occur in thought when paradigms shift.

A consequence of this concept is that when one's observations of the territory (reality) differ from the map one holds (one's patterns of thought), one has the opportunity to update the map. This is my pursuit of truth; I want to frequently update my mental maps to better anticipate consequences.

Mature from Dependence to Independence to Interdependence

The seven habits progress from dependence to independence to interdependence. Emotional, mental, physical, or spiritual dependence is a sign of immaturity in the respective area. However, independence is not complete maturity. Maturity is ultimately in relation to others, and consequently is interdependent. (I have often heard the pre/trans fallacy of conflating dependent and interdependent concepts.) In interdependent relating the whole is more than the sum of its parts. Nevertheless, independence precedes interdependence; dependent people are limited in their ability to constructively relate to others.

There is a Gap Between Stimulus and Response

The concepts of free will and responsibility are important to maturity. I endeavor to explain my actions based upon my values and my evaluation of the situation--not as a result of my environment. This is the meaning of "proactive."

Wisdom Anticipates Consequences

Realizing that one can choose a response to a stimulus is part of maturity; another part is realizing that one can not choose consequences. Consequences are a natural result of choices. This is the concept of cause and effect. Covey writes, "When we pick up one end of the stick, we pick up the other," but I don't think that aphorism conveys the idea well. "Whatever a man sows, this he will also reap," perhaps conveys it better. One of my personal measures of wisdom is the length of time considered when evaluating the consequences of one's actions.

Trust Requires Trustworthiness

One of the consequences to consider in choosing is trust. Jim comments that in Immelman's book trust results from an external event, a plot contrivance. Similarly contrived are trust exercises in which participants fall back into the waiting arms of other participants. These approaches assume low trust is more a result of suspicion than a result of untrustworthiness. The solution is then a technique rather than character.

In my experience, however, making and keeping promises is challenging. Breaking one's word depletes the "emotional bank account" of the relationship, in Covey's metaphor.

Good is the Enemy of Best

At work I sometimes say, "When everything is a priority, nothing is." It is better--after consulting the mental map and considering the long-term (particularly relational) consequences of one's choices--to prioritize what's important. Covey distinguishes between importance and urgency, dividing time into four quadrants depending on low or high urgency or importance. Quadrant II, important but not urgent, often has the highest-leverage activities. In Quadrant II are the "Sharpen the Saw" activities illustrated by the quote beginning this post.

The 7 Habits, particularly First Things First, then suggest scheduling one's priorities. If space is limited, put in the rocks, then the pebbles, and finally the sand; doing the reverse uses more space. Similarly, since time is limited, find a time for the "big things" and let the "small things" fill the moments between.

The Seven Habits Paradigm

How does one act on these principles? The book suggests developing the following habits:

1. Be Proactive
2. Begin with the End in Mind
3. Put First Things First
4. Think Win/Win
5. Seek First to Understand... Then to be Understood
6. Synergize
7. Sharpen the Saw

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Reading Great Boss, Dead Boss (2007-02-23/03-03)

"'...[O]nce you understand tribal behavior, it seems to be just about the only workable model for successful social interaction.'"--Ray Immelman, Great Boss, Dead Boss

Book Review

Great Boss, Dead Boss is a book on leadership. In its pages it presents a theory of motivation as well as the management conclusions that this theory implies. It does all this within the context of a narrative. The plot illustrates the principles and the characters exemplify the leadership the book proposes.

Motivation Theory

The concept I had not encountered before I saw Great Boss, Dead Boss recommended is in Tribal Dimension 1: "Individuals are socially, emotionally, and psychologically defined by their tribal membership." (The second half of this long post contains a complete listing of Immelman's tribal attributes and dimensions.) This paradigm purports to explain motivation better than previous models. "[M]any MBA programs are less than optimal in this area," says Butch, who is the voice of the author in the narrative. Butch says, "Indeed, tribes appear to be the oldest organizational form and still exist in this modern day and age. I came to realize how deeply ingrained it was in human behavior through my experience with tribes in Africa."

Immelman applies this tribal model to what is essentially a simplification of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, that individuals seek security and value. Where Maslow proposed psychological, safety, and love/belonging needs, Immelman proposes individual security, "Individuals act to reinforce their security when under threat." Where Maslow proposed esteem, Immelman proposes individual value, "Individuals act to reinforce their self-worth when their security is not under threat." Other authors summarize these needs as "security and significance" or "relationship and impact."

Great Boss, Dead Boss extends the pursuit of security and value to the tribe as the determiner of individuals. Consequently the remaining two tribal dimensions mirror individual needs: "Tribes act to secure their self-preservation if their security is under threat," and "Tribes act to reinforce their self-worth when their security is not under threat." The replacement for the pyramid is a progression from low tribal security and low individual security to high tribal value and high individual value.

Management Practice

In addition to the tribal dimensions, Immelman's tribal attributes contain many good management ideas. A tribe must have a mission: "A strong tribe has a credible, just cause for its continued existence," and "A strong tribe has clear external measures of success." I infer from remarks in the book and in reviews that mission statements have been so commonly poorly developed that there is credibility in calling them something else ("just cause", "measures of success") and contrasting them with mission statements.

Other tribal attributes show the wisdom of sharpening the saw. "A strong tribe celebrates and cares for the skills, tools, and implements required for its prosperity." Greg, the protagonist of the narrative, even demonstrates a "Character Ethic," concluding, " A strong tribe has a leader dedicated to the tribe's success. "

Much of the book, however, could foster what Stephen Covey labels a "Personality Ethic." Greg sets about to apply tribal attributes as human relations techniques, saying, "I'm going to make our common enemy as tangible as possible," and "By introducing symbols, we actually create tribes." These are implementations of tribal attributes 1 and 2.

Greg cynically accepts individuals in a state of dependence: "I concluded that individuals prefer to subordinate their desires to that of the group, rather than take an individual stand." The methods of meeting esteem needs depend on others above or below: "A strong tribe has a revered figurehead," and "A strong tribe knows how it compares to the 'untouchables.'"

Book Narrative

The narrative itself conveys a pursuit of esteem through division between inside and outside, above and below. True to the principle that, "A strong tribe develops its own unique language," the protagonist uses abbreviations (IS, IV, TS, TV) that outsiders would not understand.

The main characters appear motivated by fame, glory, and respect. The story begins with displays of power, executives whose conversations look to me something like, "Go here, do this, do that, satisfy the board, see my secretary, I'm all upset about money." The book's alternative is a tribal guru, an African big-game hunter who mentors through terse answers, silences, and sudden ends to conversations. The book perhaps conveys to management readers that managing a successful company is somehow analogous in adventure to actually going to Africa.

Perhaps as a reflection of the patriarchy typical of tribes, no major character is female. The women (and children) take a supporting role, providing their men with time to pursue business objectives, and with food.

Personal Reaction

Frankly I don't fit the world in Great Boss, Dead Boss. I'm not a joiner. When I read, "A strong tribe expects unquestioning loyalty," I fear the True Believer. I feel belonging to small social connections rather than large social groups. I have responsibilities in my role as business owner, but I value this as one role in a balanced, effective life. For the future of my corporation, I'd rather see us develop a culture of interdependence, following on individual independence, based on character and competence. I'd like confidence based upon achievement independent of enemies, outsiders, and subordinates. Will being a tribal leader aid my company in achieving this aim?

Tribal Attributes and Dimensions

Tribal Attributes

Great Boss, Dead Boss lists twenty-three attributes of a very strong, highly motivated tribe and its leader:

1. A strong tribe must have a common enemy.
2. A strong tribe has clearly defined symbols.
3. A strong tribe offers a superordinate identity to all sub-tribes.
4. A strong tribe has a credible, just cause for its continued existence.
5. A strong tribe has an accepted rite of passage.
6. A strong tribe has clear external measures of success.
7. A strong tribe understands and protects its source of power.
8. A strong tribe knows how it compares to the "untouchables."
9. The criteria for tribal membership are clear and credible.
10. Tribes communicate in a non-traditional, subjective, and intuitive manner.
11. A strong tribe develops its own unique language.
12. Tribal roles are fundamentally different from accepted functional roles.
13. Strong tribes record and celebrate significant events that reinforce their identity and value.
14. A strong tribe has a clearly defined and well-known justice mechanism.
15. A strong tribe has a clearly defined icon that embodies the tribal value.
16. A strong tribe has a walled city--a place of refuge where things of value to the tribe are kept.
17. A strong tribe possesses objects of value that embody the tribe's value.
18. A strong tribe has a revered figurehead.
19. A strong tribe celebrates and cares for the skills, tools, and implements required for its prosperity.
20. A strong tribe expects unquestioning loyalty.
21. A strong tribe has clearly defined roles, responsibilities, values, authority, power structure, and chain of command.
22. A strong tribe has a leader dedicated to the tribe's success.
23. Strong leaders have capable mentors whose psychological limits exceed their own.
    

Tribal Dimensions

The protagonist also examines five tribal dimensions:

1. Individuals are socially, emotionally, and psychologically defined by their tribal membership.
2. Individual Security (IS): Individuals act to reinforce their security when under threat.
3. Individual Value (IV): Individuals act to reinforce their self-worth when their security is not under threat.
4. Tribal Security (TS): Tribes act to secure their self-preservation if their security is under threat.
5. Tribal Value (TV): Tribes act to reinforce their self-worth when their security is not under threat.

[Added anchor for subsequent post.]