#AI, #KI, #Agile, #DevOps, #Startup, #Digitalisierung, #Disruption, #Cloud, #IOT, #Industrie4.0, #VirtualReality, #Scrum, #RapidPrototyping, #DesignThinking, #cyber, #Hashtag

What are the missing Buzzwords?…..

#SaneThinking, #SoundThinking, #SystemsEngineering, #ComplexSystems, #embedded

It might be very boring to read, as all the following is common knowledge.

It does not help you if you ignore the roots, even though it is quite common today.

Watch out. Mechanical things work in the physical universe – Thought (and sometimes the software) works in the immaterial universe.

No matter what you do. Thoughts are needed and great, but YOU have to put LIFE (sweat work) into the physical universe to change things.

Buzzwords only distract you.

Best ideas do not help if you do not put them into life, and you can be pretty distracted in the mind with all those buzzwords that are preventing you from putting one thing into life.

Hype

Let me try to explain what I am thinking.

We right now have several wild actions (buzzwords), and there has been already an earlier statement that I’m linking here, called:

„Hype driven development.“

https://blog.daftcode.pl/hype-driven-development-3469fc2e9b22

Just run behind any hype that is promoted – wherever!

• Reddit driven development
• Conference driven development
• Loudest guy driven decisions
• Gem/lib/plugin driven
• Stack Overflow driven

Dunning Kruger

This hype-driven development fits together with the Dunning Kruger effect.

If you never heard about it, I attach the standard picture.

(Now I might already be able to stop writing, but if you enjoy reading. Take this.)

Source : “medium.com”
https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1200/1*lg8oMoZuGKqO0So7DxENdw.png

Current

What all those buzzwords and those new methods have in common is: 

• It results in making much money for those who push those things into the market.
• It often results in a disaster for those who get that implemented. 
• With the effect of constantly being in recovery mode (always defensive)
  == We cannot do (our normal business) as we are just implementing ….

While all those consulting firms are on the right side of the „Dunning-Kruger“ Diagram – Wisdom (how to make money), the companies that “decide” to adopt the “new method”:

• Most of the current companies/developments are somewhat on the way to „Mount Stupid“ or on the way to „Valley of despair“.
• The worst what happens is: 
  • Those people who have the sanity to understand what is needed and want to leave the company. 

I know that many people right now try to attack me on the fact that I want to make money with what I have to say.

I don’t think so, what I want is:

I want to invite you to regain(if lost), use, enhance and regain trust in your knowledge. 

#SaneThinking

All those hype-driven methods & buzzwords have in common:

They tend to guide those who are weak in their understanding of the real needs tend lose the experience gained on how things work.

(Hard work, read the f*ing manual (because it is done for a reason!), work it top-down, aligning, review.) 

In short:

SWEAT WORK

No one likes sweat work, so if the new hype comes:

The experience gets thrown overboard at the first chance it can be done.

These basic principles you established in life to be successful are typically those that you use like a PRE-flight checklist—primary education and knowledge on how to execute things.

You are not important – you do not get the attraction

Yes I know, it is just work. It is a sweat work. It is not hype, and if you do it, it doesn’t make you short-term important. 

It’s not much fun to execute the things step by step in the sequence. 

It is just tedious work. And I tell you: Every day I would like to skip all those actions as this executing can be extremely exhausting.

It is so easy to skip – and so dangerous to do.

Would you drive in a car where there are no breaks because the driver tells you that he controls everything with the motor?

Some people might be able to do. Now everyone drives without the brake?

I instead, first install, test if the brake works, and then drive.

Okay, I might be losing the game, but I live.

„Do you like to read law texts?“, was the question I got from a colleague.

No, I’m not particularly eager to read them. 

However, I have to comply with those legal rules, and if I do not read, understand and follow those rules, I am in trouble. And you are in trouble for supporting illegal conditions.

I’m a consultant! 

I know it best!

I got wisdom with the mother’s milk and had no other food hereafter!
(Sarcasm off)

Buzzword

All those buzzwords mentioned earlier do one thing: 

These buzzwords intend to draw your attention. And they make those people who are using them very important. They let you feel of not being sufficiently equipped to survive in the future.

(Ha, I won!)

The wording of digital transformation and all those things are used daily and just due to the sheer quantity of buzzwords and all the things that are hype you get overwhelmed. And you know yourself, if you are overwhelmed, you won’t fight back, and that it’s much easier to sell to you.

Transformation

Yes, digital transformation is happening, and you have to catch up. Yes, you have to!

I order you to transform!

But

A journey of 1000 miles,

starts with the first step and a clear long-term objective, or the finish line.

You have to do that in a suitable way that follows your/your company needs. But you need to start walking!

You do not need to follow all the trends at the same time. You have to decide one area in your life, in your business where you want to change/achieve higher goals. The area where you want to extend the scope of your thoughts and actions, whatever that is, it is definitely a greater objective.

Training

Everybody knows that it requires training to become successful in the area where you are. 

No one expects you to be a master at first shot.

And if you train correctly, you find out how to, if the domain you choose is the one you want to do at all.

Maybe you have to go back to start and choose a different way.

That’s all very normal in life – it shall be in your company!

Start and fail, start again and fail again, start better and fail better, …..!

Training and walking on your road do not require that you do everything at the same time and that you are the best in all the areas, you ever touch.

Everybody that has an ability has improved this ability by constant training and constant adoption.

So please do not expect a miracle if you change. 
Don’t expect to arrive the moment you start.

The miracle is typically a result of hard work, PERSISTENCE and many FAILURES that were corrected smartly!

Look into agile or Agile ….??

Everything claimed in „Manifesto for agile software development“ is nothing else but the standard of engineering practices and common sense!

• Find errors early. 
• Handle people with care. 
• Work together with your customer and change your plan the moment you need that.

If you have a project manager of a leader that does not understand these principles and shows the application in life – fire him!

Conversely in the meantime, agile Software development has become an industry. This industry is enforcing you to be Agile, and if you don’t take that word agile into your mouth, and if you do not do as the industry says you are OUTDATED.

Only dead fish swim DOWN the river

If you look into the real points of success, you find that success is not coming from following what others tell you or using a method everyone does. You would be no longer unique!

Steve Jobs did not have any clue about cellphone business.

AGILE-itis

For instance, the rampant “AGILE-itis” disease.

Nearly every globally acting “progressive” company is currently within the change process into an agile organization. These a priori decisions for change are not necessarily wrong or inappropriate. But it seems that the majority of the involved people do not understand the real meaning behind it.

Agile development activities are appropriate, when product requirements are not elicitable in the very beginning of the product development phase, and stakeholders have very limited knowledge about the product to be built or the future market. Agile approaches support that volatile or immature requirements base with short development increments. Agile developments stop only, when no more customer value can be added or the definition of done is reached. Standard project development timelines get less important as they used to be.

These agile approaches require, as a prerequisite so to say, an excellent command of the standard development process of complex systems. Agile development is THE supreme discipline among development approaches. Moreover when system safety or cyber-security is a key development objective.

They require even more discipline, process knowledge and adherence, and sometimes even more documentation.

On one hand, short-term business minded consultancy salespeople seem to convince senior managers with little self-consciousness and even less competence to push their organization into a volatile state, without an analytical need. Just because it is CURRENTLY a trend!

But on the other hand, in the daily business, each and every business decision for technical innovations or other investments must be justified upfront with a two-digit precision, right of the decimal comma.

Well knowing, that all of the afore mentioned is part of a complex decision environment, and anything else than easy. But it is insane to decide for a complete process turn-around without any better reason or without an actual threat. Moreover, agile approaches require the senior management to keep a low profile, and let the teams work with their own responsibility.

When listing all these agile characteristics one can easily imagine, where most “agile” organization fail.

In short, it requires excellent management and technical process skills to consciously argue and decide to stay away from this hype, and just amateur skills to further fuel this mega-hype. à See Dunning-Kruger Effect (Management Disease!):

The real basics of success are to 

First and utmost important:

Define what you want to have. Your Goals, your Vision. (This is typically called requirement) 

Yes, I know, requirements engineering is something special, but at least you should know the original way you want to go.

You always find disruption on the way you go. Deviations might occur, and even the goal might change. 

Okay – rewrite your requirements – make a Change request – follow your own path.

Disruption is very regular in life even now it is a buzzword. 

Maybe on the road you walk, you discover better ways to do things, you find out that the original target is wrong. 

Then if you have your brains and sensors together, you change according to the results you get.

Do yourself a favor and don’t follow everything that gets thrown into your space.

As I said in the above:

I ordered you to change!

But please do that change in those areas YOU NEED to do. 

If you are handling your company with ONLY Excel and Microsoft Word and it is sufficient: DO NOT CHANGE! 

If you are in the development of something, you shall use tools that are sufficient for goal. On a long-term-run, you need to change. 

(Long term in today’s volatility is about 1 – 2 years.)

For example: If you want to change something in the company you will as well run into all the hypes of software.

Example: Slack versus Microsoft teams.

Slack was a hype. As of today, Microsoft took over with Microsoft teams.

(Source in German: https://www.heise.de/amp/meldung/Microsoft-Teams-ueberholt-Slack-4468772.html )

The moment you start going into an area that you want to address:

• The salesman is approaching you. 
• He knows whats best …
• Your colleagues, with best intentions, tell you what’s right and what’s wrong. 
• Please keep in mind:
  • Except you, nobody knows what you want.
    (That’s where your requirements come into play)
    If you have done them thoroughly you will know what you want.

If you want to come out of that buzzword bullshit bingo:

Follow the rules of the old white, of the old coloured, man/woman.

Write down the requirements that are derived from the goal to achieve.

Just do the logical parts that suit the goals. Don’t take the emotions in the decision.

Set yourself a goal you want to achieve.

Maintaining a state is NOT what lasts very long! Others bypass you as you become static. (Sorry to tell you that your pension time won’t be calm. :-))

Your goals

Find out what YOU need to do to achieve those goals, find out what YOU need to have as an ambient environment that YOU can achieve those things and then write down all those things. 
Don’t get yourself into – but that is not existing what I need.

If really that way – develop that missing one first! (Ups – disruption)

Then you need to do the sweat work. Execute!

Manual work

Even though I love to work with computers: Sometimes it is beneficial if you write it down by hand. It makes a very different perception whether you use a computer or you did it by hand.

It may take some days or some weeks unless you have finished that.

If you 

a) know what you want to have and 

b) if you have defined the needs you have to do

That moment, precisely that moment you become cause over the changes you are going to do.

You can be an effect of all those buzzwords and all those consultants and all those new tools.

Or you become a cause in life by deciding what you need for your specific area and just work the plan trough.

Example: Introducing a new tool for data consistency across the company.

Everybody (where the f* is that guy) knows that the changes in technology we face today are speedy.

Tools we use today with/without thinking, often were not existing 15-20 years ago. So if you expect a tool to survive longer than some years you are fooled.

Shit – disruption and sweat work again.

You introduce a new tool. Your company doesn’t know that tool yet.

However, everybody would be happy with data consistency and a single source of truth. No constant coordination, and „oh that is the wrong Version“. Thus you need to have consistent data across your company.

The need is there and now you need to introduce and get into application.

People resist change.

They only change if they find a necessity to change.

Pending the urgency of that necessity: 

Is it a small smoke or is a fire burning? 

People change according to the perception of the deviation of an ideal scene.

The BEST necessity is – Interest into doing something (better), coupled with responsibility!

The motivation of your staff requires they envision the same goal that you set. If you do NOT get the agreement: You work against walls.

First action – ALIGN the people

You don’t need us!

Yes, for sure, my colleagues and I can come and serve you to get that going. But you don’t need us.  We rather come to train the trainer.

If you have trouble: Address us and I will tell you if we am able to help.

We are not god of everything!

But only do so, if you have the need to be guided to achieve your goals.

Sound Thinking

What we want is that you use your sound thinking. 

We want you to question what pops into your life.

• Is it suitable for me?
• Does it help me?
• Is it interesting for the future?
• Is it correct?

One aera

There will be at least one area where you yourself need a change.

There is even a daily change – From sleeping to being awake or hungry to be fed.

If there are too many situations and you do not know where to start – see what areas exist and what would benefit the utmost, while having the marginal effort. Thus, you buy yourself time.

Find out the ideal situation and work out a plan how to do it. Find a way how to arrive at the ideal situation.

Don’t buy that the buzzwords or the tools will solve your problem.
Only take those areas if they fit into your life.

I hope you enjoyed reading that and right now that you are ready to fight the buzzword bullshit bingo by making the trend instead of following the trend.