I'm a natural doer having business results in mind and feel like often times employees at all levels get stuck in overanalyzing minute details that ultimately don't matter toward making a decision. I don't usually have the authority to drop the hammer on these people overanalyzing, but I just want to explode when they go into analysis paralysis. Thankfully I can hide my face on videocam when these people are arguing over minute details or thinking about problems in ways that don't make sense. It's such a morale ki-ler for those of us wanting to get things done.
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@sa This is actually a well studied phenomena, they're not cultivating a culture of innovation, they're cultivating one of fear, keep people on edge, make them less productive, a computer can do it. Good fu---n luck.
The funniest thing I ever saw at Ford was an experienced new-hire sat in on a weekly project meeting that had been dragging on for months with no end in sight. The new-hire didn’t say a word during the first meeting. At the end of the second meeting the new-hire asked for permission to speak, presented the solution and indicated she had already implemented it and wondered if there was a need for any further meetings. It was priceless.
I blame the sh---y LL4+ managers that are better bullsh-tters than doers. That's the problem.
Fear of failure. Take a chance at innovation and fall and they can you.
So everyone just sits and talks about things because everyone is afraid to do anything.
You just do not understand...
- Did you follow the usual process?
- Did you get all the detail in there?
- Did you try that format?
- Did you check over here?
- Did you check over there?
- Did you even know we changed the process?
Heck, did you even know it can not be completed like that?
- It can not be completed until you noticed person A or clique B.
- It can not be completed for that version that's old now.
- Here let's redo that or this to match this or that.
- It can not be completed until you bowed and kissed the sky.
- It can not be completed until all the credit is fully disbursed.
Heck, it can not be completed cause it never was...
- It does not work now...
- It did not work then...
- It will not work ever...
- None of that even does what was what.
Heck no one even knows what working means.
- Did you even ask?
@b6 Nope. More like lucidity stupidity.
Yep, it takes 5 meetings to get to your answer. They are trying to justify their job.
Yes but I think this is also a function of nobody being willing to change direction or invest in significant improvement once something is out in the wild
Over emphasis on getting it "right" the first time => over-engineering for hypothetical problems instead of real ones that come up => mo--ns in leadership thinking we need more process to prevent issues => the cycle repeats!
Having worked at multiple large corporations beforehand I think Ford is stupidly locked down in terms of access controls to data and systems while also having substantial knowledge hoarding. I wonder how they make any profit at all.
Yes I’ve seen deadlines missed because of this. Some worry too much about every edge case scenario.
CYA is all that matters to Ford management
Whenever this happens they are trying to ascertain who will be blamed if things go wrong. If none of the management mini-me crowd in the meeting feel confident that they are not the stickee then they will perpetually tail chase.
You need to find the un-official power structure in your area (if it still exists). There typically is a handful of old timer SMEs who network with each other to get things done sans exhausting long meetings. Be advised that management track mini-mes typically despise the un-official power structure.