Week
5
Discovering Lurking Problems
Not every problem is an individual problem. Some problems are part of a system and can be solved only by a group of people. That system could be the development team or the testing team or a project team or a management team—or it could be even bigger and involve large portions of the organization.
A seasoned manager may be able to see the system clearly. But many people—because they are part of the system—cannot clearly see the problems or how to fix them. If you’re in a position to know a problem exists, consider this guideline for problem solving: the people who perform the work need to be part of the solution.
As a manager, you may need to facilitate their problem-solving work. Or, you may need to lead those people in problem solving. But if the problem spans groups, you may need to work with your peers to solve problems as part of a management team.
Kevin slumped down in the chair across from Sam’s desk and rubbed his eyes. He stifled a yawn.
“How’s it going?” Sam asked.
“I’m working really hard to keep up. Middleware is always in the middle,” Kevin smiled at his own joke. “Every time I think I have a handle on the work from the UI group, we get more things to do. My to-do list gets longer and longer. Ginger is pushing for this UI work, so I have to assign people.”
Sam looked at Kevin and saw his eyes were red. Kevin looked bone tired. Forget our usual one-on-one agenda. I need to find out what’s going on with Kevin. “Tell me about all this work coming from Ginger. Is the work all coming from Ginger? Is it Ginger directly? Ginger mostly?”
“It’s Ginger mostly, and indirectly. Marketing comes to Ginger, Ginger comes to me,” Kevin answered.
“Why does Marketing go to Ginger?” Sam asked.
“Marketing thinks they’re just asking for UI changes, but it turns out that the changes have a ripple effect. My changes require internal design changes, so they’re not easy or fast to make. Jason says there’s backend design changes, too.”
Sam asked, “How do you decide which changes to make, and when to make them?”
Kevin looked puzzled. “We just take them as they come.”
“Are all the changes equally important?”
“No, of course not.” Kevin shook his head and frowned. “But I can’t predict when an important change is going to come in, and I have a huge backlog of work to complete now. So, when we receive something important, I juggle people’s priorities and work.”
“Sometimes that juggling act is difficult, eh? Is that why you have everyone working on four or five different projects at the same time?”
“Yeah. But I don’t see how to fix this.”
“I’m not sure yet either. What if you could plan your work? Would you assign people any differently?”
“How can I create a plan when I don’t know what’s coming in next week? I’ve been trying to make the portfolio planning work, but it’s not working for me.”
Sam suggested, “How about if you just plan for two weeks at a time?”
“I could plan the next couple of weeks. I don’t know how to plan past that because the work changes too much.” Kevin thought for a minute. “Planning for a month works only if I don’t have to take changes every couple of days.”
“How do we queue our work now?” Sam asked.
“Marketing asks Ginger. Ginger tells me what she is doing. I figure out what we have to do and assign it to my group. When Patty or Jason needs to be involved, I tell them.”
“This is a problem we have to work on as a management team. It’s bigger than your group or any one group. I’ll make this the main focus of our next group meeting.” Sam said.
Kevin looked relieved. “I can’t wait for the next group meeting.”