A few days back, there was a discussion about enhancing our flagship product, and this blurted out of me:
“we should be a company that rolls along, even when each of us are not here”
A CMMI level-1 company we are, and this is a good goal.
Nonetheless, in order to make it politically correct, the company puts it this way:
“we need documentation to follow along, when you are sick or otherwise unavailable”
So the confusion can start there – because communication with a colleague usually happens in opposite ways, with such a goal.
In a casual setting, like lunch, it would be like:
“you are a huge part of our company and strategy, so it’d be great if you become a veteran at the company”
Then in a work discussion:
“work to enable anyone else to carry out your function”
Then the colleague is left with two opposing objectives, in separate contexts:
– so the company will not work without me
– so the company will roll along without me
Depending on the situation one is in, this will manifest differently.
This is where another perspective comes in. That no matter what the operation is, we are enablers, not just operators. We can also have this objective:
– so the company can innovate better/faster with me
Considering the opposite:
– so the company will be slow without me
Would simply be unacceptable to the company, but in some situations, that may be the case.
offthemesh 