Do You Prevent or Perpetuate? What Kind of Person Are You?

I find it unforgivable in this modern age when someone tells me it's " too much work" to fix a data problem or workflow.

Too much work? Like hard labor, digging trenches or laying down railroads in the Arizona desert sun? Typing on a computer keyboard has really gotten THAT hard these days? Really?

No, of course it's not that hard. Why, then, has fixing things become something that teams and businesses avoid?

And why are teams and companies willing to let technical and procedural debt accumulate, rather than addressing and eradicating the root of a problem?

The first step towards making change is an understanding of current state. Here's a first round of hypotheses. Do any of them feel familiar?

• Lack of confidence in the team's ability to execute without creating more technical/procedural issues

• Fear of the amount of social change management required in order to accomplish the change

• Lack of confidence in the team's ability to come to an agreement and execute in a timely manner

• Fear of not producing big flashy progress within two weeks or less

These are all blame-y reasons, where the responsibility is pointed out to a collective "them" or "we". I say there needs to be a personal "me" in business, because that's where change really starts, where one person says, "I think this is possible," and persistently acts on that conviction.

So What Kind of Person Are You?

If your software was a house with termites nibbling on your supportive beams of the roof and floor, ask yourself when you would make the decision to address the impending problem.

Do you wait for severe damage to the house and your family to occur before you are motivated to make changes, or do you invest your time and effort into preserving your quality of life and preventing further damage?

Change starts with one person. You.

Change management deserves a blog post unto itself, but we'll start with the first steps.

Change starts with a good idea, with one person. When that one person engages a small number of people around the cause, the idea is improved and fortified.

If You're a Preventer

You're the person coming up with the ideas. You have a sense of fearlessness when it comes to looking into problems and the untested waters of solutions. You have a driving sense of curiosity and persistent optimism that anything can be solved. Innovation may not be executed by you, but you are the spark and source from which it springs.

In order to survive and be successful, you need to:

1. Align yourself with other Preventers and sympathizers who will engage, improve, and start the advocacy process for implementing solutions.

2. Be careful about sharing ideas with the masses without proper social support. "First to Market" does not apply within a corporate structure, and sharing too early can prevent progress.

If You are a Perpetuator

As a Perpetuator, you may have seen dark days when unproven solutions were released to the market, or you may have strong reservations for any of the reasons previously stated and then some. In order to be successful in working with Preventers:

1. Recognize where you fall on the spectrum between Preventers and Perpetuators, and allow for innovation to occur and engage with it as you or your company feels safe to do so.

2. Examine your company's culture regarding failure. Seek to change the language in conversations when it comes to blame. State the facts, "This failed due to insufficient controls on field X," is more accurate and useful/actionable than "This will never work."

#Change #HumanFactors #ergonomics #Empowerment #ChangeManagement