Action Figure Daniel

Category: Essays

  • Nobody knows that nobody knows

    “Ohhh,” the tech said over the phone. “I understand now what you’re saying.” I was glad because I was running out of ways to say what I had already said. The buildings location was so clear to me and I thought I had explained clearly where the new building was. Unfortunately, the building was also clear to the tech and my directions did little to clarify the situation.

    Boss had questioned me about the installation of some communications equipment. I deferred to the tech’s judgment, thinking he knew best. He had been out to the site and knew what was needed, right? Boss kept questioning though, so I finally broke down and called the tech. I was wrong; he hadn’t been out to the sight. He was going off his memory of the original installation. He didn’t know that we had added two more buildings after the initial installation, and they were on the opposite side of the pad from what he thought.

    This was a classic example of lateral communication breakdown, mostly because of distance. Boss and I were communicating via email because I was out of state, the tech and I always talked over the phone except when he was on-site doing work. Some important concerns were being lost in the communication methods being used. I didn’t understand from Boss that the tech was convinced that we need to mount communication equipment at the opposite end of the complex, the tech didn’t understand that we had added new buildings in different places and Boss didn’t understand why the tech didn’t want to put the equipment in the logical place.

    It took me several minutes, most of the call, to realize that the tech didn’t know about the new buildings but once he knew about the new buildings he readily agreed that the equipment should be placed where the rest of us thought it should be.

    One intriguing part of lateral communication breakdown is that frequently nobody knows that other people are missing information (often the other people don’t even know that their missing information). Nobody knows that nobody knows because what everyone has makes sense to them even though what everyone else gives them doesn’t fit.

  • Commitment to Intentions

    Some months ago I was involved in a management retreat for work. The retreat’s primary agenda focused on a proposed reorganization of the company. The entire first day discussed the ramifications of the changes and what the company would like after it was complete. As we worked late into the night we started planning the timescale for the reorganization.

    At the beginning of the timescale planning the question was asked, “Do we all agree to do it?” There was a long silence. No one wanted to commit to the process with so many unanswered questions. Slowly a new discussion emerged that was a rehash of an old discussion: We don’t know because we don’t have all our questions answered.

    The discussion was prolonging the issue and allowing us to answer around the important question. Just when we seemed doomed to revisit the entire days meeting Hero raised his hand. He waited for the room to fall silent before speaking.

    “I think we are asking the wrong question,” he said. Then he told the story.

    As a young man he had decided to buy a house. At the time the housing market was ripe with small 2 bedroom houses. Hero didn’t have any need for a bigger house and in fact was quite contend with a small house. The Realtor took Hero to see various houses all of which had the same fatal flaw: they were old. Hero was not a very handyman when it came to fixing up houses. The Realtor pointed out that in order for Hero to sell the house again, at an increased value, work would need to be done.

    Then one day the Realtor took Hero to a small house tucked down a short private street. The house, along with the two others on the street, had been built by the same construction company who had been renting the houses out. Their policy was only to rent for a couple of years then to quickly sell the house. The duplex on the corner had been sold previous, the larger house at the end was too expensive and was already being battled over, but the three bedroom house in the middle was just right.

    There was just one catch. In order to get inside the house to see it Hero would have to put in an offer to buy the house. The Realtor explained that this was not too unusual of a request because it was currently being rented out. The solution was simple: the Realtor would include a clause that the offer was contingent on Hero’s inspection of the inside. He could, for any reason, back out if he didn’t like what he saw on the inside.

    The offer was written and accepted in short order. Hero and the Realtor inspected the inside.

    “I like it,” Hero told the Realtor. “What do we do now?”

    “You buy it,” the Realtor replied.

    “What if the inspection comes back bad?” Hero asked.

    “I’ll put in the contingencies for things like that,” the Realtor assured. “What I need to know now is, barring any major unforeseen issues, do you want to buy this house?”

    Hero thought for several minutes then turned to the Realtor and said, “Yes”. A month later he owned the house and has happily owned it since.

    Back at the retreat, Hero looked across the room. “I think the question we should be asking is the same question my realtor asked me: Barring any major unforeseen issues, is this course of the action the one we want to take?”

    One by one, each member of the Company’s management stated “yes” in agreement with the plan. I pondered on the difference between the questions; they were small differences but had a profound difference. The first was asking for blind commitment, asking if we would all back, no matter what came, the plan that was presented. The second is a question of intention, asking if we are commitment, short of major problems, to see the plan through. The second question is much easier to answer than the first.

    There is an additional benefit to commitment to intentions. By committing the group to its intentions Hero had in a single moment committed the Company to an end goal, not the process that would take it there, another subtle difference. Often in these meetings we decide that something needed to be done and how we would do it. Our commitment was usually to the process, not the end result. So when the process was complete and we didn’t get what we wanted we were left hanging, not sure what to do not. Being committed to the end goal meant that no matter what we were traveling until we got our desired results, or discovered they were unachievable, and we wouldn’t stop until we got there.

    Finally, committing the management team to its intentions, not the process, did much too safe guard the pride and honor of the team. Instead of having attached their name to the process, which may or may not have been the best course, they had attached their names to a carefully analyzed, examined and thought out end goal. Even if the proscribe process as outlined in the retreat were to utterly fail, the team still wouldn’t have failed. Though the process could have been flawed, the goal itself was solid.

    Postmortem: The Company’s reorganization continued, not entirely as planned, but well enough. In hind sight, out commitment to intentions that Hero had gathered proved invaluable when tough decision needed to be made.

    In class we had been talking about barriers to communications and I was reminded by this story. Communications in that retreat and sometimes during the reorganization process began to crumble as the road got harder and, more particularly, when it wasn’t clear where we were headed. Having a clear understanding of the Fathers’ intentions help everyone to back up during high stress times to remind ourselves why we were doing all this work.

  • From a certain point of view…

    When I got back in Rexburg I was just a little bored so I borrowed AJ’s 1984 by George Orwell and gave it a read. AJ, the Covalent Roommate had read it over the summer and had something of a debate about what truth is. The Covalent Roommate recapped the discussion and asked me what I thought. I had to agree with the 1984 view of truth, sort of. In 1984 truth is described as what is true in the present was true in the past because They go back and change all tangible evidence of the past to match the present. Therefore truth is defined by the past and the past is edited by They.

    My ideas of truth actually date back farther and are a little different from 1984. My views are much more inline with something from 1983: Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. In the scene where Luke is on Dagobah and Yoda has just “passed in The Force”. Luke is feeling all alone and says…



    Luke Skywalker: I can’t do it, R2. I can’t go on alone.
    Obi-Wan Kenobi: [voice emanates from nowhere] Yoda will always be with you. [reveals himself as a spirit walking nearby]
    Luke Skywalker: Obi-Wan! Why didn’t you tell me?! You told me Vader betrayed and murdered my father!
    Obi-Wan Kenobi: Your father was seduced by the Dark Side of the Force. He ceased to be Anakin Skywalker and became Darth Vader. When that happened, the good man who was your father was destroyed. So what I told you was true, from a certain point of view.
    Luke Skywalker: [incredulously] A certain point of view?
    Obi-Wan Kenobi: Luke, you will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view. Anakin was a good friend. When I first knew him, your father was already a great pilot. But I was amazed how strongly the Force was with him. I took it upon myself to train him as a Jedi. I thought that I could instruct him just as well as Yoda. I was wrong.
    Luke Skywalker: There is still good in him.
    Obi-Wan Kenobi: He’s more machine now than man. Twisted and evil.
    Luke Skywalker: I can’t do it, Ben.
    Obi-Wan Kenobi: You cannot escape your destiny. You must face Darth Vader again.
    Luke Skywalker: I can’t kill my own father!
    Obi-Wan Kenobi: [resigned] Then the Emperor has already won. You were our only hope.

    http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Episode_VI:_Return_of_the_Jedi
    I would like to point out that Luke had a different lens or paradigm than Obi-Wan and was able to see a way to redeem his father, defeat the emperor and restore balance to the Force all without killing his father.

    To me truth is only truth “…from a certain point of view.” We can twist it and mold it into whatever we want it to me, from our point of view. Even God’s truth is only true from a certain point of view, His. (It just so happens that no opposing view really counts compared to the views of an omniscient being.) Obi-Wan had used Anakin’s dichotomy to describe him as two separate beings to Luke. I doubt that Luke would have been able to accept and handle the “truth” when he first met Obi-Wan. This pattern of receiving truth from a certain point of view and then out growing it and needing a new point of view seems to be a common issue with truth. One size does not fit all.

    In The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle C.S. Lewis describes a scene that take place after Narnia is destroyed and all the creatures are taken into the after life. In that scene Edmund sees a group of dwarfs who died while sitting in a dark shed. They had convinced themselves that they were still in the dark shed even though, to Edmund and everyone else, they were sitting in an open field under the sun. Edmund talks with Aslan who tells Edmund that the dwarfs are living a form of truth that they have chosen and that none, not even He, the mighty Aslan, can help them see differently. To prove this Edmund takes some of the wonderful banquet that surrounds the dwarfs and presses it to their lips. Immediate the dwarf jump up and begins yelling at the other dwarfs something about “shoving manure” in his face. Aslan reiterates they the dwarfs are so against “being taken it” that they can no longer see the truth that Edmund sees.

    Another example is that of Moses. Moses receive a commandment “Thou shalt not kill” in Exodus, but then in Deuteronomy he is command to destroy entire nations. The two commandments show us that the first, given at the beginning of Israel’s journey, was targeted to Israel’s almost child-like maturity (this is the same place where laws are laid down for everything from “Thou shalt not kill” to detailed explanation of what to do if something bad happens to an animal you borrow (seriously, Exodus 22:10-15). The second, given later in Israel’s journey, was an update targeted to Israel’s almost teenager maturity. The revised commandment would be something liken “Thou shalt not kill, unless I command it and I will only command it when it is absolutely necessary.” Both commandments were truth, from a certain point of view.

    I will leave one final example. Often we tell little children “don’t talk to strangers”. We give this advice to keep them safe from evil people in the world. The simplistic advice is inherently flawed though. Children will need to talk to a school teacher who is a stranger. We expect them to interact with our friends, because we know them to be safe. They will certainly need to interact with other children that are strangers in order to gain new friends. So really our advice is “Don’t talk to strangers unless they are associated with a reputable organization, someone you know can vouch for them or they are of a like age and sufficient appeal so as to not make you inclined to question there integrity”. If this is the truth from the adults perspective why not tell it to the child? Because the child can’t handle it, no more than Luke Skywalker could have handled know that his dad was the penultimate evil in the galaxy. So we give them a simpler truth. Truth from a different point of view, one that can be more easily handled.

    In life I find it important to continually update my point of view to be able to encompass new learnings so as to be able to gather new insights and understandings.

  • “I am in search of Friends, Advocates and Colleagues”

    Recently work took over some of the operations of our sister company. The move was made as one of their high up managers left the company to venture down other avenues. This is a change that we had toyed with for a long time but the manager’s leaving made the change more of a necessity than a luxury. My IS department was directed to start working our magic. We started our magic show today, or at least got it setup. The tricks will start 1 Jan 2009. (Actually, the company is closed that day so they will really start 2 Jan.)

    It is interesting how someone new can bring change simply because they are new. Many of the changes that we are bringing about had been shared with our sister company several years ago. If it helps us we figure it should help them too. Only the owner’s wouldn’t listen to the existing managers so few things ever changed. It is interesting now that we are able to bring about these same changes, not because we can present a better case but simply because we are new to the company. I guess this might be due to the fact that we don’t know better. This is perhaps a mystery I will never know.

    Our first trick to roll out a web based hour tracking program. One thing that I have learned over my years of work is this: the old dog CAN learn new tricks, but usually doesn’t WANT to learn new tricks. Our sister company has been around for more then three decades. They have kept many of the same processes through those many years and even some of the same people. That is a lot of baggage to wade through when making changes, especially when you are new. Getting the web server prepped with the hour tracking software was fairly easy (we based it on our own installation for uniformity and ease of installing). After it was installed we hit the pavement.

    As we traveled across the parking lot Renown and I talked. I explained that as we roll things our I expect the roll outs to be somewhat bumping as we try to get people to embrace the amazingness we were giving them.

    “Can’t we just say ‘the owner said to, so do it’,” Renown asked.

    I smiled and laughed to myself as I remembered back to a time when I had thought similar.

    “We can,” I said, “but I would rather we get people exited to embrace our changes. As you are the face of these changes you will want alleys to help get everyone else on board.”

    We walked into our destination and after a short tour talked with one of those long standing employees. This one is very forward thinking is always looking for better ways of doing things. I counted him as a critical alley.

    “What brings you here today?” our contact asked.

    “I am in search of friends, advocates and colleagues,” I replied smiling.

    He looked puzzled.

    I introduced his to Renown then explained, “we are getting ready to roll out several new changes. I know that changes doesn’t always go over easy here so I am selling my wares in hopes of gaining friends, advocates and colleagues.” I then proceeded to perform something of a sales demonstration. I showed of the new features of the time clock and email system. He was glad to be progressing.

    As we left I told Renown, “he is someone that would love to play with new things. In fact as you start rolling things out you should them here so they can be advocates with the rest of the company.”

    We again talked about the need for friends, advocates and colleagues then made our second stop. Our second stop was in the warehouse.

    “What?” the manager asked.

    “We are here to give you a new time clock,” I said while Renown brought is up in the web browser.

    “Not something like that,” he said pointing to an electronic punch card system that I hear didn’t work very well, “because we already got something from you and it doesn’t work very well. Will this work better?”

    “Hmm, it’s just the system we’ve been using for the past two years. I think it will keep working.” He was happier now.

    I walked him through the process of clocking in and out while Renown showed him on the computer.

    “But this is my computer,” he interjected. “It is usually locked, and I don’t like to let people on it.”

    “That’s okay,” I said. “Your people can do it from the other computer, or any computer in the company for that matter.”

    “I like it,” he said. I smiled. I had scored a friend. Renown and I got to show him how to fix his employee’s time punches and add new users. It was easier than I thought. Then I found out why, he has to add up his employees’ time card each week. This will definitively save him precious time.

    Two down, tomorrow we will search for the third, our colleague. Of course I really hope that we will get more than just these three, but for now their support will help us get things going.

  • My Car Elazar: Lost


    I am currently reveling in gratitude as today was the third time I went outside to find my car, Elazar, right where I left it. You might be thinking that is an odd thing to be grateful for, but it really isn’t (and even if it was I would still deny it). It wasn’t always that way. In fact just earlier this week I went to get in my car and it wasn’t there. I walked but to the apartment steps then back to the parking lot, much slower this time. I was hoping that the world had not loaded the parking lot correctly and that by refreshing and going slower it might render the parking lot correctly. Alas, it didn’t work. No Elazar to be found. I slowly walk through the entire parking with my keys casually at my side while frantically pressing the lock button hoping to hear my horn honk.

    I thought to myself “I am pretty sure that I left my car right here”.

    I stopped in the office and asked “if I parked my car over there (pointing to the lot) and now it isn’t there, where would it be?”

    The office manager then informed me that my car would have probably been towed and that I should call “Darren” the towing guy. Apparently, EVERYONE knows who Darren is except me.

    So I had to ask “Who’s Darren? Why does he have my car? And, what is his number?”
    I spent some time talking to the manager who said she couldn’t do anything, the next day she called the office which told her they couldn’t do anything either.

    Minutes later I showed up at the office to talk with the Supervisor. We talked for about a half hour before I realized that she really didn’t hear anything I was saying. She kept saying I needed to take some responsibility in this matter (she said those words at least three different times). Finally I stopped her.

    “Let me take this from the top” I told her. “I May I pay for a parking contract with you according to your housing rules. That contract, according to Rexburg City Ordinance, entitles me to a parking spot in my apartment complex. Early September I show up at the complex and am informed that you, in violation of my contract and Rexburg City Ordinance 975, have oversold your parking spaces and that I, who paid before most everyone else, will need to park in some other parking lot because of your violation of the law.”

    I raised my hand to stop her interruption. “I understand you had some sort of a computer glitch, but I don’t car. You are still in the wrong.” She settles back in her chair and I continue.

    “Further I was instructed by my manager that she would inform me when a permit for this other, then unknown, lot was available. This enacted the clause in our contract that states that I require a permit unless otherwise instructed by my manager. Your failure to provide me permit does not void my right to park in your parking lot.” I took a deep breath. “So the day that you notify me that my permit is available you tow my car before I can even get to the office to get said permit.”

    She interrupted during my pause. “We towed your car before you had the permit?”

    I rolled my eyes in my mind and knew now that she really hadn’t been listening to me up until now. “Yes.”

    “Oh, I thought that you had been given the permit but just hadn’t put it on your car.”

    “No, I am a responsible enough person to put my permit on my car shortly after I received it.”

    She reached for some note paper, “sorry, what was your name again.”

    “Daniel,” finally I seem to be making some progress, “do you want my phone number?”

    “Sure, let me make some calls and see what I can do.”

    This made the situation more promising. As I left her office I was grateful that I had walked and not drove. Walking home let me vent some anger. At home I felt drained and just sat in the living room for awhile. My manager gingerly knocked on the door.

    “I have some mail for you,” she said. “I talked to the office and the supervisor said she talked to the towing guy who said that he would just open the gate and not charge you for your car.”

    ARRRRGGHHH!! Did they not hear anything I said? Was I speaking in some completely foreign dialect that they couldn’t understand? I had clearly mentioned to the manager and the supervisor that I had already got my car and that I wanted to be reimbursed.

    “I thought you weren’t going to get your car out until after we talked.”

    “What?! Why would I let the storage fees pile up? It cost $30 a day; do you think I want to pay that?”

    “I told you we could get that waived,” that manager replied.

    “Why would I want to wait for you guys?” I take a deep breath. “I want a reimbursement. That is all I am looking for.”

    “I think the Supervisor said we could pay $75 of it.”

    “I want all of it, $160…” I wanted to go on. I wanted to say “I shouldn’t have had to pay anything, nor should my car have been towed, nor should you have oversold you lot.” But I realized the manager hadn’t done this, she couldn’t reimburse me. “The office is closed isn’t it?”

    The manager nodded her head yes.

    “I will talk to them Monday.” The manager turned and left and I sat back down on the couch. I realized two things. The first, how true my friends words were “every apartment has issues; you just need to choose the one that had the problems you are willing to deal with.” As I thought about it, if this issue gets resolved soon I would probably come back next year (this year is already paid for).

    The second is that I have a sharp escalation curve. Escalation is an intriguing trait. It is the trait that says if, on Wednesday, they had offered to pay the $100 and I pay the $30 I would have been fine. Even on Thursday I would have been good paying the $60 if they paid the $100. But to come to me two days after my car is towed after I have paid to get it out and to tell me that they will pay $75, less than half of their mistake, at this point I am looking for $160 on Monday with interest accruing Tuesday on. I am not quite sure where I got this sense of escalation from, maybe my dad, maybe my grandpa. But I am grateful that my parents gave me enough tools in life to deal with issues like this. I am also grateful to my parents for teaching me to take responsibility. Though I am pretty sure this is not the kind of responsibility that the housing supervisor had in mind, I feel that it would be irresponsible to not get reimbursed.

    After a couple more days of talking with the manager she agreed to pay the remaining $25 of the towing fee. I am glad that we arrived at a reasonable solution.