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Friday, June 1, 2012

Asking and doing

Typically in a product company, we tend to have a suite of products for any particular business line, which usually are termed as individual projects. At times these products are interdependent. (Now here, adding a personal flavor) We could assume a person working on a product is proud of or loves the product that he/she works on. However, at certain stages this person requires to take inputs from the other products. What could a person possibly do at such a juncture? Depending on this understanding of his own product as well as the other product there are a few options for him to choose from:
1) Sort the issue at hand himself
2) Ask for help from a person working on the other product
3) Ask for help from a person working on the same product
4) Find out information and sort the issue himself

What do we find majority of the people doing? Mostly the 2nd and 3rd options.

Agreed that doing this satisfies 2 of the most important aspects essential for the progress of the organisation i.e. saving time and increasing communication. However, if the person opts for the 4th option and gradually progresses towards the 1st then not only will he profit from it, but so will the organisation in terms of having more productive and multi-talented people working for it!

However, for a variety of reasons (unfathomable for me, yet) people shy away from profiting themselves and in turn the organisation.
Could it perhaps be because our definition of profit is linked only to the salary credited in the immediate month? Though business exists for this very reason, if we can move towards personal/intellectual growth money is going to pour in anyway!

And thinking about the no one is going to stop an employee from profiting as the sole goal of business itself is profit!
Perhaps its time to think if we really understand the roots of what we do and where we intend to go!
A bit of philosophy here, but what the heck! ;) we business analysts get some time on our hands to "think" some times ;)

3 comments:

Cynics Twist said...

I believe you have put forth the classic conundrum facing serious, dedicated IT professionals (am assuming these are your reference group!) everywhere - pressure to deliver vs. gaining knowledge. Many times people are only driven by project managers priorities - time-lines! True knowledge usually takes a back seat when working in this mode; and it is very easy for individuals to slip into mode #2 or #3 as you mention in your post.
One middle path is to give yourself a certain time-frame to self investigate - could be 10/15/20..minutes; before approaching a known expert in that particular knowledge area.

Cynics Twist said...

And a note on investing time in self learning vs. looking for quick solutions - perhaps the longer cut is really the shorter one over ones career :)

The Atom said...

Well more than knowledge it is about making the work easier for oneself and hence save time. In the present situation the same time is wasted or shall i say "utilized" by two people!

So, instead of doing this (using double time from two people) every time, if we spend that time only once to understand what is going on- maybe document it in a way that can actually be used by us in the future, then it will save time as well as do quicker delivery and hence achieve greater customer satisfaction.

Wow doesn't this sound like the ultimate solution for better customer satisfaction and that too in the longer run! :) ;)