Blog posts on psychology

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• Simple Cell Phone

  Complex devices with many points of failure (both technical failure and user inability to figure it out) should not be the only option. Simple, easy to use, reliable devices would have a big market. Creativity is not just about more complex devices.

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• Creating and Sustaining Great Management Systems

  It is hard enough to create and sustain great management systems without adding more challenges to achieving success. When the management system results in having credit for each success fought over (to allocate credit to whoever convinces others they deserve the credit) it is much harder.

  This is one of the many ways Performance appraisals schemes (where people have to claim responsibility for successes in order to get more cash) create problems.

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• Ackoff’s F-laws: Common Sins of Management

  Managers who don’t know how to measure what they want settle for wanting what they can measure.

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• Sub-optimize a Part to Optimize the Whole

  ...choosing to sub optimize a part to optimize the whole. One of management’s roles is to determine when to trade a loss to one part of the system for the sake of the overall system. One of the big losses for software development is interruptions which distract developers.

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• The Illusion of Understanding

  It is important to understand the systemic weaknesses in how we think in order to improve our thought process. We must question (more often than we believe we need to) especially when looking to improve on how things are done.

  If we question our beliefs and attempt to provide evidence supporting them we will find it difficult to do for many things that we believe. That should give us pause. We should realize the risk of relying on beliefs without evidence, and when warrented look into getting evidence of what is actually happening.

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• What one thing could we do to improve?

  Asking “how is everything” normally will get the response: “fine” (which is often that is exactly what the staff wants so they can move on without wasting any time). However, if you really want to improve that doesn’t help.

  To encourage useful feedback, specifically give the customer permission to mention something that could be improved. What one thing could we do better?

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• Customer Focus at Ritz Carlton and Home Depot

  Ritz-Carlton’s motto is “We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.” And they actually turn those words into reality. They are not platitudes with no action. The system is guided toward achieving that vision.

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• How to Improve

  Good management systems are about seeking systemic adoption of the most effective solutions.

  Here is a simple example. Years ago, my boss was frustrated because an award was sent to the Director’s office to be signed and the awardee’s name was spelled wrong (the third time an awardee’s name had been spelled wrong in a short period). After the first attempts my boss suggested these be checked and double checked… Which they already were but…

  I was assisting with efforts to adopt TQM and the time and when she told me the problem and I asked if the names were in the automated spell checker? They were not. I suggested we add them and use the system (automatic spell checking) designed to check for incorrect spelling to do the job. Shift from first looking to blame the worker to first seeing if there is way to improve the system is a simple but very helpful change to make.

  This example is simple but it points to a nearly universal truth: if an improvement amounts to telling people to do their job better (pay attention more, don’t be careless, some useless slogan…) that is not likely to be as effective as improving the process.

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• Why Extrinsic Motivation Fails

  Lean thinkers understand this idea as respect for people. Dr. Deming talked about joy in work.Douglas McGregor talked about theory x and theory y thinking. All of these perspectives incorporate an understanding of workplace systems and human psychology. Extrinsic motivation is easy but not effective. It is really just abdicating management and using extrinsic motivation in place of management. The alternative requires managers to actually manage. This is challenging but the correct choice to make.

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• Poor Service – Industry Standard?

  I find it very frustrating how poor the service is most everywhere these days. Have you shopped in a Trader Joe’s? The contrast is amazing. I am used to most employees, on the phone, or in person, seeing the customer as a bother.  At Trader Joe’s, in stark contrast, the staff always seems happy to have customers. Which seems like a good indication that management is doing a number of things right.

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• Messiness is Good?

  Basically it seems the interviewee has a book with the gimmick that being a mess is good – creativity and all that. Yes, I am sure sometimes messiness helps (and I am sure having a easy, catchy, gimmick is a good marketing idea). But as a management strategy it seems lousy to me. 5s is the correct strategy(even if I fail to do so – my desk tends to get messy as I get busy and... which is often. See: Planning 5s? First Know Why!

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• The Psychology of Too Much Choice

  a growing body of research also suggests that people can have difficulty managing complex choices. To begin with, research has shown that as the attractiveness of alternatives rises individuals experience conflict and, as a result, tend to defer decision, search for new alternatives, choose the default option, or simply opt not to choose

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• Making Better Decisions

  When times are good, many are content to let things go: not make any tough decisions or any that might upset someone… When in a bind it is accepted that something has to be done, so you can often get past the “we are doing ok, why make us change…” objections.

  ...

  Have the discipline to focus on the problems even when times are good. That is the key. That allows for a much broader range of options (when times are bad certain options are no longer available – for example, when Toyota had to lay off workers…). In general people are less effective under stress...

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• Curious, Joyful, Happy Kids Grow Up: Unfortunately

  I must admit I find the wonder kids have amazingly refreshing. When I was a kid I just took it for granted. Now, unfortunately surrounded by way too many incurious, blasé, dreary adults I realize the kids really have a much better idea how to live than we adults do.
  
  Have some fun. Have some fun with a cardboard box and a stick. Or a plastic dinosaur and a small firetruck. Or just reading a book, for the 56th time this year, about how some cat goes to the store.

  Meanwhile I think an alien could appear on the subway and most of my fellow passengers would only be concerned if it was taking up too much space or blocked their exit, and if not, maybe not even notice it.

  ...

  Just watching the faces of adults and kids is amazing. Adults, by and large show no joy. A kid's face will show more joy when they see their Mom for the 8th time today than an adult will in the entire month. I just have to believe that is not a good sign.

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• Don’t Expect Short Quotes to Tell the Whole Story

  Quotes can help crystallize a concept and drive home a point. They are very rarely a decent way to pass on the whole of what the author meant, this is why context is so important. But, most often quotes are shared without context and that of course, leads to misunderstandings.

  ...

  When you understand that concept well it is pretty easy to see how it all fits together. If you try and take 1 or 2 quotes and understand how they fit together, without understanding the system, it can easily be less obvious how they fit together.

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