System design

“We need to trust each other more!”

giantknave Brain Farts , , , , ,

Nooo…that’s a desirable outcome, not a ‘thing’ that you can decide to do…. or command from others.

We can’t simply say that we will trust each other, and this be so!

 

Context: I’ve experienced several work scenarios where, after studying the work, people have concluded that there is a problem with a lack of trust.

I’m not disputing that this can be the case. On the contrary, this doesn’t surprise me.

However, in the rush to want this situation to change, we often find the simplistic treatment to be the issuing of a statement such as (from now on) ‘We will trust each other’…or words to that effect. Continue reading →

‘Bob the Builder’: Push vs. Pull analogy

giantknave Brain Farts , , , , ,

Let’s suppose that I have the first world problem of having my home bathroom renovated. Lucky me.

I (the client) want others to do this work for me. I’m not competent/capable of doing it myself, so I contact a qualified builder.

Now, given this ‘scene setting’, I want to compare and contrast two vastly different ‘system designs’ in dealing with my need – I’ll label them as ‘Push’ and ‘Pull’…and I’ll then use my builder analogy against many a conventional service system.

Note: The Push and Pull concept can be used in several ways. In this scenario I am using:

  • ‘Push’ as the client being pushed around an inside-out focused design (as if they were merely a ‘widget’); and
  • ‘Pull’ as ‘value’ being pulled towards the client by their helper (builder), making for an outside-in flow.

Continue reading →