What's New for the Week of Feb. 27, 2006

Here's our host news this week:

Jerry will be spending most of next week in a retreat with other novelists, helping each other improve their work.

• Dave reminds everyone that backups are your friend. Most computers don't back themselves up; sometime you have to help.
  
• Esther is revealing the Secrets of Agile Teamwork in Richmond with Diana Larsen.
  
• Steve is consulting with customers about how to report the status of
  their organization and systems to upper management.
  
• Don's on a three week roll, working from his office.
  
• Johanna, after a fire drill with the orthodontist, is consulting in LA and then travling to Israel for more consulting and teaching.
  

I Don't Disagree

When someone says, "I don't disagree (IDD).", what do they mean?

When I hear those words, my stomach tightens. Rather than interrupting the speaker and inquiring about his or her meaning, I concentrate on relaxing by taking a deep breath and continue listening. Why? I think people, including myself, sometimes struggle for the right words but if I listen, eventually their other words will help me arrive at a meaning.

But if someone says IDD repeatedly, I ask them about their meaning. For instance, a colleague, Jason, said, "I don't disagree with you." seven times in response to other participants' statements during several meetings yesterday. On the eighth instance, when he said IDD loudly to me, I ask him, "Do you mean that you agree with me?"

I watched his reaction carefully: He hesitated. His eyes looked up to the ceiling then down to the ground. Eventually his eyes returned to mine and he said softly, "No, not really." I asked him inquisitively, "What did you mean?" He paused for several seconds. He stared at the ground and then slowly looked up and leveled his eyes with mine and replied, "I said IDD to prevent any chance of an argument with you so I could talk." His honesty stunned me and I appreciated him for it. The meeting continued and I think it was better because of the interaction.

If you are in the habit of saying IDD, I suggest thinking about whether those words effectively communicate your desired meaning. If you want the floor, skip the IDD and say what is on your mind. If you hear others say IDD repeatedly, when it is said to you, ask the person, "Does that mean you agree with me?" I think you will discover it means something much different than, "We agree."

Reducing Emergencies

In a recent SHAPE post, Jerry said:

notice how failing to clean up old projects in an emergency leads to more emergencies in the future, which then lessens the already low chances of cleaning up old projects.

Cure: Setting aside sacred time for cleaning up old projects, starting with the worst emergency-maker first.

I replied:

One of the things I like to do is at the beginning of a project, especially if we're not altogether sure what people want, even if we know they want it "really fast" is to ask developers and testers to fix and verify defects. Just take stuff off the open defect queue and start working on it.

This works in several ways:

• It gets people back in the frame of mind of fixing things so maybe they won't make mistakes like that again. (For me, this is why editing gets me moving for writing.)
  
• People look busy, so I can keep the number of stupid requests down.
  
• When we start eliminating technical debt at the beginning of the project, people are less likely to allow anyone's actions to let them incur technical debt at the end of the project.
  

My technique won't prevent more emergencies, but it helps reduce them.

What's New for the Week of Feb 20, 2006

Here's the host news this week:

• On Sunday, Jerry will be holding a phone conference with more than 100 of his Chinese readers.
  
• Esther is attending a workshop in the Washington DC area.
  
• Don is doing client work from his NC office.
  
• Steve, the Logistics' chair for the 2006 conference, decided the Embassy Suites Hotel Phoenix-North would be the site for the 2006 conference. After scouting dozens of hotels in Scottsdale, Tempe, and Mesa area, he concluded the Embassy Suites offered the best tradeoff for risk, lodging, service and economy. The hotel will be familiar to participants of previous AYE conferences -- it was the site for 2001-2005 conference. Steve also worked on the selection of pictures for this year's conference brochure and learned a few lessons about design and feedback.
  
• Dave's eight year old is trying to convince him that people have two stomachs, and
  that just because one is filled, that doesn't mean there isn't room left for
  dessert. [Ed note: seems reasonable to me, especially if the dessert is chocolate.]
  
• Johanna is on a working vacation. (She works when they ski.)
  

How Much Information?

On my return flight from Israel last week, we had a "medical emergency." I don't know what it was, but the woman was lying down behind some coach seats with an IV. But, let me rewind the story to the beginning.

We board the plane. We sit down and wait to taxi away. We're late. (It's ok, I have yet to be on an international flight that leaves on time. We finally leave, and I fall asleep. (It's about midnight Israel time.)

I wake up when there's a commotion a few seats in front of me. These two passengers are complaining about dinner. It's late. By almost two hours. I think this is great--I've slept already, so I'll eat (again) and sleep again. The flight attendants are trying to placate these people, but they keep complaining. But then I see an attendant running with a an IV bag and one of the flight medical kits up to the next section.

I know this isn't good. I figure the worst thing that happens is the person dies. We'll definitely be landing then, and it won't be Newark. The next worse thing is we land somewhere and this person is taken to a hospital. The best thing is this person stabilizes, we get dinner late, and still land in Newark.

Well, everything on the plane was late. Dinner, breakfast, handing out the immigration and custom cards, everything. But, to my surprise, the powers that be allowed all of us passengers off the plane while they waited for the paramedics.

I still have no idea what was wrong with the person. But it wasn't until the end of the flight, when the flight attendants were clearly harried and frustrated that the purser made any announcement of a medical emergency.

I see a conflict between the sick person's right to privacy and the other 300 or so people's right to know something about the status of the flight. I suspect there is a policy around this for airlines.

I wish their policy had more open communications. I wish there was a way I could have passed on my best wishes for a speedy recovery. I don't know the answer, but how much information should other passengers have?

What's New for the Week of Feb 13, 2006

Our host news this week:

• Esther is spending a few days skiing in Colorado before she descends to the Mile-high City for the SQUAD Conference.
  
• Steve is investigating hotels in the Phoenix area for the 2006conference.
  
• Don will be working with a potential new client and cleaning up his office in NC.
  
• Dave has been getting a refresher in the wonderful, zany world of I18N (internationalization) and L10N (localization), including learning party tricks like how to make your browser present text from right to left.
  
• Jerry will present his Writers' Troubleshooting Clinic at the ICE Writers Conference in Phoenix, March 17-19. Registration is still open.
  
• Johanna is recovering from jet lag, finishing several articles, and preparing for a family vacation.
  

Wisdom from Japanese Culture

Riotaro Okada, in Japan, wrote to me recently asking, "Would you kindly give me a message for the mailing list members and your book readers in Japan?"

I think my reply might be worth blogging here, for those who cannot read Japanese. I tried to show how much I have learned from studying Japanese culture, as well as other cultures, something from which we might all profit.

I am honored and humbled to know of my many readers in Japan. I owe a great debt of gratitude to Professor Izumi Kimura and my other translators. I'm sure the books are much better in Japanese than in English.

If I were to give advice to a young professional starting out in the world, I could do no better than quote three Japanese proverbs:

We learn little from victory, much from defeat.

So, do not think in terms of Win or Lose, because you cannot always win.
Think instead of Learn, for Win or Lose, you can always learn.

Even a thief takes ten years to learn his trade.

There is no quick road to success. Be prepared to persist through some hard times, and you will outlast your competitors who burn themselves out with too quick a start.

If you believe everything you read, better not read.

Take my books, and the books of others, as if they were tempting meals.
Taste everything, but swallow only what tastes right to you.

Once again, thank you for reading my books. Teachers open the door. You enter by yourself.

Very best regards,

Jerry Weinberg

One who has attained mastery of an art reveals it in their every action. -- Samurai Maxim

Out and About

Esther will be at the SQUAD Conference in Denver next week doing a full-day workshop on Retrospectives on 2/16 and giving a talk on The Value-Added Manager on the 17th.

Management or Leadership

I think organizations need both. My little article on the subject is here.

What's New for the Week of Feb 6, 2006

Here's our host news this week:

• Esther is enjoying a week in her office before heading out on the road.
  
• After enjoying a week at home, Don heads out on the road. This week it's Virginia. (And this message comes from the "New Improved" road computer.) [Ed note: woo-woo!]
  
• Dave is working with a client, and is thankful for Podcasts for making otherwise miserable traffic tenable.
  
• Jerry spoke to 100+ spellbound writers at the SouthWest Writers Authors' Month meeting. He demonstrated his methods as well as experiential learning by helping a handful of writers break through their blockages, right in front of the audience. [Ed note: Go Jerry!]
  
• Steve is still catching up.
  
• Johanna is still in Israel at a client, looking forward to coming home later this week. Roy Osherove's recent interview of Johanna is now available.