Cry for Help

Hopefully, this won't get me fired, but it's an actual email that I sent to my boss (whom I've worked with at 2 previous companies and not only trust, but would run through a wall for) while, indeed, in the Lion's Den. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Hi "Boss",

I decided to send this message on your personal email
just because I don't intend to start any trouble and
feel that I can be much more candid here.

On the ride back to the hotel last night, through the
extraordinary Bogota traffic (if I weren't in a taxi,
and actually had to drive through this stuff myself, I
might not EVER complain about traffic on 880 ever
again...but since I am in a taxi...), I had a
revelation as to why we our challenges are so
plentiful in the face of prime time performances.
Rather than spell this out in a very verbose
manifesto, I think I've effectively reduced it to a
single concise statement.

Our culture of engineering is sorely in need of a
paradigm shift. Ideally, that shift would be sharply
toward a Dell Computer culture and away from our
IBM/Soviet Union attitude of "we designed it that way
BECAUSE, and you'll LIKE IT" , if I may appeal to your
"Fox News" sensibilities. (Okay, sorry...that's two
statements.). From top to bottom we are engineers and
as a result we often lack the ability to think like
normal people.

We have an amazing product offering, and it is created
by a group of amazingly talented and brilliant minds.
However, where we fall short in bringing this
brilliance to the public is in our ability to
translate said brilliance into something that benefits
our customers. We talk a great game in the office. We
even put on a nice show at the Shows. Where we fall
woefully short (and that woefully could probably use
several more o's...) is in our ability to state what
it is we are doing behind our smoke and mirrors.

It is one thing when the customer needs to be educated
on something since they don't work with it and aren't
there for the creative process. It is the job of
people like me to ease that transition for them. It is
entirely something else, however, for our own people
to not have a clear understanding of what is going on
because engineers do not communicate. I daresay that
engineers are not even logical.

I know what you're thinking. They MUST be logical by
the very nature of their ability to create complex
algorithms that make complex operations possible.
Well, the logic that they lack is the fact that their
"voodoo" is inherently understood by all. Their
"voodoo", in their minds, moves in mysterious ways
from person to person, perhaps by osmosis. They have
no use for thinking about these mysterious ways, they
just think that they happen, just because, and rest
easy at night with that knowledge. In actuality, this
"voodoo" MUST be clearly documented in explicit detail
to every other person that resides outside the area
between their two ears, including their peers (i.e.
the other engineers that develop adjacent products
that might even sit in adjacent cubes or share
adjacent lab benches).

I might even go further and suggest that engineers are
like politicians, in that you never get the absolute
completely factual testimony until pressed in a grand
jury testimony type fashion. For example:

Me: Does gui6 work?

Engineers: Absolutely! I've got it working in my
office...and i've had it working at the show.

There is no mention of important facts like specific
platforms, software versions. Everything is assumed to
be the same when we know that rarely to be the case.It
is not until after the pain is experienced and better
questions are asked, that more specific, more useful
information is given, albeit begrudgingly.(In fact, it
gets even worse. "Pablo" shared with me last night that
the s/w version for the amino130 is a not for public
version given by amino when they took his box from the
London show back to their lab and returned it to him
later, after he and Tariq so vehemently complained
about how bad the stb was. This version is much higher
than the one available to the public that I've got
"The Big Boss" (ceo/lead braintrust/superbrilliant guy) trying to hunt down right this minute. Of
course, there was no mention of this detail, just
"your amino 130 should work...mine does.")

Another example:

Me: Is there anything special about configuring video
content in gui6 to make it as easy to use as gui3 (and
saying that gui3 is easy to use is indeed a
stretch...more familiar maybe, but easier, not
hardly...)

Engineers: "Make sure that your database is upgraded
before with the right tables and also populated with
the right data,..." and "There is an additional step
with GUI6 to play VoD, is the movies categories."

Notice, there is no mention of what the "right tables"
are or how to configure them. There is no mention of
an extra non-"mycompany" tool that needs to be
downloaded, nor instructions on how to use said tool
in order to do the configuration. And don't forget
that the "additional step" was never previously
mentioned to anybody in any written form and probably
not verbally either. Keep in mind that if I don't know
about the step or the tool, that the customer
definitely does not know about it. It was just
assumed. Osmosis...

I could go on and on with these types of examples from
within the office and while on trips, as I know "Rodney" (a peer with the same position as me)
can (he and i shared frustrations all day yesterday)
and as I suspect "Pablo" (also a peer with the same position as me) does at times too (although
being such a seasoned vet, he dabbles on the dark side
and is prone to forget to mention a step initially as
well), but it would get repetitive. Maybe it's me.
Perhaps I should ask better questions. But should I
have to? Should we have to waste taxpayer money and
elected officials time and resources to find out if
Slick Willy had some extracurricular activity in the
Oval Office or if baseball players were being enhanced
by substances? You're right! We shouldn't, just like
we shouldn't have to be up against the wall of a
headend with guns pointed at us as frustrated
customers demand that we make it work or they'll throw
us out in the street with our gear(after they shoot
us). (Colombia is not that bad, really..i'm just
exercising my flair for the dramatic. I actually like
the place. It's alot like Washington, D.C. )

So, back to our paradigm shift. In a perfect world, we
could all get together for our Monday pow-wows, do a
litle venting, and pledge to work together much more
effectively and efficiently by doing logical things
like documenting and sharing information with one
another. That's probably not terribly realistic
though. It probably won't be realistic until we get
hit where it hurts. Your efforts will indeed start to
go in vain if we don't start to solve these issues
"inmediatamente!" because the Felipes and Gobrogges of
the world will get frustrated and have to move on
because time is money. If your efforts are in vain,
then ultimately we all lose because you're the "bring
home the bacon" guy (and I both need and like this
job, above comments notwithstanding). From the top
down, we either need to get a more logical, customer
focus from within(think Dell with its "we'll build it
your way", Apple with its "we'll make it easier and
prettier than PC" and even Burger King with the "have
it your way" that is always near and dear to our
hearts) or perhaps install another layer that will
champion the efforts of the company and needs of its
customers and no longer allow ourselves to be led only
by the whims of very talented engineers. That layer
can be at the top, or below the top, as long as the
top buys in.

Well, that's probably quite enough from me. I'm still
sittin' here like Daniel, seated firmly in the Lion's
Den. But I have faith that I (and "my company") will make
it out alive and prosper.


Thanks for listening.

Destah

P.S. Desculpa me (forgive me)...i never seem to be
able to avoid verbosity when I write :-)