The Manager - Edition 49 - What problem are you trying to solve - by Rob Lambert

Cultivated Management Newsletter

Hi,

I hope you've had a cracking weekend and are looking forward to the week ahead. 

I was involved in a workshop recently where an external company has been brought in to fix the way a company was prioritising backlogs, roadmaps and other work. 

The workshop was a shamble. Not because the people didn't know how to run a workshop, but because they had no idea what problem they were trying to solve. 

So, it became a workshop about validating a model that was "preferred" rather than understanding what problems actually exist. It's a little like 99.9% of agile coaches who push their preferred model (Kanban, Scrum, yada yada) without truly studying what problems exist. Management consultants are just as bad too. 

I can save CEO's millions. If this is the approach they are going to support and buy, then why bother with a company? Just Google a model, print it out and get some people to say we're doing that. Any model *might* work. But the reality is, most won't. Why not? Because every company has different problems, people, maturity of process and management approach. 

The best way to solve a problem is to deeply understand it. Once you understand a problem you can then apply principles, ideas, models and action that addresses the problems. Not models off the internet or from some consultancy. 

So, my first question in the workshop was "What problem are you trying to solve?", followed quickly by "And have you studied what ACTUALLY happens?". There were some vague answers to the first question, but nothing concrete. And there was a resounding "No" to the second question. 

If you have no idea what problem you're trying to solve and have not spent any time studying what actually happens, then it's highly likely any approach will fail. 

So for those of you who are serious about your leadership and management role ask a simple question "What problem am I trying to solve?". And when you answer it, ensure you back it up by going and studying what actually happens with the work. And if you do - you'll build solutions that actually work. 

Go forth and solve problems.

Rob

Cool Stuff To Click On

1 - Working in the tech industry is cool. New wearable tech helps people listen to live music through their skin...

2 - Drawing things increases the chance of remembering stuff. 

3 - Cal Newport on why quitting social media might be good for your career.

4 - How our careers affect our children.

5 - No offices, yet a successful company - how to make it work

6 - Leaders actions must match their ambitions around culture. Indeed - culture is nothing more than group habit - what people do every day - and that includes leaders and managers.

 

Book Of The Week

I really enjoyed James Clear's Atomic Habits book. It's a great collection of ideas about how to change habits. His writing is super clear and clean and he breaks things down in easy to follow advice. 

There are lots of habits I've been personally trying to break or introduce and the advice in this book is going to be very helpful. I also learned a few ideas about how I might actually use some of the techniques in my corporate world of changing teams habits. 

If you read a lot of James' work on the web then you'll spot many of the same articles and stories in the book, but he's added some more stuff and organised it in a way that makes sense. 

Really good book if you're wanting to improve or change habits. 

Atomic Habits - James Clear.

Thanks for reading this week's edition of The Manager. 

Thanks
Rob..