travislowdermilk.com

This year, I was tasked to be a leader in an organizational change movement at Kaweah Delta District Hospital.

I decided to use this opportunity to study and discover what brings about change (both at the organization level, as well as, the personal/team level).

I also wanted to learn more about what motivates employees to do great work and, conversely, what prevents them from putting forth their best efforts.

Below are some resources I’ve found quite remarkable (dare I say life-changing?).

Also, I think as application developers, we are often put in the position of “change promoter”.  I mean let’s face it, more often than not, we are brought in to build an application because a process or workflow is failing and needs to be changed.

These resources can be extremely valuable if you’ve ever felt yourself saying: “They just don’t get it.” or “These users are just lazy!” or “How can I get them excited about this new tool!?” or “How do I get my own team to care about my application!”

Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard (by Chip and Dan Heath):

Chip and Dan put together a framework on how to bring about change.  It focuses on 3 main components.

To help people change (behavior, software programs, habits, etc.), you must:

Direct the Rider – Appeal to an individual’s need to see what behaviors are necessary and the long-term positive effect it will have. (“If you are willing to spend 10 minutes a day, entering data into this program, we are going to collect invaluable information about our patients”.)

Motivate the Elephant – Appeal to the individual’s emotion and help them understand the “feeling” of why the change is important. (“Here’s Billy.  His life might’ve been saved had we had this kind of information in our hands.  Now that we have this tool, we have a chance to offer treatment earlier and avoid wasting valuable time when intervention is needed!  That’s why using this application is so important!  We don’t want another child to suffer like Billy did.”)

Shape the Path – Removing obstacles.  (“I’m going to remove the loading screen in the beginning, because I realize it frustrates you when you have to wait.  Especially, when you have very little time to use the application as it is!”)

They also talk a lot about avoiding the “Attribution Error”.  It’s defined as assuming a characteristic about a group rather than investigating a logistical problem (e.g. Instead of assuming the users are “lazy”, maybe they don’t use your program because the entry form has too many fields and is time consuming.)  If you get anything from this book, as a programmer, it should be to remind yourself of our propensity to fall victim to the Attribution Error.

Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us (by Daniel Pink):

I don’t even need to explain this book.  Just watch this video.  If I’ve learned anything from this book it’s this. Incentives aren’t always good. Sometimes, people need to be motivated in other ways (i.e. more freedom to do their job).  Money, perks, or punishment (negative reinforcement) are not the only tools available (and sometimes do more damage than good!).  This book is about the science of motivating people and helping them realize their greatest potential.

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t (by Jim Collins):

More the “CEO Handbook” than anything else, this still offers plenty of inspiration of “Level-5″ leaders.  If you feel like you don’t have what it takes to lead people towards a vision, there are some great patterns of success presented in this book.  If you ever thought to yourself: “What makes a great leader?”, this book is for you.

The Ten Faces of Innovation: IDEO’s Strategies for Defeating the Devil’s Advocate and Driving Creativity Throughout Your Organization (by Thomas Kelley):

You’re in the conference room, the lights are down, and you’re finally showing off your big idea, then someone in the back pipes up: “I’m just gonna play devil’s advocate for a moment…” and then proceeds to completely obliterate any hope of getting your idea launched.

This book provides ways to deal with that kind of criticism (you know, the “unhelpful” kind?).  What you discover is that if you get the right personalities on your team (and in that conference room) , the Devil’s Advocate doesn’t stand a chance.

I think its important, as developers, to challenge ourselves with other reading instead of books like: “Learn <new programming language> in 24 Hours!”  Getting to the root of how our users think (both emotionally and analytically) is important in creating products that truly make their lives easier.

As far as the organizational change I was tasked to help bring about?  Take a look at our ISS department explaining how technology impacts people’s lives all around the hospital and in our community.

This is a departure from the typical things that I blog about.  However, given some recent dealings I’ve had supporting users, I think this could serve as being, somewhat, cathartic.

And yes, I realize this topic has probably been covered a million different ways on other blogs.

The audience for this post would be the average user that has to come to us for help.  I understand that, at times, this can be an arduous process.  I would like to clarify what, I think, are some misconceptions that users often have.

Just because you think it’s easy, it’s not

I know that, at times, the solution to the problem seems so easy.  I’ll hear users say things like:

“Well all I need is…” or

“It can’t be that hard to add…” or

“I don’t understand why it’s so hard to…”

Believe us when we say that it will be difficult to do what it is you’re asking us to do.  Keep in mind that most IT folks support a multitude of systems and keeping them all straight in our heads can be a challenge in of itself.

Your request, as small as it might seem, may just be the one thing that blows everything up or ruins the experience for everyone else.  We’d like to try and prevent that.

We love tackling challenges, just not everywhere we go

I’ve been asked to offer IT support in some of the oddest places.  A co-worker I used to work with was actually asked about a laptop issue while giving birth to her son!  We understand that your issues are troubling, but please respect our time.

I know that I would never ask a doctor to look at my bum shoulder at a Christmas party.  I wouldn’t ask a mechanic to look at my car while visiting my house for a BBQ.

I would hope that you would not do the same to an IT person.

It’s hard to say no and, more often than not, we won’t.  So don’t use this as an indication of our willingness to help.

We get frustrated when things don’t work too

We know that when things don’t work, it’s frustrating to a user.  But believe me when I say that it’s much more frustrating for us.

Here’s the big secret.

Often times, we don’t know what’s causing your issue.

Granted, we could do a better job of just admitting that, but we want you to have confidence that we’re going to fix your problem.

Moreover, a lot of times, you’re not the only one that’s experiencing the issue.  By the time you’ve called us, outraged by the impact of the problem, we’ve already heard ten other users irate about the same thing.

We don’t like when you’re unhappy

I sometimes get the impression that users think I live to make their lives difficult.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

Most of us got into this business because we have an insane desire to improve the way people do things.  Often times, we have a hard time standing idly by while someone struggles with an antiquated way of doing things.

If you’re still doing something on paper, chances are, one of us is going to show you a way to do it faster, better, cheaper, etc.  We just can’t help ourselves.

Nothing pleases us more than someone saying: “Wow, this makes my life so much easier” or “I can’t imagine how I lived without this!” Those statements are nerd nirvana!

Myself and a lot of people I work with obsess when something is going wrong for you.  We will talk about the problem at lunch, with our spouses, and even our dogs (if they’ll listen).

It’s all we can think about.

When we’re in the shower, at the movies, at church, we think about the problem you’re having and how to fix it.

And as developer, I have another piece to be unhappy about.  I built the thing!  Trust me, most developers are way more critical of themselves than you could ever be.  So please be gentle with your criticisms.

Sometimes, things are just plain out of our control

Most IT departments don’t have control over policy decisions.  We just offer tools to help support those decisions.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve been placed in a position to have to explain to a user why we were implementing a new piece of technology.  A nasty trick your boss will often use is blaming technology as the reason why you’re going to have to do things differently.  It’s okay.  We understand.  However, this often puts us in an awkward spot.

Keep in mind that, sometimes, we are doing things because we have been asked by the higher-ups.  Or that new piece of software you hate?  That might not have been our decision either.

Just please remember that, more often than not, we are just doing what we were asked to do.  Sure we offer advice and council but a lot times,in the end,it’s not our decision.

So when you tell us you HATE this @*^%$@! program.

What we won’t tell you is…We do too.

We would appreciate some perspective

Finally, I would suggest that you keep things in perspective.

Is the problem you’re having really THAT big of a deal?  Sometimes it REALLY is.  I’ve found that most times, it’s not.

A problem is a problem, so don’t think I’m saying this to be cavalier.  But try to keep your problem in perspective.  Imagine all the other issues an IT person might be dealing with that are of a higher priority.

And sometimes, your problem is not really a problem at all.

Sure, you don’t like the color of the window or having to click that extra button is annoying.  But try to focus on all the things that the technology IS doing for you.  Or focus on the things that are faster instead of the one piece that makes you wait.

I think, in general, having this perspective in dealing with technology will grant you less frustration and foster a more productive relationship with your IT people.