Management by a need to tell basis?
Posted by oskar on May 27, 2007 at 16:22
I used to work for a company in the US, just for a short while, and the whole corporate culture lived by something called ?management by a need to know basis?. Basically, in summary what that meant for me: 1) I didn?t need to know anything 2) I didn?t know anything 3) I couldn?t do anything A very interesting approach to leadership I think, though (hard as I try!) I can?t seem to understand why the stock-owners would agree to such a totally fucking insane way of treating the human resource. They probably wouldn?t. I guess the management had no stock in the company, otherwise I doubt that they would run it so badly. No one knew anything. To top that, I sat alone in Chile and didn?t know how to tell someone that I didn?t know anything. A vicious circle of ignorance. One day I received a phone-call. This is an extract: ME - Oskar speaking. Manager ? Hi, bla bla ?. bla bla ?. by the way don?t contact any clients right now. ME (confused because I worked in sales) - Why? Manager - Have patience, you don?t need to know that right now. Just sit tight. ME (I had been sitting tight for 3 months; the walls in my apartment/office were approaching me rapidly. I was definitely going crazy, just a matter of time) - When will I know what is happening? Manager - Things take time. Don?t worry. Enjoy Chile. I actually started to write a book about the management culture at that company, and I named it: ?How not to do business - A painful journey through lack of planning, incomplete communication and no common understanding regarding the business mission? (bad translation from Swedish). I rapidly presented two models in the introductory chapter, as should be in business literature. The first one said AIR below an empty box. Instinct might tell you that AIR is a great tool for underachievements, maybe an acronym for ?Allocate Insufficient Resources?, but it?s not. It?s very simple, it?s a tool for managers to look at (the empty AIR-box) and think to themselves: ?Do I treat my employees like this?? If they do, they could use my second model PHONE under a picture of a? phone. Anyone with proper training from Business Schools will know that a phone is used for communication and a very strong tool for leading something, anything, forward through the spreading of information. It also had a second meaning: ?Please Help, Oskar Needs Everyone?. After a while I realized that a young guy, whose only real business experience can be defined as a random-number-generated pile of failures from all possible angles, might not be an interesting prospect for authoring a book about business. And after I had written some 60-70 pages, I pretty much got over the worst frustration and - most of all - I woke up one day and blamed others for EVERYTHING, except one little tiny detail. If I was a little bit older and not so thankful for the job, I would have told various people to get their fucking act together or ?I will resign by tomorrow and not let you destroy another single day of my life?. I suffered for 9 months and I would never do that again. So, that I have learned hopefully. If those who are responsible don?t act accordingly, tell them or stop whining. I was whining and I never told anyone. Silent complains will take you nowhere. I also learned (deducing from the law of opposites, heaven or hell) that any organization, if prosperous, must (it just has to be so) be transparent and information must be in abundance. This blog is one way to make sure we are understood as an open organization. I think business secret belong in the past. That said there will always be some things that can?t be disclosed, for various reasons. But I am sure that the damage involved in not telling anyone anything (let?s call it the Safety-vault-CEO) is far worse than telling a little bit too much? so here goes: So far we have raised capital to survive for another 6 months, 15% of the company is owned by external stock-holders. We have a great business plan, from product-development to marketing and support. The missing Swedes arrive in Chile in one month. One of our stock-holders lives in California and will help us to some (hopefully) interesting meetings in July, in Silicon Valley. We are aiming to do quite an aggressive capital raise in 3-5 months from now. We are confident and we think that we have the most critical factors in place, and that we are a successful prospect to VC-company. Interested? E-mail me at oskar@needish.com We need programmers and IT-engineers in Chile. Right now we can?t offer you the same safe position (for as long as you live) as Lan Chile and other biggies, but we can offer something completely different, and a thrill that you can become a part of in its baby days. E-mail Dany at daniel@needish.com We turned down a journalist who wanted to do a piece on us in Qué Pasa. Why? We really don?t have anything to say right now. But be patient! We can?t tell you enough how much we appreciate your interest. We will call you whenever we feel that it?s a good timing! I was happily drunk last night, haven?t had such a relaxing weekend in a long time (NEEDISH is quite time-consuming). Now, stock-holders don?t fear, joy gives me energy. And as a counterpart to that, I can tell you that we are still not lifting any salaries from the company (we, the 3 founders), despite the fact we asked for an embarrassing amount of money in the business plan? it?s surprising that no one has told us to go to hell. Now, I will need to get a humble raise (from 0) in July? Puss & Kram Oskar
Tags: management
Moments every month
Posted by oskar on May 18, 2007 at 11:56
We have already had some moments of glory, others of despair - since we founded our company. More will come, better moments I hope - worse ones for sure. If life was a constant feeling of being numb, it probably wouldn’t be much fun at all. But if running your own company was a constant feeling of being numb, life would probably be more fun. Right now I‘d say we are in a pre-everything kind of nervous state of mind. I know I am. May is by far the most boring month of NEEDISH so far. Considering that we have had some interesting dialogues with some new investors, that says a lot about the other months… January meant getting onboard. Did I really want to do this? To be honest, hell no. I was happy just the way I was. But there was a defining moment when I suddenly realized “I am onboard, and I want to be here!” Februray was cold like hell in Sweden, and I traveled a lot. We decided to buy tickets go to Chile. So far, it had been only three guys kidding around, and suddenly we were two guys flying half across the globe to change the world. March meant preparations for Chile. Working late hours almost every day. This was the month when it really kicked in. We were doing it. And it hurt. I was tired. So tired. April was Chile. We were in Chile. Dani and Juan met for the very first time. They didn’t hate each other; hence the last obstacle was overthrown. Love was in the air. We had joy, we had fun, we had a weekend in the sun and when we came back we managed to raise 100000 dollars. I had to resign. So I did. Big month. Huge. May? May has been kicking along I guess, but it hasn’t really changed the course of the company… that’s what I hate with May… nothing has really happened to change the way we think of ourselves. Not yet. And we are definitely too early in this business (are we even to be considered in business?) to start enjoying the past. Maybe this is why I woke up today and wrote an e-mail to the others, basically saying (looong email): “We are crap and we need to improve this and this and this and that”, wrapping up with a “maybe I worry without reason, didn’t mean to be mean… good luck guys!” I guess they hate me right now, for being such a pain in the ass. I hope it was worth it. Anyway we are very much a cyber-organization so far, and hate never shows its ugly face (it only shows as subtle messages in e-mails)… and it’s not really hate… of course it’s not! But strong words like hate can make a weak blog worth reading. Love from Sweden to all NEEDISH people out there / Oskar
Tags: Oskar
Internet is ruled by elephants?!
Posted by johan on May 14, 2007 at 13:52
Now the time has come to show my presence.
My name is Johan; I’m the man behind the idea and third founder of NEEDISH.
Right now all of us are breathing, eating, sleeping and loving with needish circulating through our veins. It’s how it has to be. It’s inevitable. When you believe in something that much, only a thought of it gets your heart pumping a little bit faster. What the outcome can be and how it will change certain behaviors.
Now, to what I wanted to write:
I would like to share this metaphor with you, dear reader.
The Elephants lives at the savannah. At the savannah it’s really hot and the elephants get thirsty. When they’re thirsty they always go to the same waterhole.
But, if someday the waterhole should appear to be out of water, the elephants would immediately seek for another source and never return.
The same rule can be applied for humans on the Internet.
If an online service doesn’t work from the beginning or a working service gets an interruption, the users immediately chooses another supplier for the service, never to return to the pre-supplier again.
This is why it’s so critical that Needish has to work from day one when launching and continue to do so for the rest of its existence. If not, the users will do as the elephants: abandon.
I can proudly say it will work!
I’m definitely needish.
/Johan
My name is Johan; I’m the man behind the idea and third founder of NEEDISH.
Right now all of us are breathing, eating, sleeping and loving with needish circulating through our veins. It’s how it has to be. It’s inevitable. When you believe in something that much, only a thought of it gets your heart pumping a little bit faster. What the outcome can be and how it will change certain behaviors.
Now, to what I wanted to write:
I would like to share this metaphor with you, dear reader.
The Elephants lives at the savannah. At the savannah it’s really hot and the elephants get thirsty. When they’re thirsty they always go to the same waterhole.
But, if someday the waterhole should appear to be out of water, the elephants would immediately seek for another source and never return.
The same rule can be applied for humans on the Internet.
If an online service doesn’t work from the beginning or a working service gets an interruption, the users immediately chooses another supplier for the service, never to return to the pre-supplier again.
This is why it’s so critical that Needish has to work from day one when launching and continue to do so for the rest of its existence. If not, the users will do as the elephants: abandon.
I can proudly say it will work!
I’m definitely needish.
/Johan
Tags: Johan
Leaving the closet... almost
Posted by oskar on May 10, 2007 at 18:26
It?s now official! We are a company. No longer do I have lie and answer with hesitation if people ask me tricky questions. It?s sinking in. I resigned 2 weeks ago but not until today, really, am I actually telling people - anyone - what we are up to. Well, not WHAT we are up to. The idea is secret. I guess in many ways it is kind of silly to be so protective? but on the other hand, what if (IF) someone heard and told someone else and they feel as strong for this idea as I do? As we do. Just what if? it?s just not worth taking the risk and I hope everyone that asks me can take that for an answer. When it comes to the corporate structure, the challenges in recruitment, the problems involved in not knowing if we have to launch with X (what we have today) or Y (what we are asking for) in capital, the board members and why they are great, the development, etc? whatever? I will happily speak from this moment and on!
Just e-mail me at 0skar@needish.com and I will answer! (If I don?t answer, it?s because we are moving the server any day now?)
Oskar
By the way, in a couple of months I hope we will be in a position to contract students with the right spirit, for part time work. In Sweden that is. If you are in Chile and you know how to program a great product, don?t hesitate to look for a job-opportunity!
Just e-mail jobopenings@needish.com and our HR-manager will take care of everything?. No, just kidding! We don?t have any HR-manager? just e-mail oskar@needish.com
What apes showed us
Posted by Dani Undurraga on May 08, 2007 at 11:18
Last Friday I had a barbecue at home with some friends. We were talking about what drunken people talks about, the evolution of human behavior and culture. Nico -yes, the same Nico you've read about in this blog before- told the observant crowd an experiment involving apes. The narration somehow opened my eyes and I thought it could be an interesting story for some of you, but I must start with a disclaimer. I just couldn't manage to find sources on the Internet, maybe because I -as most people- am not an expert in searching the web. Sometimes I dream that search results try to find me, but sadly, it never happens in reality. The point is that you shouldn't believe blindly in the following story, nobody knew for sure whether it was true or an urban myth. So here's it goes...
Everything started in a cage filled with apes, some banana trees and cold water showers on top. As you probably know, apes like bananas. They can also climb trees relatively easily. So as you might have guessed so far, the apes use to climb the banana trees looking for food. After a while, the scientists in charge of the experiment started spraying the coldest water in the world over these poor monkeys every time they even got close to the banana trees. They didn't take a long time in realizing that it wasn’t clever to climb the trees, they were being fed anyway, and of course it was more comfortable to be dry. Once every ape knew that it was wrong to climb the trees, the scientists took one of them out for being replaced by a new monkey. Here's is when the story starts becoming interesting. The new monkey gets into the cage, watch the banana trees, and starts climbing. Before any shower, the other monkeys chased the new one, hit him almost to death and hoped to have delivered a clear message: no tree-climbing in this cage. When that primate learned not to climb the tree, the scientists replaced a second monkey and repeated the same process several times until there were only new monkeys. Guess what? They’ve all learned not to climb the banana tree but none of them really knew the reason why.
It's amazing how many things we do every day, only because nobody has ever stopped to think before whether there is any better way of doing it. I can imagine how the first monkey who decided to walk straight felt. NEEDISH, like the first primate who decided to walk straight, is here to change the way we do things in some ways you probably have never thought of, and after using our service you probably won't understand why nobody came up with something like Needish before.
I am needish!
Are you needish?
Everything started in a cage filled with apes, some banana trees and cold water showers on top. As you probably know, apes like bananas. They can also climb trees relatively easily. So as you might have guessed so far, the apes use to climb the banana trees looking for food. After a while, the scientists in charge of the experiment started spraying the coldest water in the world over these poor monkeys every time they even got close to the banana trees. They didn't take a long time in realizing that it wasn’t clever to climb the trees, they were being fed anyway, and of course it was more comfortable to be dry. Once every ape knew that it was wrong to climb the trees, the scientists took one of them out for being replaced by a new monkey. Here's is when the story starts becoming interesting. The new monkey gets into the cage, watch the banana trees, and starts climbing. Before any shower, the other monkeys chased the new one, hit him almost to death and hoped to have delivered a clear message: no tree-climbing in this cage. When that primate learned not to climb the tree, the scientists replaced a second monkey and repeated the same process several times until there were only new monkeys. Guess what? They’ve all learned not to climb the banana tree but none of them really knew the reason why.
It's amazing how many things we do every day, only because nobody has ever stopped to think before whether there is any better way of doing it. I can imagine how the first monkey who decided to walk straight felt. NEEDISH, like the first primate who decided to walk straight, is here to change the way we do things in some ways you probably have never thought of, and after using our service you probably won't understand why nobody came up with something like Needish before.
I am needish!
Are you needish?
Tags: Are you Needish? Needish SA
Second board meeting
Posted by oskar on May 07, 2007 at 17:41
Who said board-meetings were boring? Maybe no one did. Anyway that’s just a good intro to the point I’d like to make. I am sitting in my undies, in my bedroom listening to music and eating ice-cream. We will have the Skype-based meeting in just 22 minutes. Important decisions will be made. Very important decisions. In my undies. Or should I say, UNDISH?
Are you NEEDISH?
Oskar
Tags: board meeting meeting
Strategic decisions - is best necessary?
Posted by oskar on May 05, 2007 at 15:30
I have read about them, they are all over course-material from University. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats. The Boston-Matrix, Porters five forces. Case-studies to benchmark. Help in abundance and definitely in vain. We can not apply any rules to our toughest questions, and therefore they are tricky bastards. There are good sides and bad sides to all different marketing plans. We see strengths and weaknesses in all the functionality in the product, functionality that sometimes can?t co-exist? Which should we choose? Should the logics for thingy X be ABC or XYZ? Do we raise capital in a second ?pre-pro?-round before we target ?real? Venture Capital-firms again? There are definitely reasons for that, and others that point in different directions.
After several months of planning and planning and now realizing that we still haven?t decided how to approach some of the most critical issues involved in our business, it?s time to move on and to understand that perfection is good, but not necessary. Every second we spend analyzing pros and cons for part X of our business, we don?t spend evolving into analyzing pros and cons for plan Y. We have to take decisions more often, faster and then live by them as long as we don?t know they were wrong. In summary, what I am saying is: Quick mediocre decisions will take us to market faster; great thorough investigation-based decisions will probably not lead anywhere. Having realized that sometimes quantity is more important than quality - even when talking about important strategic decisions - I look up from our ?books? and see the world? is that how it works?
Well, considering all the crappy products, bad company-names, filthy restaurants, horrible designs, lousy service minds, dirty offices, frustrating errors in business logics, lack of core-competences, annoying taglines, PR-campaigns that pisses me off, etc, etc. ALL created by successful companies with happy annual reports? I believe that is how the world works. Everyone working for a company is human. All decisions are human. I am human. We are human. I am sure we will take sufficiently good decisions. Best is good, but not necessary. One decision that might not be the best, but so far good enough is:
?This blog is NOT too personal. It will not change.?
Oskar, CEO Needish
After several months of planning and planning and now realizing that we still haven?t decided how to approach some of the most critical issues involved in our business, it?s time to move on and to understand that perfection is good, but not necessary. Every second we spend analyzing pros and cons for part X of our business, we don?t spend evolving into analyzing pros and cons for plan Y. We have to take decisions more often, faster and then live by them as long as we don?t know they were wrong. In summary, what I am saying is: Quick mediocre decisions will take us to market faster; great thorough investigation-based decisions will probably not lead anywhere. Having realized that sometimes quantity is more important than quality - even when talking about important strategic decisions - I look up from our ?books? and see the world? is that how it works?
Well, considering all the crappy products, bad company-names, filthy restaurants, horrible designs, lousy service minds, dirty offices, frustrating errors in business logics, lack of core-competences, annoying taglines, PR-campaigns that pisses me off, etc, etc. ALL created by successful companies with happy annual reports? I believe that is how the world works. Everyone working for a company is human. All decisions are human. I am human. We are human. I am sure we will take sufficiently good decisions. Best is good, but not necessary. One decision that might not be the best, but so far good enough is:
?This blog is NOT too personal. It will not change.?
Oskar, CEO Needish
Tags: strategy
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