Comments on: CONFESSIONS OF A CKO: WHAT I SHOULD HAVE DONE

By: Dave Pollard

Dave Pollard — Tue, 01 Jun 2004 21:33:36 +0000

Thanks, Matt. Love the expression ‘the poetics of their jobs’ — really makes the olverused and inappropriate expression ‘management science’ look righteously silly.Jon: It’s interesting how everyone except top management is largely above the culture, structure and politics — they just appreciate someone realizing that their job is much more difficult than it should be, and offering to help. The problem, ultimately, is entirely a management one: Management prides itself on not using knowledge (“they pay me a million a year to draw on my experience and gut, not to ask other people what to do”, as one put it), refuses to pay for ‘work effectiveness improvement’ programs or services (“if they’re not effective at doing their jobs, they should be fired, not coached”), and generally look at employees as a necessary evil until the opportunity to outsource or offshore presents itself.

By: Jon Husband

Jon Husband — Tue, 01 Jun 2004 14:56:38 +0000

My sense is that you would have found the “work effectiveness” part more gnarly when it came to culture and structural bottlenecks (and the politics therein) than with respect to the range of quasi-reengineering elements you mention above.Just a guess. I know that you are very aware of the issues of culture and org structure.

By: Matt Loader

Matt Loader — Tue, 01 Jun 2004 12:30:55 +0000

Fine article Dave, I found your comment ‘We have actually made workers’ intellectual activities harder rather than easier, by presuming, top-down or back-office-to-front-lines, to understand what information they need, and how, when and why they need it’ to be a key point. Being of an ethnographic bent, I can see the areas where anthropology can be dragged in, in a spirit of true interdisciplinarity, to assist in the work you mention later: ‘Work one-on-one to understand the problems each worker is having acquiring and processing information, and finding, contacting and working with experts; provide them with personalized training, tools, suggested processes and ‘cheat sheets’ to address these problems; and, if these problems are endemic to the organization or can’t be solved at the individual level, bring them back to management with recommendations for more systematic changes. [this is the only element of this job description that would require any staff -- all the rest is a one-person job]‘. I love the idea of ‘cheat sheets’, and have strongly suggested we adopt these: faced by learning a new software app. who sits down and reads the manual straight off? We need these ‘quick starts’, and they are at the task / activity level. Major respect Dave, for dragging KM back to the immediacy of The Task- if we take the time to look at how people are working; if we understand the poetics of their jobs, we can see that here is where the difference can be made…