A working group is an interdisciplinary group of people working together to make a decision or recommendation in regards to a common subject. Sometimes the group has a well defined goal but many times that goal is not defined well however weekly meetings are usually held with presentations and pseudo decisions are made.

I am currently in a working group that is attempting recommend a common architecture in a certain aspect of our business. We meet weekly and make presentations but the overall goal, the question we are trying to answer, has not be defined well. So we end up sitting through presentation after presentation learning about what other members in the group are doing but never really deciding on a common direction nor working together to come to a common solution. Some of the most advance protocols and standards are defined in working groups, so they can work if the group is defined correctly from the beginning.

So, I wanted to take some time to discuss how a working group can avoid this mode of non-decision making. To quote Stephen R. Covey from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People you must “Begin with the End in Mind”. This applies to the individual as well as the group. The group needs to first spend time clearly defining what the group is to accomplish, decide or recommend. As well the group need to define when they know the goal has been met and when to disband the group. Because this discussion defines the future path of the group this initial discussion should be held in a face to face meeting, other future discussions can be held on conference call.

Many groups never start with this simple discussion and these groups often end up embarking on a long, highly ineffective, journey of discussion after discussion and presentation after presentation with no goal and no purpose. Once the group has clearly defined a goal they can move on to execution.

The execution phase starts once the group has defined clearly what is to be accomplished. Rules and roles should be defined now. Each member should be responsible for something significant to reach the goal also each member should have rotating clerical roles like minute taker and agenda writer. Once these roles are defined a brainstorm of topics for discussion can begin. Brainstorming and generation of a short list is a long process which deserves it’s own post (likely coming in the future). Once a short list of topics has been gathered assignments of those topics can be made to group members and presentations can begin. The short list needs to contain topics that are relevant to the end goal, a group does not want to waste time on fringe topics that have no impact on the final decision.

Similarly the presentations to the group should have a purpose, be it to introduce the group to a new topic, to argue pros and cons of a given topic or something else. The presentations need to be complete, concise and correct and the presenter should allow for discussion at the end. After the presentation and discussion are complete the goal of the presentation should have ben met and all members of the group should be committed to the outcome. Once all topics have been presented and discussed the group needs to make the recommendation or decision that it set out to make.

The group now needs to come to a consensus on the decision or recommendation. I feel that this is the most important phase in the entire process and if the process was executed properly this step should be very straight forward. This phase should start with a quick recap of the topics presented and how they relate to the final decision. The group should avoid rehashing past discussions, if more discussion is needed then perhaps the group is not ready for this phase. If a group does not complete this phase then the group has not done what it set out to do, the time spend by all the group members was likely wasted time. Also note that no members should object to the final decisions but they do not have to agree that that is the best path. A presentation or document should be generated to communicate the final decision or recommendation.

Working groups can be a great tool to make good and well informed decisions or recommendations but they can also be a huge waste of time. Working groups should be used with great care in the workplace and a working group should not exist without well defined set of goals and exceptions of it’s members. Each member needs to be committed to making to decision or recommendation that the group was put together to make. The decision should be a consensus decision that no member has an objection to and that each member can be content with.

What are your experiences with working groups? Have you been in a well oiled working group or have you been in one that is a huge time sink?

A meeting is an event where minutes are taken and hours wasted.
    - James T. Kirk

We are getting close to a major milestone and what does management do? They schedule more meetings! More meetings that the entire team has to sit in and accomplish no productive work. The meetings are causing many of us to have to work late into the night. Why is it that when the schedule gets tight management feels they need to waste more time? Why can’t they simply come by and ask? That would give personal attention as well as get status information.

Meetings, Meetings and more Meetings!

Does this happen in your company?

Do you remember that TV game show titled “You are the Weakest Link”? Well at times I would to see that short haired British woman at work telling people what they really are. It would be nice to have an outsider look in and tell it how it is. My goal is to help you identify if you are the squeaking wheel in your group and how you can make sure that you are not becoming to annoying. I start by providing a list of things to look out for.

• You are constantly talking about something but never solving it. You can always talk and that is easy but sometimes it is easier to just solve the problem. This will keep you out of trouble with your boss as well as keep you in good terms with your coworkers.
• Whenever you bring up a topic all the people in the group give you the same answer. The same answer that they have been giving you for the last five hundred times you brought it up. At this point it would be better to start suggesting solutions and you might get somewhere.

• You are beginning to get annoyed with yourself talking about the subject. This is a sure sign that you are beginning to annoy others with your topic. If you annoy yourself us this as a sign to find a new strategy.

• The boss asks you to mind your own business. This is a bad thing. If the boss is getting annoyed with your comments (many times not understanding them completely) then you have a really big problem. Immediately talk with him to find and solution and shut your mouth!

At times what you are trying to communicate is important and no one is listening to you for multiple reasons. If the topic you are trying to get solved is really causing trouble to the team and endangering the project then you should continue to be the squeaking wheel until your problem gets addressed. When you bring the problem you you feel that you are not making any traction then perhaps you have a problem with the presentation. Go back and think about how you are presenting yourself and the topic. Are you defensive? angry? or are you not communicating the problem clearly and with enough (or to much) detail to make everyone including management understand? Have you communicated the impact of not taking action?

After you have made sure that the team and management clearly understands the problem but does not feel the same passion about it as you do then fix it yourself or drop it. It is the job of management to make the final decision with the advice of the team as a whole.

I hope this helps some people discover that they have become a squeaking wheel and that sometimes it is best to move on. Are you the squeaking wheel in your team? Tell us about how to discovered you are and how you solved your problem.

I hate to be a kicker [complainer], I always long for peace, But the wheel that does the squeaking Is the one that gets the grease.
    - Josh Billings (1818-1885) in a poem, “The Kicker”

Do you work with someone that is always complaining about something? I work with many. I also work in a place where the people that make the discussions have trouble differentiating between what is noise and what is really a problem. The old saying “The squeaky wheel gets the grease” is completely true when it comes to working in a large company where middle management has very little control over making major decisions. I sit in meetings where we spend the entire time talking about what font to use on the website, where when a real topic about the project is brought up it is tabled for later discussion. Note that usually the squeaking wheel is not the problem, the real problem is the other wheels that are broken and dragging on the floor that no longer squeak.

I feel this is due to two major issues.

• A few team members get get the complete attention of the meeting chair and “hijack” the meeting.
• The meeting chair has little control over getting the discussion back on track.

The first problem can be very detrimental to a team in general especially in meetings. If a small group of people make all the decision based solely on information they provided then the rest of the team feels that they have no input and will give up contributing. The second problem is a meeting management style, and it can work if the team is very good at working together. But with a team that does not work this can lead to a meeting with no outcomes except for being a complete waste of time for the rest of the attendees.

Back to the squeaking wheel, if you are a manager or a chairing a meeting be sure to be able to recognize the squeaky wheel topic and stick to the agenda. The issue that is brought up and becomes a squeaking wheel needs to be addressed in a different meeting, at the end of the meeting or by different means. If you find that a coworker is becoming a squeaking wheel and is not bringing up issues that affect the project then talk with then and talk to management. Management needs to gracefully make the person who has become the squeaking wheel aware of the fact and do there best to address that persons concerns. Usually the squeaking wheel topic is not as important as the meeting and is only noise to shield a larger topic.

Do you have an experience with a squeaking wheel in your team?

This year has been a year of life changing events for me.

Starting when I was able to find peace within myself and was able to listen to people and have tolerance for other’s life conditions and opinions. I spent time to define boundaries for work and play which has helped me separate work stress from home stress and enjoy the benefits from both. I gave myself space and time to complete goals (unlike in the past where I expected things to happen over night) which has allowed me to complete goals and not get discourages because success was not achieved within a time period.

I was married in July. My wife and I planned the entire wedding as well as paid for the entire day. I purchased my first income property and setup a savings plan to purchase our personal residence. I was told to that a loved one has a chronic illness and will not be able to live her life to the fullest. I found and benefits and daily meditation practice and completed reading more books than I have in my entire life. I also discovered a love for reading and writing.

In general I am happy with my accomplishments this year and am filled with joy by my reactions to happy and very sad times. I hope you all have a great New Year.

I have two theories about why this happens.

1. Upper/middle management is doing a great job at hiding the fact that the group has not generated a marketable product since before 2000. They accomplish this by changing the name of the group and telling upper/upper management that they have taken care of the lower performing group.
2. Management has nothing better to do but sit in a room and think of new names for the group. They when they do think of a new name they can report that they made efficiency changes and decreased costs and increased productivity by reorganizing the group. The next time they ask management will simply change the name again and the benchmark is reset again.

Sadly both theories could be true to a given extent and I actually feel that in most cases it is a combination of both. What makes me laugh every time is that when this is presented to the group all the rank and file employees do not care but management seems to think that they have done something that is revolutionary and is going to change the business operation for the better.

Does your business group change it’s name often?

In the United States Christmas has become the rape of an idea.
    - Richard Bach

Why is it that when a company gets large one of the first things to go is the company holiday party? I worked for a small company (less than 10 employees) and one year for our holiday party we took a cruse. At my current company we (the solders) get nothing! Is it due to the high cost? or because the company does not want to do anything that would imply they supported a particular religion. I don’t think either of these are they case because the company spends millions on holiday parties for the sales guys. It is because we, the rank and file, do not have a voice. Much like how the middle class does not have a say in government politics. Can this be changed?

I don’t believe that this culture can be changed because this is rooted deep in the company culture. The sales department traditionally has to woo clients by having parties to wine and dine them. Without the engineering staff sales would have nothing to sell (at least for the long run) and without the sales staff engineering would have no reason to be creative. But sometimes, perhaps, the company should provide nice things for the rank and file employees that do the majority of the work.

What are your thoughts?

No wonder I leave work many days feeling like I got nothing done, it’s because I did not. BTW I did not log in and I plan to spend the rest of the day relaxing with my wife.

How many hours of your work day are used for actual work? How can more time during the day be used for your work?

For example, most times I am required to write and present multiple status reports a week all with basically the same content. One for a meeting with a sub-team, one for a meeting with the whole team and one for upper management. It gets very repetitive and cumbersome to preparing so many reports, when at times it feels like most of the time allocated in the report is time for making the report and no real work gets done. And to rub salt in the wound the people in your sub team get to hear your report out three times! This is a huge waste of time for all involved.

Here are a few tips to be more efficient writing repetitive status reports.

• Always save your report in your email application so that from anywhere you can copy and paste new status for the next person that wants the same information.
• Don’t waste your time if people do not read your reports. Use the suggested method below the ensure that people read them. You don’t want to spend hours a week preparing reports that no one cares about.
• When you can verbally give your status and have someone else (preferably and manager) write it down it there language. This solves two problems, you do not have to write a report and they do not have to copy and paste then edit your status into there report.
• Allocate the same time at the beginning or end of the day to complete your status reports. If you are required to present the report prepare your presentation at the same time every week. Doing this allows you to focus on the status and gives you a personal deal line for getting things done that will need to be marked as done in your report.
• Give the same status every week of “We are making good progress and should be done in 2 weeks from today”. This works well since you always have 2 weeks to get the things done that you still need to get done.

Does your company require you to write a status report every week to tell upper management what you have been doing for the week? if they do does management read them? Likely not! If you are unsure to find out simply replace your status report document with a blank document with only one line that says “If you read this status, please tell me!“. If you do not get a email fired back to you for a few weeks you can be confident that your report is never read.

To Management: If you require your employees to write status reports you shoudl read them every week!

Do you have strange stories about status reports? Did you try one of my methods? Post your stories.

Even if, and this could be true, management meant that we should find ways to become more efficient and do the same task in less time and optimize what we are doing so we are not working on useless tasks. This could be the case but I doubt it, for two main reasons. If we could be more efficient wouldn’t we have been more efficient all along also if we could do things to become more efficient we certainly should not work on them in a crunch time because that would slow our perspective progress to the finish line. I also think that if we could eliminate the useless tasks then the managers would have no data to present to upper management because we would not be busy enabling data collection.

To combat this you could respond with the following comments:

• “If I was to work ‘smarter’ what would that mean?” (maybe to direct)
• “Does ‘smarter’ mean that you are at home and I am here at work?” (make sure to use air quotes)
• “Here, could you help me complete this?” (giving all your work to your boss, now you
• are free to do what you like)

• “What about your charts? Can you make them ‘smarter’?”

Just a few tips to help you defuse the “Work Smarter not Harder” comment. Do you have any more to share?