The funniest thing this week

One of the best things about work is sharing a laugh with cool coworkers. Since I'm relatively new, most often I'm a spectator not a player of a joke which is the way I want it.

So the Boss, PM Director, former-PM-turned-Sales were playing a game of "where are they now" with the people they used to work with, and I'm eavesdropping, when suddenly the conversation turned to HK trips.

Now the PM and Sales had an unspoken agreement before that they would work together to minimize the number of HK trips they need to make. They're both family men and foreigners and not a big fan of chinese food, so they don't enjoy HK much.

However, now the Sales guy doesn't really have just cause to go to HK anymore, so he looks right at Boss and asks how long it's been since PM went to HK. Cue uproar and frantic damage control from PM, and more fuel-tossing from Sales.

Quotes
PM: "That was complete and utter bullshit. I'm getting him back and you'll know when it happens."
Sales: "He was giving me the finger while trying to claim he just went."
Boss: "Hasn't it been 6 years since your last trip?"

I really had to smother my laughs so I won't draw any attention and have it go on for as long as possible.

Source: Mad Men S2E10 - The Inheritance

Time to aim for better

Source: This is Indexed

It's been a year since I felt this way, and what a difference a year makes.

"Don't be afraid to make mistakes"

Or, expanded, don't use the fear of making a mistake as the reason for inaction. As long as the action is supported by a logical business case, the boss will support me and I believe that even if I get fired for it, I can still leave with dignity and the connections I made intact. Note-to-self #4.

This direction from the boss has pushed me beyond the boundaries I assumed were there. Support from the boss for a job you like and want to excel at really is a precious thing. I work with people who suffer from "analysis paralysis" - because there is no clearly defined process for a new market, they try to chart the best course of action from every side, and since there is no pleasing everybody, end up solving every problem themselves until they go crazy! I think this is partly because they don't have a boss telling them "don't be afraid to make mistakes".

Source: Narek.me

I still suffer from this paralysis - habits are hard to break. I know this because sometimes when I ask the boss about whether to do something, he looks at me like I asked a dumb question and says "Just do it!" And then I laugh and write it down with a * next to it so I can look back and remember I was happy that day.

What I worry about when I shout over people on conference calls

 1. I'm interrupting them.
2. It's rude.
3. They may think I'm disrespectful.
4. They may think I'm stupid because I interrupted them trying to make the same point.
5. I'm wasting their time.

I have a habit of raising my hand when I have something to say in group discussions, especially if the discussion is moving rapidly without natural pauses. People give me funny looks and I'll stop doing it as soon as I figure out how to overcome my mental barriers of talking over people due to #1-5 above. And the more senior level they are, the stronger my barrier. I just feel all the starts & stops in conversation when people talk over each other, resulting in wasted time, outweighs any satisfaction you get over shouting people down.

My hand-raising tactic works on face-to-face meetings and videoconference, but it doesn't work in a audio conference call sadly. (Although the Ops VP does help me out when we're in the same room and on a call with Sales. I'll raise my hand and he'll cut into the conversation for me. Thanks boss!) And despite #1-5 above, I find myself doing this several times on recent HK/VC calls... because sometimes people are misunderstanding each other and the discussion gets off track or goes on for longer than it should.

I still feel bad about it though... sorry guys.

 

Source: Telephone Conference Calls

How a misunderstanding is born

Here is an email VC sent to HK on Apr 26.

"HK,

Mitel is ready to take a Wireshark trace on their side. They are opened between 9AM-5PM Eastern time so that means 9PM-5AM Hong Kong time.
How do you want to do this?

Cheers,
VC"

The same week, I was planning a trip for VC to Pinnacle in Maryland, US to test with their equipment. We discussed whether VC would need realtime support from HK for a few hours when he is onsite. However, this got confused with the Mitel work hours and HK thought VC is asking for 9PM-5AM support HKT for the Pinnacle visit. No!

The result: No one ever answered VC's email. VC thought HK fails at communication. HK thought VC is crazy.

Note to Self #1-3

And realize you just locked the door behind you.

Source: Meme Generator

1. Don't forget your keys
2. Don't lock the door behind you when you haven't checked if you have your keys.
3. Stash a spare set of house keys in a good location. Define good location. Is it car, garage, backpack?

Helpful conversations this week May 8 - May 14

1. OM meeting with SCM, OM, and Boss 2 on Wed. Got to know how manual processes and treating everything as exception create (wait for it) UNSUSTAINABLE PRACTICES. 
2. Learned about meditation from new HK Sales Director and her ideas of synergy and connections.
3. Talked with exiting Director of SCM about how to drive process definition and find areas that can be automated to increase reliability and efficiency.
4. Talked with VP of Retail Ops how to build a business case for starting new projects.

This was a long week but another week full of learnings. I wonder if MBA is like this? then I really want to take a program.

Source: 40K for the New Professional

Concept of target schedule, or "You give us the info by X date, and you'll get the product on Y date"

Here's an email about delivery schedules that HK sent to VC:

"You expect R&D give you the date for software release then let you have plan can start communication to NEC. But if we do not clearly know the bug how to plan the software release plan? is that my rough guess, and let you tell NEC later on change schedule after clarify need more time to debugging?

I cannot agree that without communication or understanding from NEC, then give a plan to you without solid support.

Or only start the communication with NEC after all on-hand bug finish debugging."

Here is an example of language barrier. Prior to this email, VC had discussed with HK on conference call about a rough delivery schedule contingent on getting debugging information in a timely manner from NEC. Then VC emailed: "Please do not ask me for a daily report or conf call when you have other bugs you can fix and there is no bottlenecks. When you have no more bugs, no more tests and you are waiting for me then we have a problem. Either I am not doing my job or the Software team is super fast and experienced in fixing SIP bugs."

For me, VC is clearly saying whatever firmware delivery schedule he gives to NEC, will depend on NEC providing the debugging information. Meaning he's setting expected deadline for NEC. While 3rd parties cannot be controlled easily, at least we can set their expectations and also CYA when Super VP cracks the whip. Meanwhile, there are other bugs HK can work on so they are not sitting around making no progress. They should work on finishing the bugs they can fix, and when the NEC information comes in, they should only have to address the NEC-dependant bugs before releasing the software

This concept of target schedule and dependencies seems to be as old as project management, and there are all sorts of tools like Gantt charts to map this dependency, yet I keep hearing the question over and over again. What's the disconnect here?

Source: Gantt Chart Biz

The players

Source: Arthritis Foundation. This is not a comment on the condition on the condition of the team. They just had a graphic I liked.

1. Me. I am the product manager = PM. I define new products and their market positioning. I support Sales & Ops on product questions and training. I have 2.5 bosses in Product Management, Program Management, and Operations, and I try to make all of them happy and keep the project moving, so I get assigned special projects. Right now (May 9, 2011) part of my task list includes leading weekly order management reviews and testing/shipping customer samples. The work is quite interesting and my colleagues lifesavers, which keeps me motivated.

My goal is to stop VC and HK from killing each other and work harmoniously to develop a great product! I feel with the lure of salaries and the fact that everyone is an adult, this will happen soon. I am in the US office.

2. Vancouver, BC office = VC = SIP interop engineer responsible for interfacing with the PBX manufacturers

3. Hong Kong office = HK. They're the mothership so there are different resources residing here but most relevant to interop is R&D. Others include:
- The Super VP - Boss man!
- Program Managers = PMGT. My counterparts in HK just trying to keep it together and staggering towards a finish line.
- HK IT. They don't not work well with R&D to troubleshoot networking issues which is a problem when you're developing a network product.
- HK IS (Information Services). Develops applications to manage data. They've been waiting for a spec from someone for a long time. Often gets the short end of the stick but takes it in good humor.
- Technical product manager = TPM. Works out all the user specifications so I don't have to. 


4. US - the organization here is largely Sales and Operations. I deal with the following lovely people:
- The VP of Ops - 2nd boss! I was a bit uncertain about how he can advise me on product development as his passion is operations, but it turns out I am interested in operations too, and his logic serves as a great sanity check for my half-assed product ideas. Plus I have...
- The VP of Product - 3rd boss! I still meet with him every month or so and bitch about all the problems Ops VP can't help with and he helps me with them. I think it's working out guys!
- Supply Chain = SCM. These people work with massive blinding spreadsheets to make sure all our orders are shipped on time.
- Order Management = OM. Also known as inside sales or sales support. 1 person to support 4 salespeople seems to be a unfortunate ratio, especially for new business, but times are tough.
- Marketing Communications = Marcomm. They present my products and messaging is attractive ways. Lately their style has been cramped due to all unbudgeted expenses need to get CEO approval. That's right, the CEO. Doesn't matter if it's a $60 fee to print some postcards. Disproportionate punishment for their previous VP who is no longer here.
- Sales. Needs no explanation. I do vastly prefer the current crop over my last exposure to Sales 3 years ago.

Goals

This blog name is inspired by this index card:

Source: http://thisisindexed.com/2007/11/when-are-you/

I've spent quite a few hours this weekend reading the blog equivalent of a self-help book at Penelope Trunk's blog . And I have a lot of thoughts on work, life, and working with different time zones and cultures recently. The crux is my love-despair relationship with my 12 hour workdays. Since the work zone is from Montreal, to Vancouver, BC, to Portland, OR, to Hong Kong, it's more like a 15 hour work day.

If I can post twice a week for the next 4 weeks, then I'll tell my circle about this blog and ask for their feedback.