So despite this it's very rare that a new idea gets through the company I work for, this is mainly due to the complex nature of the beast, the sheer levels of hierarchy, decision making, process building, sign off, sponsorship ad nauseum, I just spent two weeks getting someone to say yes to an idea for example.
There have been and are and I assume always will be new ideas on how to fix this by the clever intelligent people in my business but whilst they almost always start off as a streamlined and efficient way to rapidly develop new services the whole thing has to go through the same level of approval and buerocracy as a new service idea itself and so inevitably fails also, the simple answer is to leave and create a startup to take the really good ideas to market and sell them back as has been done previously but that brings in a whole set of personal circumstances so let's just accept that this is one course of action and leave it at that for now.
The other is to end up with a flat and bloody forehead from smacking it against the walls put in your way, another way to look at it is to remember the Levi ad where they are smashing their way through walls, now imagine lots and lots of walls that you have to crash through, then imagine how much harder each one gets, given there are almost limitless walls erected in our company then you can easily see that before you crash through the final wall you just run out of energy and give up.
But imagine the feelings of satisfaction and achievement to finally smash through that final wall !!This post was supposed to be about UI problems and the need to look at what's actually wrong or not working properly in peoples Digital lives but has turned into a bit of a rant on the culture of my company. There's loads more I could say but wont, not that it matters given my incredibly small subscriber base but you never know and I have been warned off by a good friend from getting myself in trouble.
I'll leave this post with a favourite metaphor relating to why nothing gets done, those with small children will get this more than those that haven't had that joy yet...
If you go to a nursery full of 2-4 year olds they will be in a room full of toys, milling about and playing with random one's initially. Watch carefully and you will see the following behaviours:
- a child finds a new toy and gets really excited, plays extensively with it for a while, shows it to other kids "see what i've got, isn't it great !" but wont let anyone else actually play with it, after 20 minutes the same toy is dropped on the floor in favour of another new discovery. Another kid who saw it before but wasn't aloowed to play with it picks it up and he does the same thing, some of the kids are not interested because they have seen it before, so ten minutes later it's on the floor again, another kid picks it up and tries the same again, less interest than before. Eventually the toy ends up gathering dust on the floor in the corner because everyone is bored with it, of course the kid who first brought it in is sad because no one wants to play with his toy anymore
- One toy generates a lot of excitement and everyone wants to play with it, they claim that it belongs to them, scuffles ensue but in a good nursery the aunties step in and resolve the issue by removing the toy or ensuring that everyone shares nicely (sadly there are no aunties in my business)
- One kid is sitting in a corner playing with a toy intensely, whenever anyone comes over to see what it is and play with it they are met with a "go away, it's mine !" attitude so they either start a fight over it and the aunties step in or the simply go away and leave the original kid to sit in the corner on their own and play with the stupid toy
- One day a kid brings in a new toy, shows it to everyone, let's everyone have a turn, encourages everyone to play with it, involves everyone and before long everyone has convinved mum or dad to buy one so they can all have one
Suffice to say I see myself as the last kid or at least I do my best to be but I work in a company filled with the kind of kids in the previous examples and I'm getting fed up with trying to play nicely with them. Maybe I need to change nurseries or go start my own......
Technorati Tags:ikisai
