Evil by design–Foreword

This book is written by Chris Nodder while the foreword is provided by Donald Norman.  I am reading it and I found that the foreword is great.  I would like to share the first 3 paragraph.

“Sloth, Pride, Envy, Greed, Lust, Anger, Gluttony.  What?  I’m supposed to design for these traits?  As a human-centered designer, I should be repelled by the thought of designing for such a list.  What was Chris Nodder thinking?  What was his publisher thinking?  This evil, amplified.

Although, come to think of it, those seven deadly sins are human traits.  Want to know how people really behave?  Just read the law books.  Start with one of the most famous set of laws of all, the Ten Commandments.  Every one of those commandments is about something that people actually did, and then prohibiting it.  All laws are intended to stop or otherwise control human behavior.  So, if you want to understand real human behavior, just see what the laws try to stop.  The list of seven deadly sins provides a nice, tidy statement of fundamental human behavior, fundamental in the sense that from each of the deadly sins, one can derive a large list of less deadly ones.

But why should design be based on evil?  Simple: Starting with evil means starting with real human behavior.  This doesn’t mean that the result is evil: it means that understanding what each sin represents adds to an understanding of people.  And good design results from good understanding.  This is Chris Nodder’s great insight: Human frailty provides a great learning expereience, illustrative examples that teach fundamental principles.  And just as all fundamental principles can be used for good or evil, Nodder’s principles can used in either way.

….”

When the law book get thicker, it means that human behavior gets more devil.

When I first read the foreword today, I am intrigued to devour the whole book ASAP.  I would write the review then.

Effective Pressure: from Managers(Boss) or from Peers?

The most critical reasons I like to do training seminar are various:

1. Share my stories, both success and failure, to verify if it could resonate with the audience
2. Re-visit my conviction if they are still working and every time, I need to fine-tune the principles I uphold
3. After I learn some new theories and principles by reading of some books, I jot down some intriguing notes and I would like to prove if they are attractive during the course.

This time, I tried to elaborate the concept – Management by Peer Pressure (Dignity or Shame)

If the organization exert pressure from managers, this is only effective when the managers are present and in front of the staff; otherwise, the pace will be slow; on the other hand, only the area the managers pay attention will get fixed; for those area without the attention of the managers, it will get stuck.  Or the complained will only respond when the complaining bring the issue to the managers of the complained.  This kind of management is hierarchical and sequential.  The issue is who manages the managers.  The answer may be the boss/owner; but who monitors the boss?  His wife?  No kidding!

Think about the pressure exerted from the peers.  When the operators are managed by supervisors, supervisors by managers, managers by directors; at last, the operators could manage the directors; it is a cycling management paradigm.  It is acting like an ecosystem – self-contented and the metabolism is continuous.  When the manufacturing business is not properly run by the managers, it will be reflected in lower sales, lower efficiency, higher cost, lower profit and tight budget and forecast on benefit & wages as well as tight control on various kind of expenses; who will be affected significantly?  The throng.  If there exists a channel for the throng to express their criticism, it will be the pressure from Peers.

Let’s quote an example.  But it is not related to any business, strategy, tactics, operation efficiency and effectiveness.  Rather, it is fighting in production floor between 2 ladies!!

Usually, when 2 operators are fighting, HR will issue serious warning letter to them; the consequence is 1)  no performance bonus for the month; 2)  with accumulation of 3 warning, dismissal without any compensation.  Few months ago, 2 senior production supervisors, aged >30 were quarreling and lastly fight to each others.  The production manager lied to HR and hided the fact of their fighting.  However, people spread the news and openly discussed in the dedicated group chat of QQ.  You know what.  This is shameful to the manager and the supervisors.  What even worst is people question why warning letter would be issued to operators for fighting while no action was taken to the supervisors in the kind of instance.  There is no exception to the rule that everybody want to be exception to the rule.  But at least, the supervisors of the instance were losing face.  It looks that they are harmonizing gradually.

I am also member of the dedicated group chat of QQ.  When the management is doing something subject to criticism, I have to respond and lead corrective action in order to avoid being embarrassed.  I also copy the chat dialog to the related managers whenever there is complain.

Making small steps always

In the same training seminar (Internal Control), I picked a few stories among the only 12 attendants.

Lady T.  She joined the Excel/Budgeting a week before this training.  I recalled that she is doing Sales & Marketing.  I wonder why she joined this fundamental skill training.  I am not doing any big thing but just doing Excel workshop.  Amazingly, she can follow all the course materials.  When I saw her again in the internal control seminar just a week later, I was surprised and further to think about what attracts her to enroll such a training which is beyond her profession.  I tried to recall what I stressed during the Excel/Budgeting workshop:

• I am always a junior manager
• Do all small steps of improvement to cumulate them as a big improvement
• Excel is a huge spreadsheet.  How big a spreadsheet a user can master depends on how a user understands the command and functions of Excel.  Some Excel functions do not return value first, rather, cell first then see if there is any function outbound; if yes, it is cell; otherwise, extract the value in that cell and return
• Excel is something like a set of data in the spreadsheet; by making use of Excel functions, one can locate the data and do the basic arithmetic calculation, nothing more

Miss TC.  She looks like mid-20.  She asked how to deal with the current working situation – if you can work before the off-duty hours, the boss will assign more jobs; that means, she has to work OT without compensation in order to keep the job.  I recall that she also ask how to survive in Hong Kong while the business environment is deteriorating and there is less and less prosperous jobs.  My suggestion are as follows:

• Any additional job task is a blessing; it could help uplift our skillset.  The more we can do, the more we are being relied on.
• I quote the story of my ex-colleague – Miss. KK when I was working in Lexmark.  She was just a clerk when I was working there in year 2000.  I was assisting a new project of moving the Hong Kong supply chain hub to Shenzhen which means that she would lose the job in HK.  But she had to help the transition.  Miss KK asked for my help.  I just told her do her best on every single step of work.  Even she lost this job, it would be easy for her to find another job because of her authenticity demonstrated.  Ultimately, she still survive in Lexmark and after 15 years, she was the supply chain manager and gain a decent salary.  I emphasize to TC that KK’s typing speed is fast and she is eager to learn (she got a bachelor degree and master degree when she was working between 2000 & 2010)
• I further do a presumption; if there are 2 persons: A is typing fast (including using Excel) but not smart enough; B is typing slow (doing Excel slow) but very smart.  Who will a manger pick for job assignment?  Probably A.
• Do it fast for all basic and fundamental works, reserve more time for thinking; it will help impress your managers and your staff.
• Further to the above, if you are Chinese, I suppose you must have watched a movie of Steven Chow – Kung Fu.  A quote is “天下武功, 唯快不破”

Mr. WH (I do not know his name but I only know that he is doing wire harness with specialization in medical equipment).  I have mention it in my last blog.

Mr. Y.  I like this guy very much.  Although Excel is not any curriculum of internal control, I mention the importance the skill of Excel as well as Excel/VBA.  He resonates with me for the mightiness of Excel/VBA. He asked if there is any course during 2015 many times.  I replied that it is not firm because in the past, the enrolment is very few and FHKI cancelled it after all.  I requested him to get more interested parties to come up with 12 when FHKI launches the course.

Lady G (I do not know her name but I guess she must be General Manager or Boss).  She has a predisposition to think different.  But she seems to resonate with me in day 2 of training.  When I delve into the section of Man – the subject of Internal Control, Production Materials, and Organization Culture.  We are almost in the same page and she jot down more notes as well as nodding her head frequently.  I could read her consensus through the eye contact.  One instance is worth mentioning – when I explained the function of safety inventory, she tried to answer that it is to cope with the fluctuating …. (she happened to miss the word “demand”).  Then I tried to help.  At the age of me like her, I always come across with some words or concept or sentence I cannot voice out/remember exactly.  She butt in that she is inferior in principles.  I said I just want to introduce an App named Sticky Note which is a memo App in smart phone.  It is a good tool of jotting down any words/sentence and we can read it anytime as nowadays smartphone is always handy.

The story is from me which I told to the attendants.  Last October, I transferred the smart receptionist to Customer Service.  As a result, the HR assistant manager (Thomas) needed to identify the replacement.  Needless to say, we only focus on production department.  One day, Thomas brought in a young girl – small and look very young.  She is 26 (her name is Sue which I picked for her later) and married with a daughter of 4 in hometown.  She is no comparison to her predecessor from my first impression.  Below is our conversation:

Me: how long have you worked with the factory?
Sue: Since 2006 but left the company around 2 years because of maternity in between.

Me: What do you do in the shop floor?
Sue: Crimping (the skillful operators level)

Me: What?  Then how much do you earn in average?
Sue: RMB3,800

Me: h….  Do you know that the salary of a receptionist is only RMB2,800
Sue: Yes but it is an opportunity.  Flora (her predecessor) is a good example.

You know, at that moment, I really want to give her a hug.  I further imagine a scenario that a Customer Service can explain to the customer about the issues of crimping with connectors/terminals and wire albeit it may take 2 or 3 years.

Discern the vital few from the trivial many

During the CNY, I finished reading 2 books:

1. The End of Competitive Advantage – Rita Gunther McGrath
2. Essentialism, The Disciplined Pursuit of Less – Greg McKeown

All advantages are transient.  All novelty today will become outdated tomorrow.  A good team will be disintegrated a day.  Teamwork is critical but continuous effort on building the team is even more critical.  The paramount is to mobilize the resources to ensure succession.  Many stories can be realized in a factory.  What matters is the will of the subject person together with the facilitation existing in the organization

An operator could become a line leader a day; a line leader be a supervisor a day; a supervisor be a senior supervisor a day; a senior supervisor be a manager a day.  A manager be the operation manager and so forth.

An operator could become a receptionist; a receptionist be a clerical staff; a clerical staff be a customer service; a customer service be a supervisor and so forth.

A shipping clerk could become a customer service a day; a customer service be a supply chain planner and so forth.

What matters is if we are willing and committed to let these stories to happen.  We need stories, both successful and failed to tell the people what could happen in an organization – A technician could become a manager but that manager could be ousted if he fails to discern the vital few from the ordinary many.  I have a life story – a customer service assistant, then supervisor, then manager supervising a department of 5 while after all assumed manager of a even bigger department – Supply Chain; however, he was ousted for failure to keep pace with the changing environment and the resulted requirement on execution.

Recently, I was asked in a training course why I can still be intrigued in the harsh manufacturing environment in China by an attendant who is assumed the position of general manager in the same industry as mine.  At that time, my answer is only a question reverted to him if he possesses the necessary power.  He said what he missed is the finance department.  Actually, what I mean if he possesses the power to change and prove as well as the will power to admit failure to begin success.  He attributed his frustration to the youngster, not the existing management team.  If we got failure, there must be something wrong with ourselves or themselves or both.  I do not believe that stagnation is a good thing.  Why not assume something wrong with myself first, the process second, themselves third and diagnose them.

You may not imagine how difficult it is in a holiday eve that you were told a number of people would consider to move after the CNY, which includes manager, supervisor and staff.  There must be something wrong with the following:

1. The capable manager is too tired with the team and blame the management failure to motivate the team member to be more accountable and responsible
2. The supervisor expects some advance notice of the merit adjustment after the CNY; but it did not happen so he voiced out the action
3. A staff would like to go back to his previous company as his ex-employer intended to offer him a better package.
4. Some have worked there for 2 or 3 years; it is time to leave the ugly environment and get afresh.
5. The budget is too tight and the margin is too thin to trigger a generous merit increment.  It is well known.
6. CNY is a festival to inspire people to change, just for the sake of change.

One cannot expect there is no change or stagnation inside a factory; it is absurd to have this kind of expectation.  Rather, this is symptom of insufficient effort on change.  I would say this is really the interesting thing that keep the momentum.

Only the sweating who counts

By chance, I read the following paragraph which resonates with me:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who come short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming;  but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotion; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory not defeat.”           —- Theodore Roosevelt

When I get 1 dollar to spend, I prefer putting it on the production, the frontline operators and the line leaders.
When I get 10 dollars to spend, I will spend 9 on the operators and 1 on the staff.  The amount does not matter; rather, the care does.