Wednesday, June 13, 2007

"You're it until you die or I find someone better." (ST)

9) Sometimes teams will have to hunker down and ignore the other just to be focused on the goal. It doesn't mean there is tension or they don't care. See #7.

Imagine you are creating the world's first craft that will orbit the earth. That craft has numerous systems for its operation, meaning there are numerous project teams going for the same goal. Everyone is under one banner. What happens when the orbital craft booster team can't figure out a proper firing sequence? Do they run to the rocket propulsion engineers? Sure. The brainpower of the bunch could solve the problem. But what if the rocket propulsion engineers are facing their own problem? Like creating enough boost to lift 800,000 pounds off the Earth.

Teams going for the same goal not only need to be talented enough to solve its own problems, but also need to work autonomously. Some teams don't need to know certain details because they are not relevant to the others. The rocket propulsion team doesn't really need to know that the interior wiring team used black, white, and striped wires because in a green or red light environment, colors look similar.

In your team communications, what information is really necessary for the other teams to accomplish the goals? Does finance need to know the color of the box is blue to signify water and calmness? Does marketing need to know the new 400,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility will be delayed 4 months because of a labor dispute?

Information should not have to be drilled down. It takes a bit of tact and skill to ask the correct questions, and direct people to the answer that is needed to move forward.

So when a team is focused on accomplishing its goal, everything is white noise until it affects the forward progress of the teams.

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