by Gary Mintchell | Jun 23, 2017 | Leadership
I learned a leadership lesson about collaboration and design this morning.
The store where I buy birdseed is on a corner. Think small streets, not like a busy city intersection. The primary street has been dug down to dirt, and the contractor is in the process of laying cement pavement, walks, and gutters. The little store built from an old grain elevator has a drive built from pavers.
As Bruce was watching work progress, he noticed that they had raised a manhole three inches. Sure enough, they raised the sidewalk three inches. That meant that if they laid the pavers back where they were, there would be a three-inch drop from the traffic entrance/sidewalk to his drive.
When the engineer came one morning to look at progress, Bruce went out and asked him about that. The contractor said, no problem, I can build that up, make a grade and replace the pavers.
So Bruce asked, what about my neighbor’s drive?
Hmmm. They had built themselves a problem that snowballed as they looked down the street.
Who designed this? Bruce asked. I did, the city engineer replied. Well, guess you messed up, Bruce replied.
If only the engineer had gotten up from the CAD station, walked the one block to the site and asked people about the design, he would have avoided what might be a costly mistake.
The same concept applies to mechanical design, hardware design, and software design. Oh, and to leadership.
Get away from your desk. Wander around. Ask people for ideas and feedback.
by Gary Mintchell | Jun 8, 2017 | Productivity
It’s time to approach the personal productivity topic again. It has been too long. As you may know, I am a follower of Getting Things Done developed by David Allen and detailed in his book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free Productivity.
I also use the Nozbe app to implement GTD. I know that if your tool is too awkward to use, you won’t use it. Works in automation, works in personal productivity. (affiliate link)
So you have your goals; you have your personal vision; you have projects; it boils down to next actions.
But beyond these things, what is really important these days?
I ran across this article on Medium by David Kadavy who is asking the deeper questions—what is really going to differentiate me from my peers and keep me active in the future. He postulates that even knowledge work is threatened by technology, so productivity needs to ramp up another notch or two.
He starts, “It’s not that GTD isn’t still a powerful tool for figuring out how to, well, get things done. It’s that the criteria for what should be done is more stringent than ever. Yes, books like The 4-Hour Work Week and Essentialism have helped us recognize the power of cutting through the noise to focus on the things that will bring us the most impact with the least effort. And it’s true that the ability to prioritize Deep Work will give you an edge over peers who are playing Candy Crush and checking their email every 5.45 minutes.”
“But there’s a realm beyond all of this. As jobs become automated, what remains of “work” will move up Maslow’s hierarchy. The success of the elite worker will depend upon that person’s ability not to get things done, but to have breakthroughs — to use access to knowledge and automation to deliver explosive ideas. To do that which only a human can do. Think Zero to One — the idea that incrementalism holds us back from paradigm-shifting innovation—but for your own career.”
He is on to something. This may not be new. I remember Peter Drucker from 30 years ago talking about doing the right thing rather than doing things right. And certainly creativity is something that sets humans apart from other mammals.
So, how do we get creative? It is more of a discipline of habitually doing things rather than praying for “bolts from the blue.”
- Try reading every day
- Read things from disciplines far outside the one you’re working in
- Every morning sit down with a notepad, write a question or problem, then list 20 ideas
- Practice asking questions—developing questions is more important than having answers
One last thought—as engineers and manufacturing leaders, what are we doing to make the world a better place? What are we doing to help people’s work better rather than simply trying to replace workers?
by Gary Mintchell | Jan 27, 2017 | Commentary
Ah, the warmth. It feels so good. Is it getting warmer? I’m not sure, but the warmth eases muscle stress. Frees the joints. And it gets warmer.Then, it’s too hot.
It could be the proverbial frog being slowly boiled. Or it could be me in the steam room.
Or it could be any of us in our organization.
How easily we don’t notice we’re not growing anymore. We’re not developing new services for our customer.
We just sort of gently slid into the routine.
Same people. We’re comfortable with them. No one around to upset things with new ideas.
We’re comfortable with the same surroundings. We enter and everything is familiar. We feel like we belong. We don’t notice the things that would turn off an outsider–or our customer.
What was our mission again? I sort of forget. I know it’s printed somewhere. Probably posted on a wall that has just become part of the environment.
It feels so good to be comfortable.
But…
Is that what we are placed here on Earth to experience? Is that what our stockholders or owners expect? Is that what our customers expect?
Or are we supposed to push through comfort? Find that place of discomfort that impels us toward fulfilling a mission.
What was that valuable service to people that gave passion to the founders?
Was it designing and making a product that will bring joy, relief, health to others?
Where are the big ideas that our technology can use to contribute to the growth and development of society?
“There are three types of people in this world: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened.”
Which are you? Are you a change agent? Or are you a frog in the pot of boiling water?
by Gary Mintchell | Jan 9, 2017 | Internet of Things
Much is written about the Industrial Internet of Things, but is anyone really doing anything with it?
Well, yes, it is real and solving business problems for manufacturers. But too few are taking advantage of leveraging the technology for achieving business benefit. I have been in sessions with managers and engineers seeking a plan of implementation.
So last week I welcomed in the New Year with a conversation with Maciej (Mah-chek) Kranz, author of “Building the Internet of Things: Implement New Business Models, Disrupt Competitors, Transform Your Industry.”
Kranz, Vice President of the Corporate Strategic Innovation Group at Cisco Systems, leads the team focused on incubating new businesses, accelerating internal innovation, and driving co—innovation with customers, partners, and startups. Prior to this he was General Manager of Cisco’s Connected Industries Group, where he drove IoT businesses for key industrial markets.
He told me that he wants people to understand the changes coming due to the IIoT and make the book practical and helpful. He succeeded in that goal. The book contains many examples of Industrial Internet of Things in practice along with practical leadership and implementation advice. While there is some technical discussion, this is not a book for engineering rather it is targeted to line of business leaders, people who solve business problems, and IT leaders as well as engineering leadership.
As I read the book, though, I got the impression that much of what Kranz is calling IIoT was once called “manufacturing IT.” Such is the morphing of terminology.
I have talked with leaders who are trying to build business cases and implement an Industrial Internet of Things strategy. Their experiences merge with Kranz’ observations that the biggest barrier to implementation is cultural. Any of us who are change agents and have tried implementing new technologies and new ways of working can show the scars earned from learning that barrier the hard way.
But the potential benefits are huge. For example, this quote from an executive of Harley Davidson, “What used to take a painfully long time to triage and troubleshoot now can be accomplished in a single morning,” the manager said, “An order of magnitude improvement.”
Kranz is not bashful about proclaiming why you should implement IIoT—“Like it of not, the Internet of Things (IoT) will change your organization unlike anything before. It isn’t just the next big thing. IoT is the future.”
He continues, “The real payoff from IoT comes down to automating existing processes that have a large labor or time component and streamlining the related process in one way or another.”
Here is another quote from the book, “You belong to Generation IoT if you embrace open standards, open collaboration, open communications, and open, flexible business models and you’re willing to assemble a comprehensive partner ecosystem to build and deploy agile, flexible business solutions.”
On the practical side, here are his eight elements of success
- Start with strategy, planning, and preparation.
- Secure C-suite sponsorship
- Build a diverse team
- Communicate and drive IT/OT convergence
- Rethink operations from the ground up
- Design for flexibility
- Educate and train
- Revisit repeatedly-it’s not a one-and-done effort
Kranz concludes with words that echo my belief in Lean—that it isn’t a strategy but more of a way of life. He says, “Most importantly, my hope is that IoT will change the way you think about your business, and how you’ll design, plan, develop, and deliver products and services, go to market, and interact with customers.”
by Gary Mintchell | Dec 22, 2016 | Leadership
Let’s make 2017 the year of leadership in manufacturing. Lean leaderhip.
When we started the magazine I ran editorial for ten years, one of the founders talked about how Lean and Six Sigma were so old that she hoped I wouldn’t write about it. That was in 2003. The topic of Lean thinking is as fresh and useful today as it was then.The good thing is that these are skills that can be learned.
Perhaps for the new year, we all evaluate our leadership and look for ways to elevate our effectiveness in 2017.
A few years ago, a publicist sent me a copy of “Anatomy of a Lean Leader”, by Jerry Bussell with Emily Adams. The book is organized around ten traits of a Lean Leader.
If you are not familiar with Lean, it is a proven effective way of thinking and leading manufacturing organizations. It’s core elements are continuous improvement and respect for people. I’ve included a brief description of the ten traits. Perhaps you can pick up some ideas for self-improvement this year.
Purposeful—this trait relates to having a strong, but brief, mission statement. An example from a medical organization: “Alleviate pain; restore health; extend life.” As Peter Drucker said, your mission statement should fit on the front of a T-shirt.
Respectful—a respectful leader is in service to the people.
Transparently honest—Bussell says, “I found that morals and principles were a source of strength in everyday behaviour.”
Influencer—to affect real, lasting change requires more subtlety and time—it needs influence. Influence means guiding people to finding the right answer on their own, so that the right path becomes their natural inclination.
Continuous Learner—the continuous learner asks questions and relies on observations to hone his or her understanding of the issues. A problem well-defined, I have learned, is a problem half-solved.
Persistence—persistence means showing up every day, ready to tackle problems afresh—even when your entire company seems outmoded.
Holistic Thinker—to think holistically is to think broadly about the implications of an action on the entire complex, interconnected organization. When Paul O’Neil was CEO of Alcoa, he made workplace safety a priority. Seems strange, but thinking holistically, he said, “If we bring our injury rates down, it will be because individuals at this company have agreed to become part of something important. They’ve devoted themselves to creating a habit of excellence.”
Problem Solver—take a methodical approach to problem solving. Define the problem clearly; investigate the current situation; list all the options, including the ideal; plan and implement a solution; and, check results.
Results-Driven—the modern CEO interested in changing her ways to become more results-driven must first look at the organization’s processes. The CEO must have confidence that the organization’s approach to problem solving and analysis is sound. Only then will she have confidence that her results will be reliable and foreseeable. The results-driven leader is also a holistic thinker, working through the process with care and consideration of the whole organization.
Courageous—courage is embracing change that is substantial, unafraid of failure, inclusive, respectful, honest, and persistent.
Make 2017 your year of leadership bringing your organization to growth and success.
