Smartly Solve

Do the right thing with people and technology. And, always do it honestly.

“All a company is, is a bunch of people together to create a product or service. There’s no such thing as a business, just pursuit of a goal — a group of people pursuing a goal.” – Elon Musk

Mindful

Framing this way helps aligns people.  It helps answer what the right thing is.  For the people and the technology.  This isn’t fluffy, it’s specific. For example, “What’s the goal of having more than one tool that does the same thing?  Is that really the right thing?”

It’s obviously not so simple. But, try keeping top of mind this simple statement for a month and see what happens with your decisions. If nothing changes it’s likely there’s some dishonesty.

Clearly Communicate

Use simple brief language, obvious graphics, and automate information gathering.

Two parts: 1. imparting information, and 2. gathering information.

Imparting

There’s a term, “consultancy speak”. When imparting information use direct language and no-nonsense graphics. Cut the fluff. Impart information as you would to a child. Not immaturely but simply. Seriously.

Gathering

It’s a travesty that smart people spend inordinate time and effort building decks. Decks with dashboard graphics and spreadsheets cut-n-pasted into slides. Why? Get smart on what you need to measure and put value on each measurement.  Then find a way to automate it and means to share it. “What’s the monthly update on our cloud migration in Equities?”, the answer should be a URL, not I’ll send you the powerpoint.

Always Ahead

Technology moves exponentially.  It’s necessary to live on the left (bleeding-edge).

There’s somewhat an art to stay ahead with technology.  Understanding those technologies to focus on, those to ignore. And, of course, those to invent. You must be narrowed. Laser-like in focus and assessment.

Focus

Too often one witnesses technology for technology’s sake. Or, something like, “We should be doing containers because they are.” Not a reason to adopt, say, Kubernetes.  Naturally, similar firms in similar industries will use similar tools, but not necessarily. Engineering discipline is best addressed using first principles thinking not by analogy.

And, by doing that you’ll need to live on the bleeding edge to propel forward.

Learn to Listen

All about the client, leave the ego at the door.  Work with four ears, half a mouth and ten hands.

I’d love to think that Simon Sinek stole this from me, but he didn’t.  And, he does a much better job at explaining¹ it.

Obsessive

I’m fortunate to have been given this advice. It catalysed the creation of my consulting code. It’s not easy to be the last to speak.  Sounds easy though.  In practice it’s far from it.

“Four ears, half a mouth and ten hands”, helps to do it though.  It also biases the effort on listening and executing. Try it for just one week.  And, watch Sinek’s video (less than 2 minutes).

Engage to Exit

Aim to exit within 90 days.  One quarter is enough time for a step-change in value.

“A-players hire As, B-players hire Cs” – as the saying goes.

Outsmarting

The best A-players are the very smart, but lazy, people. Lazy in the context of questioning themselves, “Why am I doing this when a system could do it?”.  Those incredible engineers that engineer themselves out of a position in order to affect great change. Unwavering hunger for value generation.  This is not about rushing and then leaving.

Aim to make yourself redundant in one calendar quarter.  Do that and you’ll sky-rocket, along with the firm.

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

That’s why it’s Engage to Exit and not Engineer to Exit.