Author: The Information Badger

‘Swagger’ – A qualitative indicator of an organisation’s future.

Posted on by The Information Badger in Business, Delivery, Education, IT Project Management, Psychology, Recruitment, Uncategorized

Last week the Badger was caught on the hop by a final year undergraduate who asked the following. What made you join the company you worked for? Was it what they did, their values,  their website or their glossy brochures? Was it a promise of fast career progression? Was it to get a respected name on your CV? Was it the money? Was it desperation and anywhere would do? Or was it because you were impressed by the ‘swagger’ of the people you encountered in the recruitment process?

The Badger, very sensibly, paused to think before answering. The Badger considered a simplistic answer, something like ‘there were many reasons why the Badger accepted the formal job offer when it arrived’. But, in truth, what made the Badger to join the company he worked for was very straightforward. Every person encountered in the recruitment process was extraordinarily passionate about the work they did. Their energy, ‘can do’ and ‘always up for a challenge’ attitude was palpable and infectious. They had ‘swagger’. Not the arrogant ’Jack-the-lad, I’m important’ type, but the type that quietly radiates confidence, optimism, professionalism, trust and an ‘action speaks louder than words’ attitude to challenges. So, the Badger responded accordingly.

The follow-up question was ‘In the same circumstances, would you make the same decision today as you did then’? The answer was ‘Yes’. The small IT company the Badger joined had a growing, second-to-none, reputation for building and delivering challenging and complex software and systems. It persevered when faced with problems and delivered when most competitors would throw in the towel and engage the lawyers. The company didn’t have high profile in the media. It’s unique selling point (USP) was essentially the ‘swagger’ of its loyal, highly capable people who did what they said they would do. Clients liked that commitment, and the ‘swagger’ of the company’s people underpinned the company’s ‘does difficult things and always delivers’ reputation.

The company eventually grew into a multi-national corporate, and the ‘swagger’ of its people inevitably changed. Bureaucracy started to constrain behaviour and attitude, and ‘swagger’ became diluted as a trickle of people leaving for pastures new became a perpetual operational dynamic. People became less delivery focused,  more political, and their willingness to make excuses rather than deliver results became more noticeable. The company’s mojo and USP suffered as a result! So, if you’re interested in early warning signs that the organisation you work for is slowly losing its mojo, then don’t look at your executive leaders, look at how the ‘swagger’ of the people around you is changing. The ‘swagger’ of people is the qualitative barometer of your organisation’s future prospects. Oh, and if feel your own ‘swagger’ is on the wane, then just remember there’s a big wide world out there full of opportunity to drive it back up to new peaks…

‘Stench’ – a virtual fragrance for the festive season?

Posted on by The Information Badger in Education, Ethics & Regulation, Legal matters, Psychology, social media, Training, Uncategorized

If you work for an organisation that takes the development of its people seriously then you’ll have attended courses with elements that sensitise you to the importance of body language when engaging with others. The Badger was first sensitised to this when attending two short courses in quick succession many years ago. The first course covered interviewing and recruiting new graduates, and the second covered leading software and system development teams. Both featured personal interaction sessions that were videoed and critiqued by the trainers and other attendees – a very effective way of learning about the powerful signals our body language conveys. Since then, and with many other courses under the belt, the Badger has been in many situations where controlling one’s body language and watching that of others has helped to convert difficult circumstances into acceptable outcomes.

People have been communicating with each other for millennia. We are conditioned by our heritage to know that the best communication happens when we are physically face to face so that we can hear what’s said and simultaneously see the physical nuances of those in the same room. Modern technology, however, encourages instant communication that is devoid of a contextual body language component. Email’s a good example. How many times have you sent an email that’s been misinterpreted when read by recipients? More times than we all care to admit. The body language component is missing from the words.

Another example is the recent Elon Musk v Vernon Unsworth court case relating to comments made on Twitter. A jury found in favour of Mr Musk. His offending Tweets were judged to be essentially ‘playground insults’ rather than real defamatory insults. The Badger has no opinion on the right or wrong of this finding, that’s a matter for the courts, but isn’t it somewhat sad that the finding seems to legitimise trading hurtful insults using modern social media platforms like Twitter? Surely this isn’t good for society? ‘Playground insults’ normally take place in a real playground where words are said with body language visible. Surely if it’s okay to trade ‘playground insults’ using Twitter, then that’s clear evidence that civilisation is crumbling into an anarchistic morass?

After the Musk ruling, one of the Badger’s friends commented – admittedly after more mulled wine than prudent – that Twitter should invent a virtual fragrance called ‘Stench’ for anyone who wants to make playground insults using its platform over the forthcoming festive season. The Badger laughed, because the amusing and playful intent was clear in their words and body language. We laughed again when we decided that ‘playground insults’ should stay in a real playground and not be traded in the virtual world. Why? Because ‘playground fisticuffs’ are a much cheaper and more effective way of resolving playground disputes than resorting to lawyers. Oh, and finally, in case you’re wondering, for the avoidance of doubt and all that, none of this is intended to insult anyone or any organisation!

Don’t confuse enthusiasm with capability…all is never what it seems.

Posted on by The Information Badger in Business, Education, Uncategorized

The Chief Executive (CEO) of a large UK company spends, on average, around 4.8 years in their job. This means if you’ve worked in the same organisation for many, many years in any senior capacity, then you’ve probably experienced corporate leadership change. Whenever CEO change happens, for whatever reason, there are choppy waters. There’s normally a period of uncertainty, new corporate level leadership appointments, strategic review, and organisation ‘rationalisation’ and some restructuring. If the new CEO is sourced externally there will inevitably be an influx of new direct reports and advisers, mostly people the CEO knows from other organisations. This heralds uncomfortable times for loyal employees already holding senior roles.

The Badger’s experienced a number of CEO changes and has learned not to confuse their enthusiasm with true capability, regardless of their advertised track record. Some years ago, a long tenure (14 years) CEO was replaced by an outsider, an experienced executive whose career had been in another major corporate. Soon after the new CEO had arrived and had appointed a swathe of externally sourced of new direct reports into key corporate roles, the Badger attended their first leadership conference targeted at introducing the new regime and aligning everyone with its objectives. Enthusiasm from the new CEO and his new team was unreproachable.

Nevertheless, the Badger vividly remembers taking just two things from the conference. The first was that the new CEO spoke using only management jargon from corporate management handbooks. The second was that enthusiasm is no substitute for knowing your audience and showing that you are capable. One of the new CEO’s young direct reports proudly brandished a 5-litre bottle of cooking oil and told the audience to up their game because a cooking oil company (WIPRO) was competing in the IT services business. The experienced audience rolled their eyes because offshoring to India was already embraced across the company. The cooking oil whippersnapper had enthusiasm and energy… but capability? The audience didn’t think so. The whippersnapper quickly earned the nickname ‘Tigger’ after the character in Winnie the Pooh. It was a nickname that stuck.

Everyone, including the Badger, left the conference wondering if the new, enthusiastic, ‘new blood’ corporate team were actually capable of changing the company’s fortunes.  No, as it happens. The CEO and his appointees were gone within 4 years leaving the company in no better shape than when they started. So, when a new CEO comes on the scene, trust your instincts and don’t confuse enthusiasm with capability. Remember, all is never what it seems in the corporate world. Don’t assume the motives and ambitions of incoming leaders are anything more than short term regardless of what they might tell you. Above all, look at your current CEO. If they’ve been in place for around 5 years then be on the lookout for another change in the corporate merry-go-round!

The Sillybilly Bank (TSB)…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Banking, Business, Delivery, Education, Ethics & Regulation, IT Project Management, Systems Integration, Uncategorized

Mainstream IT services companies wouldn’t be around today if they hadn’t learned lessons from poor delivery over the years. That doesn’t mean their delivery machinery is perfect – far from it – but it does mean they’re generally good at identifying and addressing risk. With 35 years IT delivery under the belt, the Badger’s nose still twitches when he sees, hears, or reads about IT delivery that’s gone wrong. Recently the nose twitched uncontrollably as the Badger caught up on past material about the 2018 TSB IT migration debacle and assimilated TSB’s independent review by Slaughter & May into their disastrous migration from Lloyds to their own systems. The latter has attracted lots of media comment – see, here, here, here and here, for example.

The Badger’s quietly followed the TSB debacle since it happened, labelling the bank as the ‘The Sillybilly Bank’ for the catalogue of failings. Throughout the last 18 months the Badger has always felt the debacle was unlikely to have just a single root cause. There’s been enough signals to suggest that corporate dynamics, financial pressure, poor planning, poor Go-live decision processes, lack of a solid fallback strategy, IT delivery expertise, and – as picked up in the media – poor common sense, all played a part. Future reports from the UK Banking Regulators will hopefully add more colour into the mix and provide more certainty.

In mulling things over, three impressions have come to the fore in the Badger’s mind. Firstly, that TSB’s parent Banco Sabadell – Europe’s ~36th largest bank and ~ 100th in the world – might be guilty of an ‘arrogance of acquisition, we know best’ attitude. They knew the migration was more complex than anything they’d attempted previously and they were warned in 2015 the migration budget was aggressive. Secondly, that Banco Sabadell appears keen to direct all the responsibility for the debacle onto TSB. This smacks of ‘responsibility denial‘ because Banco Sabadell must have endorsed the migration decisions and it was their own IT arm, SABIS, doing the IT. If they didn’t endorse decisions, then surely their corporate governance failed?  The third impression is that the Abilene Paradox was most likely rampant!

One recent piece of commentary neatly says ‘no one comes out of the TSB debacle smelling of roses’, and ‘the whole sorry episode is an example of how not to behave in an overseas takeover’. It’s hard to disagree. So, here’s a question. Would you trust a bank and its parent where there seems to have been governance, risk management, decision- making, and IT failures and the parent points the finger wholly at its subsidiary? You’ll have your own answer. One thing’s certain. When confidence is lost, customers overcome their lethargy and move elsewhere, which, if you look at the switching statistics, is exactly what TSB’s customers have been doing…

Work Meetings: Be more selective with your attendance…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Business, Delivery, Education, IT Project Management, Uncategorized

Some years ago, the Badger established an annual awards evening to celebrate the work of his IT services employer’s delivery and technical people. It proved to be a great success, and it became a much-anticipated annual event in the company’s calendar before ultimately falling victim to a cost cutting programme. The evening events produced many memorable moments. One of these was the Chief Executive’s opening sentence when giving a few words of thanks at the end of one of the evenings. The sentence was ‘Tonight it’s a pleasure to be surrounded by people that actually do things when I’m normally surrounded by people who talk about doing things.’

The Badger was reminded of this a few days ago when there was some media interest in research by Malmo University about work meetings. Apparently the number of pointless or ineffective work meetings is on the rise and meetings are often more about therapy than productivity. One of the reasons for this seems to be that organisations increasingly have more people that talk about doing things and less people that actually do things! The former – often rising numbers of consultants, advisors, strategists or variants thereof – are apparently vague about their role or what to do which spawns more, mostly ineffective, meetings that impinge on an organisation’s productivity.

The Badger doubts this is a surprise. It’s certainly been the Badger’s experience that the number of work meetings and the number of participants has proliferated in recent years. Focused meetings with the right attendees are, of course, necessary for any organisation to function smoothly but many attendees are often there because they think they should be, or they might miss something by being absent, and not because they need to be. Few people can claim they haven’t either looked at their emails or browsed the internet with their smartphones during a meeting, or worked on something else with the phone on mute when on a conference call! That’s hardly a good indicator that it’s an effective meeting and a good use of your time.

If you’re a doer it’s almost certain that you’re frustrated by attending other people’s meetings just in case ‘something comes up’. So, ask yourself the following. How many meetings did you attend last week? In how many of these did you actually say something useful? In how many of these did you either use your smartphone, or do something else while the meeting was in progress? How many of the meetings made no difference to your normal work? Look at the resultant numbers and really question if you or your organisation got any real value from your attendance.

So, be brave. Discipline yourself to do less meetings! Your organisation needs doers to do productive things rather than be frustrated followers of the herd. Oh, and one final thing. If you’re reading this while you’re in a meeting then tell yourself off…you should be doing something more productive.

‘Smart’ motorways help to decide on a car purchase!

Posted on by The Information Badger in Automation, Climate & Environment, Digital devices and the environment, Driverless transport, Education, Technology, Uncategorized

The Badger’s made a decision about whether to replace his car. Three seemingly unrelated events ultimately underpinned the decision. The first was reading ‘Road Traffic Estimates: Great Britain 2017’ published by the UK Department of Transport in 2018. The second was a knock on the door by a man with a large white van. He was delivering a package ordered online 18 hours earlier. The third was being captive in horrendous motorway traffic on the way to and from an exhibition. Progress on the ‘Smart’ motorway was stop-start, maddening, and the lane speeds indicated on the gantries were laughable. It certainly didn’t feel like ‘Smart’ had made any difference to the journey experience whatsoever!

These three events influenced the Badger’s thinking along the following lines. Roads are more and more congested, so there’s little real benefit sitting in a traffic queue in a newer car, and although more UK motorways are being converted to ‘Smart’ – see short articles on the types of ‘Smart’ here and here – there are growing safety concerns as illustrated here, here, and here, for example. In the last 70 years traffic on UK roads has grown ~10-fold and vehicle ownership has grown ~6-fold, driven largely by economic growth and population growth. The upward trend is likely to continue and so there’s little reason to think congestion will ever reduce, even with the deployment of ever more sophisticated technology which, after all, has a habit of producing a peak of inflated expectation followed by a trough of disillusionment. Technology is not a panacea, and the nirvana of a driverless car society seems a long way off.

The environment featured in the Badger’s thinking, but a simple analysis quickly showed that the whole-life carbon footprint of a vehicle owned by the Badger – current or future – is tiny compared to that of one van in the growing army of vans that deliver our internet purchases to our homes. Since 1997 there’s been a 75% increase in the number of vans on the road, and a 67% increase in the miles they travel, with internet shopping and home delivery underpinning much of this rise. This trend will continue for the foreseeable future, and so the environmental incentive for the Badger to replace his personal vehicle is not high.

Replace or not to replace. You’ve surely guessed the decision by now. It’s the latter. The ‘business case’ for changing the vehicle doesn’t stack up! It’s just cheaper, more environmentally friendly, and healthier to keep the current car and change behaviour to reduce its usage. That doesn’t mean taking a backward step in personal independence or convenience, it just means being disciplined, thinking ahead with a moral compass, and taking different decisions on a day by day basis. Like many things in life, just simply adjusting our core behaviour costs little but can lead to a wide spectrum of benefits…

Have you been asked to ‘drain the swamp’ to fix a project?

Posted on by The Information Badger in Delivery, Education, social media, Technology, Uncategorized

Having a meal with Jack and his wife Jill recently raised the possibility that ‘draining the swamp’ has become a popular mantra within companies when they need to fix project delivery problems. Jack and Jill, by the way, are not their real names. Jack is an old friend and works as a project manager for a large defence contractor. He has just been asked by his line manager and a company executive to fix a seriously underperforming project by ‘draining the swamp’. The project is haemorrhaging money, seriously missing milestones, and has a demoralised and unproductive team. The client no longer believes the project team, or the company, can deliver. Jack ’s the fourth Project Manager appointed to fix things in the last nine months. Sound familiar?

The Badger asked why Jack could fix things when three others couldn’t. Jack said he was confident that he had the full support of line and executive leadership. They wanted him to ‘drain the swamp’ in order to avoid expensive litigation being threatened by the client. Jack wondered if the Badger had any thoughts. After a mouthful of mellow Merlot, the Badger offered three thoughts. Firstly, executives and line managers are just as much part of ‘the swamp’ as you, me, or any project team. Secondly, executives and line managers will support you 100%…until it suits them not to! Thirdly, to ‘drain the swamp’ you need to understand the swamp’s nature, which means understanding people and their behaviours.

Jack grinned and thanked the Badger for reminding him that those who appointed him are just as much part of ‘the swamp’ as his project team. He intended to keep that in mind when trying to ‘drain the swamp’. We chuckled at the thought that life came from a swamp, and while ‘the swamp’ today is different… it’s still a swamp!

Over dessert, Jill – who has dual UK & US nationality – moved our ‘draining the swamp’ conversation into the realms of President Trump, US politics and political turmoil in the UK. She expressed strong views about the abuse politicians get via the internet and social media, and lamented that ‘it wasn’t like this 25 years ago’! Jill wondered what had changed.

A lively debate ensued, but the answer was simple. Politicians are, and have always been, just one of the life forms in ‘the swamp’. Unlike 25 years ago, all life in ‘the swamp’ now has an instant and global voice via the internet and social media. Technology has changed the dynamics of ‘the swamp’, much to the distaste of some of the life forms that live in it!  We ended the meal with a final glass of wine, wishing Jack well with his challenge, and with just one final conclusion – there’s no going back…

Delivery is about people and teamwork…obviously!

Posted on by The Information Badger in Delivery, Education, IT Project Management, Sport, Uncategorized

As an 18-year old, some months before leaving home for University, the Badger broke a leg playing rugby. It put paid to playing, but it has never blunted the Badger’s passion for the game. These days the Badger’s very much a spectator, either in the stands at Twickenham or the Stoop, or when games are on television, and admiration for those that play at Premiership and International standard has never diminished. So, when England won against New Zealand in the World Cup semi-final last weekend, the Badger was thrilled – to say the least!

In the afterglow, the Badger was struck by the parallels between England’s performance and his own learning from a career in the IT sector focused on ‘delivery’ and driving large project teams to succeed. The England camp had a plan and everyone – coaches to players – were fully aligned and believed in it. The plan wasn’t thrown out of the window when events on the field put it under strain. The England team played for each other, stayed focused, held their discipline when confronted by difficulty, and they were all hungry to be winners. If you can achieve the same dynamics in a team that is developing, integrating, testing and delivering software and IT systems for clients under tough contracts then the chance of success is high.

A Project Manager (PM) once told the Badger that leading IT intensive delivery was all about process, numbers, planning tools, measurement, and having a leader who is direct and intransigent. The PM had these attributes and claimed to be a good PM. The Badger, however, pointed out that the evidence was that the PM’s projects failed more often than succeeded, and drew the PM’s attention to the following quote by Sir Clive Woodward, Head Coach when England won the Rugby World Cup in 2003:

‘Concentrate on measuring performance and winning will take care of itself’. That is a brilliant excuse for coming second’.

Not long afterwards the PM changed career.

In the Badger’s experience, the best delivery leaders know that teamwork rather than individuality is crucial for success. Michael Jordan has put it aptly:

“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.”

Delivery is about people and teamwork, and the latter needs more than just the skills and talents of individual people. It needs everyone to have a common motivation and mindset even though they are individuals with unique personalities.

So, if you aspire to be an IT delivery leader then firstly remember that success is not determined by you individually, it’s determined by the creation of an ‘us’ mentality in all the people involved. Secondly, put as much effort into the psychological development of your team as you do into plans, process, measurement and numbers. It will pay dividends. Embrace these two points and you will have awesome job satisfaction when success happens, just like the England team if they win the Rugby World Cup on Saturday!

Automation, AI, and recruitment interviews…

Posted on by The Information Badger in AI & Robotics, Automation, Education, Recruitment, Uncategorized

The Badger’s interviewed many people seeking employment in IT services over the years. It started with interviewing new University graduates as part of the early UK ‘milk round’, and extended into interviewing very experienced technical, delivery and line people as the Badger’s leadership responsibilities grew. If the Badger learned just three things from all this interviewing it was this. Firstly, that a CV is the candidate’s tool to stimulate an employer’s interest, but its content cannot be taken for granted. Secondly, meeting the candidate face to face is crucial, and thirdly, that good candidates have sensible expectations because they recognise their IT skills quickly become tomorrow’s commodity.

Why’s the Badger thinking about this? Two reasons. Firstly because young nephews are encountering today’s digital, AI-supported automation in the world of recruitment, and secondly because of reading the assessment of occupations at risk from automation published by the UK Office of National Statistics earlier this year.

Digital automation and AI continues to grow rapidly in the realm of recruitment (Here, here and here provide readable appetisers, for example). Within a few years, it looks like today’s youngster generation will be psychometrically tested, have their video and audio interactions digitally analysed, and possible have their public social media presences appraised like no previous generation before when they seek employment. It’s possible to foresee a time when youngsters will never actually physically meet anyone during a recruitment and interview process. Will that actually happen? Hopefully not, because nothing’s more powerful for an employer and a candidate when making an employment decision than physically meeting someone, shaking their hand, looking them in the eye, and having a dialogue that can go down unexpected avenues.

So, what’s the relevance of the ONS reference? It simply highlights the following. The percentage of HR resource leader and HR operations jobs at risk from automation is 28.2% and 58.01%, respectively. If you work in IT then at least 1 in 4 of the management consultants (27.09%), project managers (24.49%), architects and designers (28.4%), and call centre staff (54.83%) reading this today could be redundant in the coming years. Even 23.62% of Chief Exec and senior officials are at risk from automation! So, it’s not just youngsters like the Badger’s nephews who will be analysed like never before when they seek employment in the modern way, you will too!

If you lose your job through automation and AI, then it’s automation and AI that’ll be a significant factor in getting alternative employment! Make sure you understand how recruiters and employers use automation and AI and prepare yourself appropriately. Always meet a prospective employer face to face before accepting a job. Shake their hand, look them in the eye, and make sure that you’ll be working for a human being rather than a robot…

‘Techlash’…’Backlash’…An inevitable part of the lifecycle of progress…

Posted on by The Information Badger in AI & Robotics, Education, Ethics & Regulation, social media, Technology, Uncategorized

A copy of New Scientist from early 2018 caught the Badger’s eye while sitting in a waiting room recently. It looked out of place in the pile of well-thumbed healthy living, home, and gardening magazines, but it was much more interesting to read. As expected, it contained a plethora of interesting snippets on a variety of science and technology topics, but one short piece about ‘techlash’ – the growing disgruntlement with giant technology companies – struck a particular chord. The article may be 20 months old but it’s still relevant, as are similar Economist and Politico items of similar vintage.

‘Techlash’ continues. Today everyone has more awareness of the ugly side of tech from giants like Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Google and Chinese equivalents, and even more snail-paced European and US politicians are demanding tougher regulation and controls. None of this should be a surprise. Why? Because most things that are initially lauded to be good for business, people, or society eventually suffer some kind of ‘backlash’. Fossil fuels, plastics, deforestation, privatisation, globalisation, outsourcing and offshoring are cases in point. All have at some stage over the years been viewed as ‘good for business/society/people’ and have made helped raise living standards, but they’re now all subject to question or a ‘backlash’ of one kind or another.

So, what’s at the heart of this lifecycle of ‘progress’ followed by ‘backlash’? Human psychology. In particular, our herd instinct and desire for social conformity, as this short video neatly illustrates. We tend to go with the herd to stay safe, and when the herd gets spooked and changes direction for whatever reason then we do too!

The Badger returned the New Scientist to the magazine pile and then read a news item about AI and robotics on his smartphone. It made the Badger not only think about the Terminator films and the recent ‘I am Mother’ film, but also conclude that some kind of ‘backlash’ against AI and robots is inevitable in the future!

‘Backlash’ and ‘techlash’ are words that describe antagonistic reactions to problematic trends, developments or events. Such reactions are a response to a problem, and where there’s a problem there must be a wrongdoer to blame! So, who creates the problems that spawn any ‘backlash’ or indeed the current ‘techlash’? Look in the mirror and you’ll see the culprit. If we as individuals took more time to think, resisted the herd by being truer to our own feelings, instincts and beliefs from the outset, then the world will be a better place for everyone. The chances of that happening? Slim – because we are human.