Dusting off the vision statement

Read the most recent company vision statement.  What grade would you give yourself on pursuing the vision?  I must say when I did this, I didn’t get a high mark.  It is one thing to have a vision out there, quite another to pursue it.  Each employee should have the responsibility for understanding what that vision is, but the accountability of the visionary pursuit falls upon the leadership of the organization.

In order for a vision to be successful, it has to be more than words in an email pulled from last years archive or a web page refresh.  If you have one focus point in the job that you are in, is it based upon the vision? If the vision accumulates dust, how valuable is it?

Communicating the vision

Communicating vision requires several leadership skills that range from getting buy-in, showing themselves as the model of the vision, and developing the passion in others to pursue the vision.  Books have been written by great men and women on this topic.  Here are some keys that I think are valuable to communicating vision.

1. Collaborate and don’t commiserate.  Help others to embrace the vision that you share, but don’t spend a lot of time convincing persons who don’t find the vision valuable. It is better to cut and replenish, than to beat your head against the wall trying to convince the inconvincible.
2. Share early and often.  While many people may take a while to grasp on to the vision, the more a leader shares will provide a consistent message and direction.
3. Make it personal when possible. It takes effort, but sharing the vision personally will develop champions for the leader.
4. Celebrate accomplishments even if they are small.  There is a lot of negative information and messaging in many companies.  Share the accomplishments frequently and again try to make if personal.
5. Communicate outside the normal channels.  People are influenced by environments other than the workplace.  Meet them where it is most personal.

The Challenge

Review your vision and communicate the progress of how the vision is being met at least once a month.

What would you add to communicating the vision of your company? Let me know in comments.

• TFS guide for Subversion Users – I thought this was a pretty useful guide and gave me a couple of quick hits.
• Microsoft Mathematics 4.0 – What a great calculator with so much more!!! Better yet, it is free for download.
• TED Talk – Tony Robbins (Why we do what we do) – Even though this talk is a little old, it hit home for me on how I should be doing certain things in life.
• Understanding Map Reduce – A great overview about how the map reduce pattern works.  More developers should really understand this as data needs are exploding.
• Code Navigation – Quick Tip – So simple, yet so practical.
• Trades, Crafts, and Certifications – This was a thoughtful post on the continuing definition of software development and how it maps into today’s business structures.

Thirst Quencher Favorite Feeds

J.D. Meier’s Blog – This by far is one of the most thoughtful and insightful blogs in the software industry.  Mr. Meier covers the hard topics in software development and design with clarity that few can do.  His approach to learning, mentoring, and coaching is magnificent.

Ever since OneNote is now in the cloud, I have been capturing content like crazy.  Many times I only have a few seconds to glance at the content and then move on.  In Internet Explorer, I can right-click on any page and choose “Send To OneNote”.  It opens up a dialog and asks where I want to save it to (you can bypass it by making it a default setting).  I have created 2 sections, “To Read” and “Read”.  I will send it to one of these sections and I am finished.

• Trunk.ly – A great way to view the links that you have captured via Twitter, Facebook, and other popular social sites.
• Leading Effectively in a VUCA Environment- A is for Ambiguity – This entire series is really well done.  From the Harvard Business Review
• 13 Must-Watch Marketing TED Presentations – In reality, most TED presentations are must watch. 
• Microsoft Learning Snack Box- Create and share your e-learning snacks – Lets see if this will produce some good results for training.
• .Net – const Vs readonly – Trivial talk – It was a great explanation and showed how knowing the difference can prevent a very nuanced bug between assemblies.
• How to Create Margin in Your Overly Busy Life – I am really loving the simplicity that Michael Hyatt shows in his posts.
• What My 4-Year-Old Son Taught Me About Successful Blogging – Make what you do the most important thing in life.
• Monads in C#–1. Introduction – At this point there are 5 parts in this series.  I appreciate how Mike Hadlow is approaching this topic.

Thirst Quencher Favorite Feeds

Alvin Ashcraft’s Morning Dew – I find that he has become a very significant aggregator in great content.  I usually find 2 or three articles from his list every day that I read.  Great Job!

“These questions are slanted towards consulting companies, as these types of companies are who I primarily work for.  However, I would argue that these questions still have relevance regardless of the company.”

I am breaking it down into 4 main categories: Company Viability, People, Processes, and Tools.  Below is an explanation of each:

Company Viability

1. Would the company be willing to share its last two years of financial statements? This will give me a little history about the growth of the company over 2 years.  There are always caveats, but I will weigh this question based upon the transparency and results of the statements.
2. Can the company share it’s business plan?  First is there one, that they have documented?  I know that this is a lot to ask, but it also shows the vision and direction of the company as a whole.
3. What is the current sales pipeline in the company?  This will help identify the current and potential clients and customers that the company is working with.
4. What is the makeup of the company from a worker perspective?  I would like to know the percentage of employees that are hourly vs. salaried.  Also the percentage of full-time vs. contingent staffing.

People

1. Can an organizational chart be provided?  This is a very helpful tool to understand company structure.  Also if the company can’t provide one, it may be a sign of lots of changes.
2. What is the average longevity of the current employee base? This will help in understanding how the company does with retention of personnel.
3. What are the top 3 qualities that are looked for when hiring employees at the company.
4. Describe how the company values its employees?  Everyone has a different definition of value.  Does it match up with mine?
5. What is the one area that the company is looking to improve in regards to people?
6. Describe that training strategy for employees of the company.

Processes

1. Describe how performance is measured at the company.  The answer to this question should uncover information such as review cycles, bonus structures, pay for performance, etc.  However, the biggest insight that can be given is how one is measured.
2. Describe the onboarding process at the company.  This will help identify the maturity of the company by exposing the processes that are established and the ones that aren’t.
3. Have the explain the company timekeeping processes.  I have found this to be very interesting and has caused me to reconsider many times about working for a company.

Tools

1. Please describe the tools that are provided to an employee.  I have turned down jobs because of the lack of investment in this area.
2. How often are systems and computers upgraded in terms of hardware?
3. What support is provided for the purchasing of productivity tools?
4. Describe the work environment for employees.  Include the physical space, dress codes, and core work hours.

Summary

At the end of the day, I may tweak these questions for each company.  I feel that this is a good starting point though.  What questions would you contribute to this list?

http://techsoda.wordpress.com/2010/12/16/implement-code-analysis-on-legacy-solutions/

the structure of information presented through the media, which is thought by some to be fragmented and useless

Here are two examples that I have seen in development circles.

Communication Channels

When working with remote or “off-shore” teams, communication is critical to the success of the team, BUT wouldn’t you say that communication is key to all teams success?  Why is it that we must have better defined requirements and documentation for these remote teams.  I know plenty of developers that need to work on communication with the person in the cube next to them. 

I currently work for global clients and the excess documentation syndrome is very evident not just in the off-shore model, but also with the culturally diverse talent that I work with.  But maybe I am just over sensitive in this area.

Experience

In the consulting industry this is always a battle of context. Instead of the focus on the skills in the industry, persons are looked at for “experience” based upon longevity.  I have seen people hired because they have 15 years of experience, yet none in the area that is needed to solve the problem.  Time over skills is a prevailing norm in the industry. 

There are many reasons for this, but the primary one is due to the hiring managers lack of experience in the subject area themselves.  They believe that time in the industry is the cure all for solving the problems.  I have watched interviews cut short because the person “looked like they just graduated high school” or the resume wasn’t 5 pages with 10 different jobs. 

The pseudo-context of a full resume, a certain look, and longevity will result in losing some of the most talented employees, consultants, and value to your organization.

What examples can you give where “Culture dropping” has happened in your profession?

1. Preparation:  It was noticeable who was prepared and who wasn’t.  For many parents this may be the only time they got a chance to interact with the teachers in person. Teachers with a long tenure at the school flowed much better with their presentations than new teachers.
2. Attention:  One teacher caught my attention right from the beginning and engaged the parents in the classroom.  She didn’t talk about her credentials, classroom policies, or procedures, but had a theme that was delivered throughout the presentation.  She was the last presentation and had every parent captivated even after a long day.
3. Enthusiasm: I recognize the length of the day for the teachers was pretty long and you may have just given the same presentation 5 times, but show some energy.  There were 3 presentations that I felt missed the mark in this area.
4. Mood:  One of the classrooms I walked in on had the main lights off, table lamps on, and had a comfortable curl up in your chair and read a book feeling.  As you would probably guess, this was Language Arts. I felt like I was participating with my daughter in class.
5. Organization:  I was impressed by the “Startup Slide” that my child sees every day, the handout of the syllabus, the contact information at the ready.  I was disappointed by some teachers not getting started on time, “on the fly” presenting, and running through the syllabus in a verbatim fashion.

Other observations

• Several teachers anticipated the questions parents were asking
• My daughter has a very educated set of teachers with varying backgrounds.  She should have a great education year
• There were some references to teaching to the standard tests
• Parental involvement was encouraged
• Teachers prefer email almost exclusively
• Curriculum changes were discussed

Parents that chose not to attend this really lost out in my opinion.  Make sure you work to participate in your child’s education.

You see, Dan is moving from being a teacher to pursuing his Ph.D.  Most of the comments were from other teachers about the impact that he has made. I want to let you know that his style of teaching has made an impact on myself as a leader and change agent.  He is teaching me how to prepare developers to learn better and faster, challenge the norm, and think about WCYDWT. 

I have used many of his posts in value sharing exercises and even participated in one of his online sessions.  Dan’s style of teaching convinces me that there is a better way.  His teaching style is not relegated to the education community, but to the world community.  Let’s share the great lessons with others and help Dan continue the foundation of excellence that he has established.