Who’s frustrating whom?
Peter de Jager is a provocative Speaker, Writer and Consultant. His primary focus in on how we manage change, technology and the future.
In addition to speaking at conferences worldwide, he's also written monthly columns for Municipal World and Computing Canada.
His goal is always to question what we think is so, and in so doing perhaps open up new opportunities.
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On a technology discussion list, someone posted the following;
I can’t count the number of hours I've spent building applications to
automate a task only to find hours, days, weeks, months later,
users still doing things the old fashioned way.
This frustrated techie goes on to suggest the exchange; “Excuse me, would you like to use this telephone?” “No thank you, this string and two cans work just fine.” isn’t as facetious as it may appear.
The more I focus on this thing called Change Management, the more I’m convinced that the joke, “Doctor! Doctor! It hurts when I do this!”, is more an astute observation of human behaviour than a child’s funny joke.
Over several decades in IT I’ve heard the poster’s compliant, a thousand times. Some of those complaints came from yours truly when I was just starting out in IT.
Sadly, as this recent posting proves, folks in IT haven't gotten any wiser as the years have passed.
IT practitioners share a common problem. We tend to have the perfect solution for many problems. At first glance that doesn’t sound like a problem; it sounds more like a valuable strength. The problem arises when we move to implement our solutions. At this task, (see the posting above) we’re pretty hopeless. We compound the problem by insisting that the problem lies elsewhere… usually with our ‘end
loser users’.
Once we start pointing our fingers at the other person, the problem quickly spins out of control… especially if we add on top of all of this,
a growing resentment towards the user. After all, they’re not using the tools
we worked so long to deliver, rather than resisting our good efforts on their behalf, they should be grateful. And so it goes.
There is a solution to this all too common problem. It is paradoxical in
nature and a high octane essence of Zen runs through its veins. Stop being the technology expert.
Stop having the answers. Stop creating solutions to problems your users have not yet recognized as problems requiring a solution.
Why? Because at the very least, we know (see initial posting) that the strategy
we're using, doesn’t work, and we don’t really want to be the lead actor in that children’s attempt at humour.
I can hear the objections already, “but! We’re the technologists! It’s our
job to implement technology! It’s what we do! It’s who we are!”
This is true, except that how we’re currently choosing to implement technology does not work very well. We still have the same goal; we just need a better strategy.
The solution to this problem of folks resisting our solutions is neither expensive nor complicated.
“Never develop, nor attempt to implement, a solution users haven’t demanded, and preferably, expressed a willingness to buy.”
This reframes the problem for IT, the problem is not, (never was) our ability to create wonderful IT applications. Our problem is, (always was) managing the receptivity of our users to what we have to offer.
In order to get our users to demand solutions from us, we need to understand their business. This is what the buzz phrase “Business Alignment” is all about. Once we understand what they do, then and only then can we have a dialogue with them that enables
us to know what they’d like to improve. It also allows us to guide them toward an understanding of what IT makes possible.
We also need to understand why people choose to embrace a new technology and why they resist our attempt to make their lives better. As a technologist I am astounded at how little technology is
used by those who could benefit from it the most. I can’t look at how someone works, without imagining what changes
I’d make to make that task easier.
How do I respond to that internal frustration? Mostly by keeping my mouth shut, I certainly don’t try and impose a solution on them. They’re not ready for a solution yet. First I have to
plant the seed of need.
There are two strategies which work very well. The first is a trick I’ve stolen from Huckleberry Finn. I’ll create an opportunity to expose them to a better way of doing things and make no attempt to sell them the solution I’m using. I want
them to ask what I’m doing. I want them to beg to use the solution I’m quietly demonstrating.
The other solution requires more effort. I want them to complain about some aspect of what they’re doing. I want them to understand, in some detail, the amount of effort they are using to create the finished product. And
then, and only then, ask them the salesman’s question, “What would it be worth to you to reduce that investment of your time by ‘X’%?”
Central to both these strategies is the goal of getting them to ask for a solution. If they do nothing else, they avoid hours spent building applications to automate a task only to find hours, days, weeks, months later, users still doing things the old fashioned way.
© 2006 Peter de Jager – Yes, he's a speaker with a passion for Change. You can contact him at pdejager@technobility.com
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