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Some guidance on reports

If you have ever had to give a presentation to a group, you’ve likely had to present metrics. It is easy to fall prey to fancy looking graphs or the idea that the more information, the better.

This covers both graphs and slide decks.

Like my meeting guidelines, I also have some for reports. Here goes:

A report should drive a simple question.

Do we need more resources (people, money)?
Do we need more time?
Is everything on track?

The two kinds of presentation are:

I need to drive a decision.
I need to tell you the results of a prior decision.

Is the display quickly readable? If you hear ‘What am I looking at?’ then you have issues.
Are you showing too much information?

Having more information is fine but you don’t have to show it all at once.

The higher up the chain of command you go, the quicker you need to get to the point.

Put your questions up front.
What do you need from your target audience?

Some senior people want to dive into the weeds. Keep some information in reserve for when you need to do that.
Practice. Show the report to someone who doesn’t know much about the subject matter. How clear is it to them?
Much like meetings, editing is important. Try to make your point in as few slides as possible. That isn’t to say not to be ready for questions. Anticipating possible questions and being able to smoothly go over to them is a very good thing.
If you are showing a slide deck, keep animations to a bare minimum. If you can make your point without the animations, do that. If you are in a hurry, they get annoying fast.
Use the notes section of the slide deck. You can provide additional information in this area when you send the deck to your audience.
Avoid eye-charts. Your graphs and slides should be readable at a distance.

The Place You Want to Work

This one is pretty straightforward.

Make your current job the place you want to work. If it isn’t the situation that would draw you in as a worker, making it the place you desire to be, then do what you can to change it.

Sometimes that is just the money. When you are young and full of energy, sometimes that is enough.

Sometimes it is the place to give you the experience you need. If you acknowledge it as a step, great. But ask yourself why the place you are at isn’t what you are gathering the experience for?

What can you change? What do you have the power to change? What can you change even if you don’t have the explicit authority to change things?

Don't even try

In my 20’s, when I had a lot of ideas. Some of them were wacky, some weren’t. Occasionally they were some kind of invention or perhaps some way to make money. Sometimes they were just something funny I thought would be unique.

I tried about 10% of them.

I was told, on a fairly consistent basis, that if the idea was a good one then someone had already done it. Someone smarter than me. Someone better than me.

It was better not to try. Also, get those ideas out of your head. Get your head out of the clouds and settle for an average existence. You will never do anything original. Take what you got and keep your head down.

That sank in quite a bit. It’s difficult to shake that level of programming. It stuck for quite a while. Why even bother?

And you know, most of those ideas probably weren’t original. Some just plain wouldn’t work now that I think about them.

In my thirties, the ideas started making their way through the barrier of doubt. My situation was different and no one was saying those things to me any more. I started trying things again.

I’m not a superstar artist or inventor. I try things. A lot of the things I try are not very good at first. I learn, grow, iterate. Some of my ideas entertain people. My failures make for funny stories. My successes are pretty decent.

What I am trying to say is do not let anyone take away your willingness to try. Don’t let someone make you feel you aren’t good enough to even attempt something new. If someone already did it before you then SO WHAT? It doesn’t diminish you or them to try it on your own.

Own your aspirations. Overcome the naysayers with your audacity. You hurt yourself by not trying and the world is poorer for your lack of participation.

An Important Meeting

One meeting in my life has had a profound effect on my life.

After I was commissioned but before flight school started, they gathered a hundred or so of us in the base theater. Everyone who went through flight school since the beginning of Naval Aviation has been in this theater. They likely had some version of the same talk. We were all newly commissioned Ensigns but from many sources. Some were ROTC, others were from the Naval Academy, the rest of us from AOCS. They filled us with standard tidbits like these:

"Look to your left. Look to your right. Only one of you will make it through."
"If you aren't cheating, you aren't trying."
"If you are caught cheating. You are out."
"Everyone is trying to kill you."
"Aviate, Navigate, Communicate."
"Altitude is life."
There were many others. All of them turned out to be true.

At a cursory level, they seem pretty self explanatory. If you go a little deeper, however, each can help you through life and business.

[Find the ways to keep things to your success]
[Explore better ways of doing things. Don’t always stick to the orthidoxy]
[Know the limits of the system]
[Don’t take everything at face value. Question]
[This one is good for projects and IT support. Keep the plane (system) airborne. Pointed in the right direction (not causing more damage) and THEN inform leadership]
[Build your own buffer in what you are doing]

The Power Curve

Speeding up a vehicle takes time. Fom a full stop, if you floor the accelerator in your car you don’t instantly go to your top speed. The tires may take a moment to gain traction, the engine starts gaining power to spin those wheels faster. The increase in speed can be expressed as a curve.

Roughly, it’s shaped like this:

It’s known as a power curve. Aircraft use the same thing. If you are trying to take off on a short runway and the end of the curve shows a speed where you will actually be flying then you have to stay ahead of this curve. Because speeding up takes time. If you don’t you are ‘Behind the Power Curve’.

When aircraft land on an Aircraft Carrier, they push the throttles all the way up. They don’t just ease off the power until they gently land. You have to be ready, in case something goes wrong (cable snaps, someone in the landing zone), to fly again.

I think there is a parallel in projects. Pushing through past the end is critical. Don’t just limp your way to the finish and stop. Be prepared to go further.

Be ready to fly again.

Stay ahead of the power curve.

A trick for meetings

Meetings can be boring. They are especially dull for the the people they aren’t meant for. If you can’t escape and you can’t leave it on as background noise I try to implement this strategy.

Have a goal.

The goal does not have to be the goal of the meeting. I’m talking a personal goal. Those things that you and your boss go over at least once a year.

‘How does this help me with my personal goals?’

Can you ask a question that forwards your goals (independent of the meeting).

Don’t take over the meeting. Don’t derail. Approach it with a perspective that is yours alone. It makes it easier to stay engaged and not resort to multitasking.

My Useless Degree

I have a BA in Music. I stopped about quarter before I got my Masters.

Many people informed me that this was a useless degree.

I took my useless degree and went to AOCS (Aviation Officer Candidate School). Essentially Marine Corps boot camp but with courses in Aerodynamics, Engines and many other subjects. My ability to play the trumpet gave me a bit of leeway because they liked having a live bugle player.

My useless degree led me to being commissioned in the Navy and becoming a Naval Flight Officer.

When I was assigned to my aircraft, I needed to learn radar theory and how to manage a full battle space. I found that my knowledge of acoustics made radar theory easier for me and conducting gave me skills I needed for efficient control of the battle space.

When I got to the fleet, I had to learn to listed to several radios at a time. As a musician I had to learn to listen to all the musicians around me, to be able to listen to cues and differentiate what was going on.

Music is not a useless degree. Any degree will make you a more well rounded person, you will learn how to learn. Degrees teach discipline.

There are no useless degrees.

Too Many Meetings? Try this

I’m not sure if ‘Tricks’ is the right word. I think I’ll go with ‘strategies’.

If your team is getting swamped with unnecessary meetings -

Strategy 1:

Pick one day a week to not have any meetings for your team. No standup, no touch bases, working groups. Nothing. Take the pressure off for one day where people can actually do the work we hired them to do instead of talking about it.

Sadly this does not apply to leadership.

Strategy 2:

This is a little more sneaky. Tell your team they are not allowed to do more than two hours of meetings per day. If they want to go to more then they need your permission.

Here’s the sneaky part. Do NOT enforce this rule. Let your team enforce it as they feel the need. People setting up meetings will need to contact you to get your folks to join. This slows down meetings for your people by putting one more obstacle in the way when they want to enforce it.

Power and its uses

I’ve known a few different types of leaders in several scenarios. There is a need for all types, depending on circumstances. However, some wear harder on the teams and the leaders themselves.

The first kind of leader is the ‘stand on a hill and shout orders’. In certain combat situations, this is optimal. There is no time for questions or delay - those could mean failure or death. This is also known as ‘The Iron Hand’. In a business environment this is rarely needed. I would use it for a short time if there is extreme disorganization on taking over a team and what I would deem as open rebellion. That’s not a place I would like to work.

Somewhat related is the ‘micromanager’. It’s usually not quite as confrontational but it is stressful for those being managed. This is useful (short term) if someone is new at a job or they are not communicating well. Usually the source for this is the lack of communication or mistrust. If you want to stop being micromanaged my go to strategy is to over communicate. Ask permission for everything. A little time of this and most micromanagers will back off. If you want to teach a complex job, micromanagement is a good place to start - just don’t call it that. Also, phase out of this technique as soon as you can.

I prefer a different technique if you can get to it (not always possible). I like to start with the assumption that people on the team are competent and motivated until they show otherwise. Work out the goals for each team member, make sure they have the right tools and then let them do their job. Get a regular status update, ask questions, escalate things for them when needed. Make sure everyone knows what your team is doing. Their success is the teams success but call each member out publicly for their good work.

Push the team members if you can. By that I mean give them opportunities above their level. Encourage them to run meetings and make decisions. Give them feedback to improve (privately) and most importantly GIVE THEM RUNWAY TO FAIL. Failure teaches us. Most failures don’t ruin things forever and can be recovered. If something is vital then be careful about the opportunities you give. In those cases bring them on as an assistant on running something to expose them to it.

“What about when someone just isn’t cutting it?”

That usually comes down to one of two things:

Lack of skill
Lack of motivation

Lack of skill is the easy one. Train them. If you don’t have the resources to train them then you either changed the role they are in or hired the wrong person (or inherited the wrong person). If you can’t train them or don’t have the resources to train them then you need to look at less desireable options (replacement (not fun) or bringing on new resources (bad for bottom line).

Lack of motivation is more difficult. Talk to them (privately) and hopefully you will get honest answers. It could be a personal issue, a health issue, an ‘I’m almost at retirement’ issue or even a conflict with a coworker (even you). If you have the time and resources, help them. If it is a ‘I just don’t care’ attitude then that is a harsher discussion that may involve HR. Team conflicts are difficult but not insurmountable (not getting into it here, sounds like a whole post on its own).

In the cases where someone isn’t cutting it the most important thing is DO SOMETHING. If you ignore it, you will lose good members of your team and the lack of motivation may become contagious.

Your team is not a family. They are a group of people you spend a huge amount of your time with and it’s better if it is a place they don’t hate going to. People have jobs to make money and spend that money and time on things and people they care about. Sometimes, if people are lucky, they get jobs doing something they love and deeply care about. Your job is to get the most out of your team to make a profit for your company. That becomes much easier if you can create an environment that people can enjoy at least a little, doing cool things and getting credit for them and succeeding as a team.

Power is not swinging a hammer and screaming. It’s not threatening to fire everyone on your team. Those are things you can do. Power is building a team that can take on anything while having each others backs.

It really wasn't a good day

Before I got my wings, I was in a squadron known as the RAG (Replacement Air Group). We took classes, learned procedures and how each part of our aircraft worked at a detailed level.

We also did training flights off the San Diego coast. Sometimes we would simulate emergencies, sometimes we would work with local fighter squadrons and practice the art of Combat Air Control (how to talk to fighters, directing them to good attack position).

One day we were on one of these missions and a real emergency came up. F-14’s were doing their own training in a nearby airspace when one had catastrophic engine failure. I was sitting in the middle seat, training to be a mission commander and I had an instructor in one seat next to me and another student on the other side.

The aircraft was still visible on our radar. I didn’t know if I was supposed to but I was in the middle seat so I started giving orders to people very much senior to me. I told the student to track the aircraft and the instructor to start coordinating Search and Rescue. I asked the pilots to maximize our path to clear up the radar picture.

“And it was such a good day” was the last thing we heard from the pilot before he ejected.

We stayed on station for as long as we could while SAR looked. It took a long time and in the end, he hadn’t survived the ejection.

In the end I learned that being in command wasn’t a matter of rank. My instructor could have taken over at any time with no pushback from me, instead he let me go with it. He taught me a lot with his decision not to push me out of the way. Leadership is letting people do what they need to do (while giving them support if they aren’t cutting it).

Change Course

Back in the Navy on my last tour, I was attached to ships company. That means I was not flying with a squadron but was ships crew instead. Mostly, I worked in Air Traffic Control but I also stood a watch as Bridge Crew.

As OOD (Officer of the Deck) my job was to manage the Bridge crew, the course of the ship, direct reactor changes, etc.)

This post will be about navigating the ship.

When you recover aircraft, they land on the angle deck. The problem with that is the vector analysis that you have to do. Each aircraft has a windspeed min/max and a crosswind min/max. If you want more wind, make the ship go faster. If you go faster, you introduce crosswind. So you have to adjust your course to minimize the crosswind. It’s a skill that you develop.

They had a tendency to team up aviation officers with the nuclear engineering officers. In aviation we are used to things happening fast. We adjust and reassess. With the Nukes, they had a tendency to calculate the course of the ship to the tenth of a degree. It took forever.

They taught us accuracy and we taught them how to use ‘rules of thumb’. It’s the balance that made us efficient.

My Meeting Rules

I’m often put in charge of meetings - something which I find amusing.

I despise meetings.

Correction: I despise useless meetings.

I’ve developed rules about meetings that I try to get people to follow and spread.

Meetings should be as short as necessary with the minimum number of participants.
Meetings should have a goal. If the goal is accomplished then the meeting is over.
If a meeting turns into a discussion between 2 people, they need to take it offline.
People remember the first 20 minutes and the last 20 minutes of the meeting. Plan accordingly.
Too many people in a meeting is a committee. Committees don’t like to make decisions.
Check your default meeting length. Don’t leave it set at an hour if you don’t need it.
Meetings are like a gas, they expand to fill the available space.
No surprises. If you know you will ask someone a question- tell them the question ahead of time.
My standard for meeting length:
1. Touchbase - 15 minutes
2. Team meeting - 30 minutes
3. Demonstration/Standard Team Planning - 60 minutes
4. Workshop - 2 hours and more
Respect peoples time.
1. Don’t schedule over lunch
2. Don’t schedule for the end of the day on Friday
3. Know when the workday of your team starts/ends. Be respectful.
4. Sometimes, because of time zones, some people get screwed on meeting times. Don’t make it the same people every time.

The Big List (182 things in 1823 days)

Every five years I set up a list of goals. This is my latest, ending in four and a half years.

1 Travel Yellowstone

2 Travel Washington DC

3 Travel 29 Palms

4. Travel See Northern Lights

5 Travel Europe

6 Travel New Zealand

7 Activity Tour Pixar

8 Learn Stained Glass

9 Learn Drawing Class

10 Activity Cookbook

11 Activity Watch a Space Launch

12 Build Tony Stork Stuffed Stork doll with a goatee and an arc reactor

13 Travel Iceland

14 Activity Tell a story on stage

15 Travel Norway

16 Home Fix Dining Room Floor

17 Home Add A/C vent to upstairs office

18 Home Backyard Furniture

19 Build China Hutch

20 Build Sideboard

21 Build Mantle Art Piece Combined wood and acrylic mountain range

22 Activity Take Opal to more training

23 Build Build a Droid Not a standard R2D2, make it up on my own

24 Travel Antarctica

25 Travel See Iceberg

26 Build New workbench

27 Build Clamp Rack

28 Activity Photograph major meteor shower

29 Activity Enter a photo contest

30 Travel Easter Island

31 Build Bandsaw circle jig

32 Build Custom usb keyboard

33 Activity Try a new, very different look

34 Activity Teach Opal to catch

35 Learn Finale Software

36 Learn Blender Software

37 Activity Teach Opal to roll over

38 Travel Carlsbad caverns

39 Travel Arches National Park

40 Travel Antelope Canyon

41 Activity Find 10 hidden parks in San Francisco

42 Build New table in office with storage

43 Learn Glass etching

44 Learn Milling class at Crucible

45 Learn Glass blowing

46 Build Vacuform machine

47 Activity One straight week of vegetarian

48 Learn A rare skill

49 Activity Teach a rare skill

50 Activity Join academy of science

51 Build Kinetic structure

52 Activity Escape room

52 Learn Making custom cushions

53 Home Murphy bed

53 Build Musical instrument

54 Build Wind chimes for hard of hearing Using light instead of sound

55 Learn Pyrography

56 Activity Meet with my representative

57 Activity Meet with local politicians

58 Travel Visit a Presidential Library

59 Activity Develop alternate income stream

60 Home Refinish stairs

61 Home Basement cabinets

62 Learn Cabinet carcass building

63 Activity Try brains (food)

64 Travel Angel Island

65 Activity Sell a photograph

66 Activity Whale watching again

67 Activity Helicopter Ride

68 Activity Cook a souffle

69 Activity Make cheese

70 Travel New York City

71 Build Slide out microwave cabinet

72 Home Side door cabinet (built-in)

73 Travel Star Wars at Disney

74 Travel Alaska

75 Activity Make risotto

76 Activity Take Fia to the Zoo

77 Build Device that looks like 1940’s radio with modern features

78 Build Transparent video screen

79 Activity Make shop apron

80 Activity Make kitchen apron

81 Activity Make backpack

81 Travel Boston

82 Build Solar project

83 Travel Austrailia

84 Travel British museum

85 Build Drillpress table

86 Travel Yosemite

87 Activity Refurbish the old radio

88 Activity Bathroom cabinets

89 Activity Repaint basement bathroom

90 Learn Airbrush painting

91 Travel Japan

92 Activity Make Watch app

93 Activity Release Watch app

94 Activity Get non-contract job

95 Activity Trip with Mom

96 Activity Open Etsy store

97 Activity Projection mapping for halloween

98 Build Jewelry Box

99 Learn Flocking

100 Activity Create signature pie

101 Learn Frame and Panel doors

102 Activity Lunar eclipse photo

103 Learn Sewing skills

104 Build Branding iron

105 Build Moving lamp

106 Learn Suture

107 Learn Leather stitching

108 Learn Leather Braiding

109 Activity Projection mapping for Christmas

110 Activity Put together new office wardrobe

111 Travel Smithsonian

112 Travel Crater lake

113 Build Crucible furnace

114 Activity Academy of Science Nightlife

115 Home Paint living room

116 Home Fix the window frame upstairs

117 Home Replace windows

118 Learn Sign Language

119 Home Install solar lighting for house numbers

120 Home Redo front garden

121 Activity Herb garden

122 Activity Organize my paperwork

123 Learn Animation

124. Learn Corel Draw

125 Home Front yard camera

126 Learn Watercolors

127 Activity Cook with Fia

128 Activity Live edge turning

129 Activity Cosplay

130 Activity Volunteer

131 Build Murphy bed

132 Travel London

133 Build Puzzle box

134 Activity Ride in a sub

135 Learn Calligraphy

136 Home Repatch/paint bathroom walls

137 Activity Underwater photography

138 Activity Write iPhone app

139 Activity Submit iPhone app to app store

140 Learn Offset turning

141 Travel Portugal

142 Activity Write and submit an article for publishing

143 Activity Donate bikes

144 Learn A new language

145 Build Fire tornado

146 Travel Vermont

147 Travel Maine

148 Activity New Drivers license (RealID)

149 Build Additional side tables for living room

150 Home Make basement room nice and usable again

151 Activity Mission burrito

152 Home Wall art project

153 Travel Finland

154 Travel Africa

155 Build Animated skeleton

156 Activity Pickled Salmon recipe

157 Activity Redecorate Bedroom

158 Activity Purchase Arbans for Trombone

159 Activity SNL Audience

160 Activity Teach a workshop

161 Activity Develop personal brand

162 Activity Meditate at least once per week

163 Activity Drive without audio input at least once per month (no radio/phone/podcasts)

164 Activity Get evaluated for ADHD

165 Activity Have at least six months of buffer

166 Activity Start my own business

167 Activity Throw a dinner party

168 Activity Photograph an active volcano (at least an ash cloud or lava)

169 Learn How to wrap a present nicely

170 Learn How to work on a pottery wheel

171 Learn A magic trick

172 Activity Luau

173 Learn Molecular gastronomy

174 Learn Take a cooking class

175 Activity Try Balut

176 Activity Try chicken feet

177 Activity Haggis

178 Activity Invent something

179 Activity Give blood

180 Activity Ride in a self-driving car

181 Activity Random Road trip at least once per year

182 Activity Write a new list

The Loudest Noise

A lot of you know that I was trained as a combat air controller. We would send our fighters into a situation, knowing that one of the outcomes could be combat.

It doesn’t help to scream in those situations. Primarily, you are providing them with information and sometimes direction in a calm and reasoned manner. If someone hears that you are flustered, it doesn’t help. It makes everyone nervous. If something really out of the ordinary happens, then you let the emotion into your voice. As a controller, you set the level of the conversation. As soon as you start yelling, it is almost impossible to back things back down to calm. You’ve changed the tone and you have to live with it.

In my last Navy tour, I was one of the OOD (Officer of the Deck). Essentially, I ran the bridge of the carrier. I had to balance what we were requesting of the engineers, the course, integrating with air operations, communication, a whole host of things. When you do that, you have a team working with you. People had different styles when dealing with their team. Some people were the ‘stand on top of the hill and shout orders’ type. This is a type I didn’t care for as an initial position, the OOD starting with stress dialed to 11. Don’t get me wrong, some situations called for this, but I always liked to keep it in my back pocket. If you do it wrong, people are afraid to talk to you and you end up crashing the ship into something because of that fear.

I preferred to guide my team. I spent a little more time assessing the new people until I knew I could trust them. Then I let the system work. If something happened that demanded more ‘leader on a hill’ then the team was with me. The tone is set and the process works.

I’ve had bosses that ‘led by abuse’. Their power came from belittling others. They never truly have a team behind them. I think some people think the only way to have power is the use it constantly. They’ve been given the hammer of authority and they come out swinging.

I think true power comes from knowing when not to use it.

Digital Assistants - end goals

What is the end goal of all these personal digital assistants? If we evolve the concept to a point that it is the best it can possibly be, what would that look like?

How would we simulate the perfect digital assistant experience?

I’d say imagine it with a person?

You hire an assistant and decide to give this assistant an incredible amount of access to your life. This person would have total access over your calendar, communication, finances. The amount of trust you have in this person would have to be close to absolute. For the convenience they will bestow on you comes the very real risk that they have the ability to destroy your life.

So we back it off a step or two.

Your new assistant no longer has unfettered control of your finances but perhaps you give them a limited expense account to work with. They know what you spend and can make payments with your explicit permission. Your assistant can take calls for you and, after learning your preferences send outbound communication. More sensitive communication is sent to you for a dictated text or tweet or email.

You can keep taking this back in stages until it fits your comfort level.

I want to be able to talk to someone, in a normal way as if they are just on a speaker while they are sitting in another room.

In a meeting, there should be an assistant for the room. Someone who takes notes, looks up and displays data that is asked for or is just able to judge the attentiveness in the room and recommend a break.

There are two examples I can think of off the top of my head in entertainment of how this would work (there are many). First is from the Gripping Hand by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. In that novel, people were given the name of the house to interact with it but people also had what I believe they called artificial brains that would communicate for you when you were asleep or away. Another is the movie Her, where this was done by the persons phone.

We are still a ways away from the trusted assistant following you around with a clipboard. We can get there but we should have a goal of what it will look like and what tradeoffs we want to allow before we get there.

Survivors tell the story

When our AirWing was getting ready for deployment, we would do a lot of war-games. Our planes would be instrumented to the teeth and we would fly in special areas so every nuance of the battle could be recorded and played back.

The funny thing is that the cool technology doesn’t play that much of a role in who is perceived the winner.

The winner was the first person in the debriefing room. “First to the whiteboard, wins.”

Whoever gets to tell the story, gets to slant things in their own direction - regardless of the evidence.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how this applies to the civilian world and the result is pretty sick.

It is socially accepted to hunt people.

Let me say that again. It is socially accepted to find a person you don’t like, stalk them, and kill them.

If it happens under a few basic criteria:

The person you killed is from a different (perceived lower) social strata than you.
You lie through your teeth about a perceived threat or are so jumpy that you perceive anything as a threat.

Those threats can be but are not limited to:

Moving hands in any way whatsoever.
Being different than you.
Flirting (perceived). This can be as simple as saying hello or just ignoring the killer.
Defending themselves. (Worse, defending themselves successfully).

As long as you are sure they are dead, you have a pretty good chance of getting away with it.

When you are the only one who can tell the story, your life gets much easier.

The Halo Effect in three parts

There are a couple versions of the experiment. In one, teachers are shown video of a classroom session. Before they observe, they are told that the students are either gifted, average, below average/troublesome. The teachers are asked to record their observations.

For the 'gifted' students they observed engaged students. Obviously high achievers.

For the below average/troublesome students, they tend to diagnose ADD. They pick out the troublemakers.

But the video is the same.

In another version, the teachers given pre-conceptions are actually teaching the classes. Same result. Gifted students tend to get A's and praise and the Below Average ones are graded poorly.

_____

When I was in flight school, I saw a version of this. If someone's first flight went well then any problems on subsequent flights were seen as aberrations. If someone had a rough first flight, any successes after that were seen as aberrations. Consistent performance can get you out of the group you were placed in up front but it is difficult and rarely fully successful.

_____

When I was in High School and College, I was often called in to join orchestras/bands. My Trumpet teacher gave me this piece of advice.

"No matter what the group is, sit at first chair"

If you sit at last chair and you really fit at a different place, they will probably move you up one chair - maybe.

If you sit at first chair, they may move you to second chair but they won't move you all the way down to the bottom.

______

When I am leading a new team, I keep this in mind. I know the team can be successful and I keep my expectations high. I tend to trust people with more authority than expected and try to give them permission to fail (when we can spare it). People tend to grow into the expectations you have for them. When they don't is a different story.

Back to Tilden

The Tilden botanical Garden is one place we tend to go to in order to prove that the season is changing. Today we walked around there for about an hour, taking pictures as we went.

It's funny, I take more pictures of wildlife there than plants.

12 things I've learned in Management

I've been managing people for quite some time now. Over time one develops their own style and credo. In no particular order, here are twelve things I've learned.

If everything is an emergency then nothing is.
If you rely on line-of-sight tasking to assign work, everyone will avoid you.
Respect your teams time away from you. This includes the lunch hour.
Micro-management is a sign of distrust. If you have to do it then do you have the right people? Or is it just you?
A well run team will continue being successful without your constant interference.
Remember you are dealing with adults. Give them the goal, answer their questions, get out of the way.
A goal has both a tangible result and a time frame.
There are two ways to deal with your time regarding orders from on-high - Funnel or Filter. If you are a funnel, why are you even there?
Success and Failure are both addictive
Provide your team with the tools they need.
Have their back and they will have yours.
Remember these are people, not pawns. They know which way you are treating them.

Day 18 - Gloom

We occasionally play a game called Gloom. The basic idea is backwards from most games. Make others happy before they die and make yourself miserable (and then kill yourself when you are at your happiest).

It can be a pretty morbid game full of storytelling and memory (for added difficulty play after a couple mojitos).

Well, this morning our lovely bassets, Babar and Opal, decided to get into the shower with me. AND THEY WOULDN'T GET OUT.

As a result, I was mostly clean and they smelled like wet dogs (which they were).