Anyone who’s been around me much will likely acknowledge that I use the term “moving forward” when describing productivity effort and output. I’ve used that phraseology many times to describe what I consider baseline criteria for any effort we might be discussing. In fact a recent conversation I was having I stated that my determination of success isn’t always measured in the fulfilling of the predicted outcome. Sometimes success can be measured in the forward movement, my exact words, “I won’t complain that we have fallen (short of goal in this case), as long as we have fallen FORWARD.” My thinking here is that as long as we’re trying to move forward, push the envelope, and make progress then I can be satisfied many times with that effort.
But, if we fall short by sitting on our hands or because we’ve not put 100% effort into the task…well then it’s a different story. The very nature, essence-if you will, of IT is that it’s new frontier in nature. Technology is different, new, challenging…all rolled up in one. We must expect some failures along the way…new frontiers don’t have defined boundaries or a template in which to work from.
To relates some of the thoughts above to a Outdoorsman analogy….a friend told me a long time ago as we were fishing in a Bass Tournament in Arkansas and I was struggling with losing several lures in heavy cover….he said, “Jim, don’t worry about it, if you’re not losing a few lures when you fish…then you’re not fishing for the big fish in the right spots.” His point was that I should expect to lose some lures once in a while if I really wanted to catch the big fish…fish that tend to find homes in heavy cover. It’s no different for us working in the IT arena…we should fully expect some projects to be slow in developing, some projects to be late, some projects to be over-budget and even some projects to …fail. Yes, fail!
We won’t be pushing the envelope or reaching out towards new frontiers if we can guarantee success every single time. Why? Because the future holds NO GUARANTEE’s! In an effort to be creative and to find new ways to solve old problems or even ways to solve new problems, the boundaries aren’t defined. We must develop them along the way…they are unpredictable. If we are truly pushing ourselves and this Agency forward…we will experience some shortcomings…but those shortcomings could and should also serve as a learning tool for us. Any and all “failures” should be a learning experience…although the project may not be completed exactly as we had originally thought…we must learn along the way…we must be willing to adjust our plan as new ideas and new technology develops.
A new project currently underway within the Desktop Technology group currently is to automate the IT ordering process for customer. The projects original concept was to put an online ordering system in place that allows customers to order IT related goods….to automate as much as possible of the manual process(s) that we have today. Obviously the intent here is to eliminate as much of the manual effort as possible and free up value staff time---both on the IT side, but also on the customer side. We are trying to “work smarter”…to find other ways to get the work done with less staff. I believe this project is a definite step in the right direction. Will it be 100% successful and eliminate all current manual effort…likely not the first go around…in fact there could quite possible be some things that don’t work as well as we hoped for originally. But, if that turns out to be true…I will still consider it a relative success…in that “if” we fall in this endeavor…we will be falling “forward”…we will moving in the right direction.
And frankly I’m willing to suffer some failures along the way if we fail while trying to move this Agency forward from a technology perspective. I believe there is value in that…the vision and the effort. Good will come out of those failures if we are willing to support those failures as valid attempts to grow and move ahead. It’s called risk…risk vs. benefit. There is benefit in risk taking…because many times we do (and have) succeed.
We cannot be afraid of failure….not in this line of work. If you are failure phobic…then you quite likely may be in the wrong line of work. It’s best summed up by Albert Einstein: “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” ..and to help frame the perspective I’d like for us to follow: quote by Thomas Edison: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work
Keep pushing on folks….you ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE for this Agency…
Thank you!
TAFN
Monday, June 9, 2008
Monday, June 2, 2008
Post for the day....
I couldn't resist putting this one out there for those that may take the time to check in here today. I'd encourage all of you to dwell on the thought for a few minutes and see if there is any insight for you in the words...
Oswald Chambers said, "The enemy of best is good."
TAFN
Oswald Chambers said, "The enemy of best is good."
TAFN
Thursday, May 29, 2008
"Life Isn't Fair..."
As adults no doubt most of you have heard one or more adage uttered from the elders in your life. Spoken thoughts or feelings such as: "You only live once.", "You get what you put into it.", "Bad things happen to good people.", or "Life isn't fair", ...and no doubt many, many others.
I'd like to focus primarily on one that weighs heavily on my heart, for more than one reason... "Life isn't fair..." This one has always seemed set apart from many of the others I've heard over my life time, distinct and separate for some reason. Life isn't fair....
Human nature I believe tends to lean towards and even dwell on the negative aspects of many things, including life in general. It's relatively easy to spot when you talk with someone. The conversation often degrades into looking and talking about the bleak side of...things. You've had those conversations before where the person you're talking with just seems to focus on the negatives... I'd ask you to think about how that makes you feel. Does it make you feel; interested? sympathetic? apathetic? Likely that will depend a great deal upon the relationship you have with the other person and the context and content of the discussion, right? And, it would have something to do with how negative the person is...how compelling the subject is to you, etc.
No doubt every one of us has had something in our life that we could speak to in terms of "Life isn't fair"....some unique pain or trauma we've suffered...or worse yet, one that someone we love greatly has suffered. I'd argue that if you live long enough you will eventually run into one of those situations and even perhaps mutter the words.
So what does that have to do with Technology? or the work we do at MDC? PLENTY, I would suggest. Your attitude, how you handle stresses, how you interpret and respond to negativity, words that come from your mouth, things you talk about in public, etc...all of those things are a reflection of you and the work you do. Because of the work we do, we are heavily involved with other people--MDC employees (customers), vendors, contractors, etc....we deal with PEOPLE...A LOT! Which in turn means, we are "on display"....for instance, more folks will likely know our Help Desk staff than the numbers of people who would know who the Conservation Agent is in Pemiscot County...it's about exposure. We as an IT group are 'exposed' often. Our work is on display for everyone to see...everyday.
So, it's not hard to make the leap from high exposure to why it's important we conduct ourselves professionally. When we run into those situations where we feel life (someone/something) is taking advantage of us or treating us unfairly...how we respond to those situations is what others see. Closer to home--paycheck--what are you saying about the check you bring home, likely something to the effect of "it's not enough." or what are you saying about the high workload you have? or what are you saying about the new technology that is being brought into this organization? Are you supportive? or are you propagating a negative component to one of those?
Perhaps your stance is that you're not being treated "fairly" or even "Life isn't fair".... Ya know, perhaps it isn't...but whose milestone is being used to measure? Probably yours, right? Humans tend to make everything about them...it's all about "me"...so anything that happens to them or around them is measured around the "me." What or how does this impact me? Is it good for me? Will it be more work for me? or What's in it for me?
"IF" I've described you...then I'd challenge you to give some thought, serious thought, about trying to change that attitude. Your representation of Conservation, of Technology, of yourself, is on display. While you may think that "Life isn't fair" to you....I can almost certainly guarantee that someone else has a bigger problem...a more significant issue they are wrestling with...guaranteed. While it may be tough to focus on the positives when it seems so many negatives are piling up against you....it's scientifically proven it helps to remain positive and upbeat. Give it a try!
While there may be some truth to "Life isn't fair".... who ever promised you it would be? I've never read anything, anywhere or heard anyone who control ALL things tell me that life WOULD BE FAIR!
Attitude, particularly a good positive attitude that is supportive of fellow workers, the organization you work for, and the decisions that are being made is important. It will help define WHO you really are. Accepting the fact that you aren't the only one making the "call", but rather a team member who can HELP make that call, or support the call...is really the measure of success, AND the milestone by which you/I will be judged in many cases. How you respond when those tough times materialize will define you...and US!
TAFN
I'd like to focus primarily on one that weighs heavily on my heart, for more than one reason... "Life isn't fair..." This one has always seemed set apart from many of the others I've heard over my life time, distinct and separate for some reason. Life isn't fair....
Human nature I believe tends to lean towards and even dwell on the negative aspects of many things, including life in general. It's relatively easy to spot when you talk with someone. The conversation often degrades into looking and talking about the bleak side of...things. You've had those conversations before where the person you're talking with just seems to focus on the negatives... I'd ask you to think about how that makes you feel. Does it make you feel; interested? sympathetic? apathetic? Likely that will depend a great deal upon the relationship you have with the other person and the context and content of the discussion, right? And, it would have something to do with how negative the person is...how compelling the subject is to you, etc.
No doubt every one of us has had something in our life that we could speak to in terms of "Life isn't fair"....some unique pain or trauma we've suffered...or worse yet, one that someone we love greatly has suffered. I'd argue that if you live long enough you will eventually run into one of those situations and even perhaps mutter the words.
So what does that have to do with Technology? or the work we do at MDC? PLENTY, I would suggest. Your attitude, how you handle stresses, how you interpret and respond to negativity, words that come from your mouth, things you talk about in public, etc...all of those things are a reflection of you and the work you do. Because of the work we do, we are heavily involved with other people--MDC employees (customers), vendors, contractors, etc....we deal with PEOPLE...A LOT! Which in turn means, we are "on display"....for instance, more folks will likely know our Help Desk staff than the numbers of people who would know who the Conservation Agent is in Pemiscot County...it's about exposure. We as an IT group are 'exposed' often. Our work is on display for everyone to see...everyday.
So, it's not hard to make the leap from high exposure to why it's important we conduct ourselves professionally. When we run into those situations where we feel life (someone/something) is taking advantage of us or treating us unfairly...how we respond to those situations is what others see. Closer to home--paycheck--what are you saying about the check you bring home, likely something to the effect of "it's not enough." or what are you saying about the high workload you have? or what are you saying about the new technology that is being brought into this organization? Are you supportive? or are you propagating a negative component to one of those?
Perhaps your stance is that you're not being treated "fairly" or even "Life isn't fair".... Ya know, perhaps it isn't...but whose milestone is being used to measure? Probably yours, right? Humans tend to make everything about them...it's all about "me"...so anything that happens to them or around them is measured around the "me." What or how does this impact me? Is it good for me? Will it be more work for me? or What's in it for me?
"IF" I've described you...then I'd challenge you to give some thought, serious thought, about trying to change that attitude. Your representation of Conservation, of Technology, of yourself, is on display. While you may think that "Life isn't fair" to you....I can almost certainly guarantee that someone else has a bigger problem...a more significant issue they are wrestling with...guaranteed. While it may be tough to focus on the positives when it seems so many negatives are piling up against you....it's scientifically proven it helps to remain positive and upbeat. Give it a try!
While there may be some truth to "Life isn't fair".... who ever promised you it would be? I've never read anything, anywhere or heard anyone who control ALL things tell me that life WOULD BE FAIR!
Attitude, particularly a good positive attitude that is supportive of fellow workers, the organization you work for, and the decisions that are being made is important. It will help define WHO you really are. Accepting the fact that you aren't the only one making the "call", but rather a team member who can HELP make that call, or support the call...is really the measure of success, AND the milestone by which you/I will be judged in many cases. How you respond when those tough times materialize will define you...and US!
TAFN
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