从老板的角度看事情（1）
IT公司的经理聊天的时候,经常会抱怨说，现在的年轻人和自己那个年代完全不同了。几年前，他们抱怨的对象是80后，现在是90后。
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在最近的一次高级经理会议，讨论该公司的年度战略，经理建议：“我们应该鼓励每个员工从老板的角度来看问题（而不是从雇员的角度）。”总经理100％同意，甚至叫人把它作为海报贴在布告区：‘要从老板的角度看事情‘
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公司总经理在采访时说：
总经理：现在，我们的公司已发展到200多个。为了提高经济，我们必须依靠流程或者过程改进。我们对当前的质量水平还是不满意（虽然没有实际的数据 ） 。由于我们的客户主要是有信誉的公司，他们通常也有质量要求。有在用户验收阶段存在主要缺陷的实例。整个项目被推迟了。
许多员工认为只是完成工作（比如编码）就足够了。他们没有意识到质量不够的话，将会造成很多返工。这最终会影响项目进度和成本。
在过去的两年中，我们在机构建立了标准过程并进行相关培训。但是，仍然有很多员工跟不上。员工们还没有这方面的质量意识。
顾问：和你一样，许多IT机构面临着相同的问题。公司的领导意识到问题才能改变现状，这其实是很好事。我们总是说,来自高层的承诺和支持是机构过程改进成功关键因素。I因为这是机构中的“变革”。最大的挑战是改变员工的态度和行为,最终形成企业的文化。
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综上，我们看到实践者和管理者之间还有很大的分歧很多从业者认为自己已经做得非常好了，而没意识到只达到老板期待的60%。在本系列的博客中，我们一起分享真实的IT企业案例。当员工能更好的“看到”他们老板看到的，将会对整个团队做出更好的贡献。
小结
我想下面的两个引号是改进成功的关键。
- 《追求卓越》的作者Tom Peters,，麦肯锡公司，2011年说过：
- 有“软管理”也有“硬管理”—这道理在《追求卓越》中提出，一直到今天还不断得到证实。30多年来，我一直说，7-Ss、追求卓越，和之后的工作能够越来越好是由于符合了下面的6个字：“硬就是软，软就是硬。”即，计划和数据（属于硬的东西）常常是“软”，人（员工）和共通价值观（企业文化），技能（属于软的东西）常常是“硬”。
- 机构“改革”面临的最大挑战是“软”的——企业文化。这通常都很不容易。这也解释了为什么以前的过程改进通常都不成功。
以下引自IBM前总裁Mr Gerstner，他能够给我们一些启示。
- 郭士纳在《谁说大象不会跳舞?》一书中，总结了90年代他担任IBM 首席执行官时的扭转公司局面的努力：如果不是正面应对IBM的企业文化，我不会成功。我偏向于策略，分析和测量。相比之下，改变成千上万人的思想和行为非常非常不容易。然而，我发现我在IBM是的改革中，企业文化不是改革的一部分，改革就是改变企业文化。
- 在下一篇，我们会看看持续过程改进是如何开始。
原文：
Introduction– See things from the boss’s point of view从老板的角度看事情（1）
If you chat withthe managers of IT companies, they will often complaint the young staff aredifferent from their generation. A few years ago, they complaint about thepeople born in 80s. Now, they think the 90s are even worse.
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In a recent seniormanager meeting to discuss the company annual strategy, one of the managerspropose: ‘We should encourage each staff to see things from the boss’s point ofview (instead of from an employee’s viewpoint). ‘ The General Manager agreed 100%.
He evenasked his people to put it as a poster on the wall desides the reception area :‘要从老板的角度看事情‘
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The GeneralManager was interviewed by a consultant:
GM: Now , our company has grown to 200+. We have to relyon a system / process to support the growth. Although we do not have actualdata, we are still not satisfied with the current level of Quality. Because
ourcustomers are mainly reputable companies, they usually also have qualityrequirement. There were instances where thereare major defects in the user acceptance test phase. The whole project wasdelayed.
Many staff thinkjust completing the work (coding) is sufficient. They do not realize if thequality is not good, there will be lots of rework. This will eventually affectthe project schedule and cost.
In the last twoyears, we developed our organization standard process and conducted trainingclasses on these processes. But, still , many staff do not follow. In summary,I think most of the staff do not have this Quality concept.
Consultant: Many IT organizations are facing the same problem asyou do. It is very good that you , as the leader of the company, realize thisproblem and commit (resources and time) to improve the situation.
We always say– commitment and support from the top management is the key success factor fororganization process improvement. It is because we are talking about a‘revolution’ in the organization. The top challenge is to change staff attitudeand behavior so
that it will eventually become an organization culture.
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From the above, wesee there is still a big gap between the practitioners and the management. Many practitioners think they are doing agood job but do not realize it is is only60 /100 from the boss’ viewpoint. In these series of blog articles, we willshare
some real life stories in IT organizations. So these practitioners can‘see’ what their boss look for and can better contribute as a team member.
Epilog
I think thefollowing two quotes highlighted the key to a successful Process Improvementchange:
- Tom Peters, author of “In Search ofExcellence”, on McKinsey 7-S , in 2011 said:
- There were "Soft Ss" as well as "HardSs"—emerged as well and lasts to this day. I continue to say, over 30years later, that the power of the 7-Ss andIn Search of Excellence(1982) and my subsequent work can best be captured in six words:"Hard
issoft. Soft is hard." That is, it's the plans and the numbersthat are often "soft" (e.g., the sky-high soundness scores that theratings agencies gave packages of dubious mortgages). And the people("staff") and shared values ("corporate culture")
andskills ("core competencies" these days) which are truly"hard"—that is, the bedrock upon which the adaptive and enduringenterprise is built.
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- The top challenge to ‘change’an organization is to tackle the ‘soft’ side – company culture. This is oftenvery hard. It is also the reason why many process improvement efforts were notsuccessful. The following quote from MrGerstner, IBM’s ex-
CEO, can give us some insight.
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- Lou Gerstner, in “Who Says Elephants Can't Dance”,summarizing his IBM turnaround effort in th 90s: "If I could have chosennot to tackle the IBM culture head-on, I probably wouldn't have. My bias comingin was toward strategy, analysis and
measurement. In comparison, changing theattitude and behaviors of hundreds of thousands of people is very, very hard.[Yet] I came to see in my time at IBM that culture isn't just one aspect of thegame—it is the game."
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- Let us start our journey bylooking at how the Continuous Process Improvement first started.