The following is copied-and-pasted from Hugh McLeod's Gaping Void blog, who apparently got it from James O'Neill, who was quoting Microsoft's Ray Ozzie. I don't have anything particularly to add, other than to say YesYesYes (particularly on #1)!
Microsoft's Ray Ozzie made a recent keynote: Here are his salient thoughts:
1. Constraints are empowering
2. Accept threats as resignations
3. Never follow; either leapfrog or stop
4. Diversity means survival
5. Don’t tolerate intolerance
6. Strategy and architecture are inseparable
7. Short and direct earns respect
8. Delaying the inevitable inevitably backfires
9. A re-org will never cure what ails you
10. You needn’t be an #%@hole to get things done
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3 comments:
1. ....unless they're artificial.
Being held to an artificial constraint and then thrown under the bus for failure to meet a goal within that constraint is a sure way to demovitvate a person from action.
Especially if the expectation is that "every waking hour should be spent trying to meet the goal within the artificial limit." Constraints are often misused by leaders to beat people into compliance. I don't agree with those type of constaints.
Ah, that gets to #10, I think. :)
I would contend that constraints are both empowering AND constraining... thus the name "constraint." But in the scenario you describe, I'd say the constraints aren't the problem - rather, the lack of genuine leadership and the presence of punishment is the problem.
As you know, FIST is all about constraints - not having as much time, money or as many people as you'd want to have... but needing to do the job anyway.
And of course, one of the keys to the FIST approach is willingness to accept failures, learn from them, etc (indeed, failure is the only way to determine maximum performance - I think I read that somewhere...).
I see the point there. Many leaders believe punishment is the only effective way to hold someone accountable. In fact, I've never understood what accountability really means. I hear this a lot when new leaders come in trying to fix problems. They say, "I'm going to hold people accountable" when what they really mean is, "I'm going to punish you if you don't get this done," regardless of how far-fetched the expectations are.
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