Runnin’ like a Thief
Apr. 26, 2007 by ravishan
I came back after a very nice week in Grenada, watching a lot of cricket, playing a little golf and just hanging around. Grenada has just one golf course, a 9 hole one. It was impossible to play there. You need to hire a caddy as per the rules of the club. My caddy was Kelly, a young man in his late teens. My buddy had a much better caddy. Kelly was talking to me more about the spiced rum in Grenada than what club to use… However, I had some of my best drives in that course. The fairways were like rocks… the ball bounced many times and the ball kept “runnin’ like a thief”. If I my drive off the tee was a good one, Kelly, with a big smile, would tell me that my ball is going to be runnin’ like a thief and then on our way to the fairway, give me the full scoop on how the spiced rum is made and what are some of the best places in Grenada to buy them!
I am very proud of all our accomplishments during the past year. We have been very productive and responsive to the needs of our users and if one looks at all the different initiatives we are currently engaged in, it is mind boggling. However, I will be honest and say that some of the projects should be “runnin’ like a thief” instead they seem to be moving “slow as molasses”. I will refrain from citing specific examples of projects for obvious reasons.
It is quite obvious that in some cases we just cannot do anything about the progress because it may involve other vendors and we are at their mercy (I will write more about the recent frustrations with purchased software next). However, in many other instances, the slowness seem to come from various other well-intentioned factors.
Primarily, our users tend to respect us because we consult with them before launching any major initiatives. So, it is important to continue to do this. In addition, we learn so much from this exercise because sometime we discover things from these conversations that we would never have dreamt of… However, there is a point at which we need to make decisions and move on. This is what I see as the primary reason for slowness – collective decision making.
Getting input from the users is one thing, but decision making has to come from us. As hard as it is, this is going to mean that not everyone is going to get everything they would like in version 1.0 of the software or project. In many an instance, our users would like us to make that decision because in the end, we have to support it.
The second approach that would help move the project is the “Just Do It!” philosophy. When we conceive a project, we all have a general idea of what we want the project to do. We can sit and meet several times with the goal of trying to define the scope and requirements for the project before we launch it. In my 21 years, I am yet to see a project like this around here!!! In this business, constant enhancements is part of the deal. And it is a good thing… it simply means people like the software and want more functionalities…. there is nothing wrong with it. Obviously trying this approach in production systems is dangerous and we need to exercise caution there…
So, someone needs to take a leadership role to get going with a project in a way that it lends itself to enhancements easily. I know that you will cite examples of how this approach may be counterproductive and waste of time and the end product is going to be hard to support. On the other hand, with a modular approach to problem solving and the advances in software technologies that exist today, I would find it very hard to believe that this cannot be done.
So I urge you to think a little more about this and see how we can make some of our initiatives to “run like a thief”. I am aware that the use of the word thief here is a little off beat, but that is Grenada for you – full of fun loving, carefree, light hearted people…