If IT were a Woodshop

Reposting from my work blog, because I wrote it and the analogy cracks me up.

A bit about my background before we get into an extended metaphor: I came in to the world of IT through a minor in Computer Science and a secondary field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI). HCI is an interesting field - interdisciplinary by nature, it combines Computer Science, Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology - you name it. I usually say I like people more than I like computers and I like computers a whole lot... I'm very interested in how technology influences society which then influences technology - it's an interesting feedback loop. One example was back when the Facebook group "Jon Stewart for President" was started about 4 years ago  ​(unless it was Stephen Colbert...either way).A "cultural phenomenon" occured - the FB group hit one million users faster than anything that had been seen before, so much so that Facebook had to scramble on the server side of things to even support the size of the group and the pace at which it was growing. This is a cool example of that feedback loop - 1) The tech had to exist, 2) society had to be invested in it and 3)society drove technological change. So that's HCI in a nutshell (but it's a VAST field).

So, I was thinking about users and IT and some of the typical frustrastions between business users and IT. To be clear here, I'm not talking about our IT specifically - from my days as a consultant I saw a lot of different IT groups and a lot of their interactions with users, and similar patterns happened across the board. Let's say IT is a woodshop. You go to IT with two pieces of wood and says "I need these two pieces of wood joined together". IT goes back to their shop with some tools, mysteriously disappears for a while, and comes back in what seems like a ridiculously long time with your two pieces of wood joined together with some nails.

More often than not... it's not what you expected based on the model you had in your mind of how you needed the two pieces of wood joined and it's not really useful to you, leading to a sense of frustration and wasted time. There are a lot of different ways of joining two pieces of wood - if you're making a picture frame, it's probably substantially different than how you would join two pieces of wood together to build a step stool or if you just have two short pieces that need to be one long piece. Maybe you didn't need nails at all - maybe screws were the right fastener, or maybe you actually needed a hinge.

In a lot of cases, this is a question of communication. At some point between the User and the developer/wood shop worker, there needs to be a question asked, or a conversation that follows -  "Well, what are you trying to do with this? Will you ever need to take it apart? How much force does the joint need to support?". In many cases this conversation never happens, and IT products are created based on a model of the words used to describe the surface of the problem you were trying to fix ... that doesn't match your expectations. Granted, some users hand over detailed specifications of exactly what they need, but generally the ownership of clearly defining the problem lies... somewhere between the user and the developper (though in a lot of cases, I think the user ends up feeling bad that they didn't know how to describe their problem or need. It's NOT your fault, I promise).

Then there's usability. Let's say the product comes back from IT and it works for what you needed it to do - but they used nails that were too long, so there are some sharp and pointy ends. It works, but you have to be REALLY careful how you handle the product or you might get hurt, or worse, you might get tetanus. Now, most IT software products aren't going to give you tetanus, but poor usability can leave you feeling frustrated - things like putting in tons of data only to find the system didn't save for some unknown  or poorly explained reason.

I guess my point is that the frustration is totally understandable - I want to help be that communication bridge so that we're working on things that matter and help you do your work more efficiently, and that we're not wasting anyone's time designing something that doesn't work as you expected it to. We can only get to things that work if we talk about it - so let's talk!
On that note, this comic is one of my favorites on the subject :

My Speech from the University YMCA Auction

Hi Folks,

So I think I’m here today because I’ve had the opportunity to grow a career that lets me donate to the Y often (and relatively early in my career) so I’m on the minds of the staff on a fairly regular basis. Some might point to my engineering degree for the ability to give, but in a lot of ways I think the Y is responsible, and I’m pretty vocal about how important the Y was to my career and my life.

I can’t talk about the Y and my experiences here without going back to the beginning. I grew up in Lexington, Kentucky and knew I wanted to go in to Engineering, eventually deciding on the University of Illinois – partially because there was no where else to go in the state if I wanted out of my hometown, and partially because I really liked the General Engineering program (and I might have thought it was Engineering Undecided at first, but it still sounded like a good fit). It was a nice 5 hour drive from home – close enough that I could go home for the weekend, but not so close people could just pop in without warning me first.

I found Alternative Spring Break on Quad day my freshman year – you all could not have gotten my attention earlier if you’d tried, as Alternative Orientation wasn’t a thing when I started. I proceeded to go on a trip to Gallup, New Mexico for Spring Break with 7 other students and was immediately hooked. On that trip, I was introduced to Teach for America and spent the next 3 years convinced that that was what I was going to do post college.  The following fall I Site Facilitated a trip to Goshen, Indiana.

I applied for ASB board the following semester while I was studying abroad, and landed in the Trip Fundraiser Role. After that, I served as Site Facilitator Trainer and spent my senior year bouncing sometimes serious and sometimes ridiculous ideas off of one another with two fantastic people. Beyond that I served on the board of Governors for a year and got to know a lot of the lovely people in the room through a variety of meetings and events.  All told I went on 7 trips, held two ASB Board Positions, one Board of Governors position, and helped coordinate a national trip for the Campus Coalition of YMCAS. When I’d tell people that my major was General Engineering, my friends would laugh and say “but realistically, her major is ASB”.

When it comes down to it, my involvement at the Y prepared me more for holding a job in the real world than the majority of my engineering classes did. In job interviews, my involvement with ASB was one of the first things interviewers would spend time talking about  - it was the thing that made me stand out from other reasonably good but by no means perfect students – I learned early on I’d rather spend two hours thinking about encouraging dialogue around diversity on volunteer trips than thinking about voltage and digital signal processing and was willing to take grade hits for it. But think about the skills I walked away with by focusing on my Y involvement rather than agonizing over specific homework problems.  Organized service trips for over 300 students with a team of 15 other people? Supervised and tracked 15 different groups simultaneously trying to raise money on a deadline? Trained 60 different student leaders how to lead a volunteer trip and shape the experience of their participants? Learning when to step in when those leaders were falling short? Participated in a Capital Campaign Project? Worked remotely to plan a volunteer trip for multiple schools and 50 students? Seriously, who walks into a job interview at 21 or 22 years old with that kind of experience except a Y Student leader? The Y gave me such a head start on a wide range of skills many corporate employees don’t get until much later in their careers.

Despite being convinced for 4 years that I was going to participate in Teach for America – something changed my senior year and I decided to stay at Illinois a 5^th year. After an internship at Accenture, I decided to work there full time – I’d found work that I enjoyed with a community of people that were generally awesome. And, honestly, it felt a little like selling out at the time. But now, four years later – I can say it was a pretty solid decision. I organized a few trips during my tenure for coworkers to go down to Nashville to build wheelchair ramps, and was recognized in annual reviews for that commitment – it was very cool to be in an environment that not only would coworkers be interested in a volunteer trip on their vacation time, but that there would be positive performance evaluation associated with it. I’m much more comfortable with my decision to “sell out” now than I was at graduation. I walked away from Accenture with the ability to donate to causes I care about and a whole arsenal of skills I wouldn’t have picked up somewhere else. More than that, I made networking connections that got me in my current job at Ounce of Prevention Fund – my boss is a former Accenture Tech Labs guy.

The Ounce, by the way, is a non-profit dedicated to Early Childhood Education and does a wide range of program delivery, research, advocacy, and policy activities at the state and federal level. I tell my boss frequently that a job in Early Childhood Education would never have shown up in my job search, as my real passion is encouraging diversity in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, but I can’t imagine a better career fit for me at this moment where I both bring skills to the table and grow my own capabilities for whatever may be next.

In my interview with the COO at the Ounce (my bosses’ boss) – she asked why I was interested in taking a job with the Ounce, and if I’d ever worked with a non-profit before. The fact that I still have a lot of my involvement with ASB and the Y on my resume and had continued service initiative throughout my time at Accenture resonated with her – I had a clear demonstration that aside from being a solid skills fit for the position, my heart was in it, the non profit world wasn’t completely foreign, and that I was going to be committed to the cause.

I’m here today, because I feel like the Y continues to give to me personally and professionally. Mike Stephens recently nominated me for the Break Away Board of Directors and I spent last weekend at my first in person Board meeting. It was immediately like walking into a room full of long lost family members, and I wouldn’t have been in that room had it not been for my connections and experience with ASB, the Y, and Campus Coalition of YMCAs. It was a nice reminder of being part of a movement, and that I’m much happier in general when I’m busy and part of something that is bigger than myself – something I think is very true of my experience with the Y.

When it comes down to it, my time at the Y involved a lot of education, both professionally and personally. I learned etiquette rules, like how to politely deal with olive pits at a Y event (thanks to Gloria).  I remember as a student on the board for multiple years, feeling frustration at the same conversations and debates happening year after year. But at the core, it doesn’t hurt the board to debate the same issues repeatedly, because those discussions are a big part of personal development, learning how groups work together and what your own leadership style is in a group.

Beyond just education, I wouldn’t have many of the relationships I have today without the Y. Aside from dragging my friends that I met outside of the Y on ASB trips, I met many of my current best friends through ASB and the Y. Seriously, most of the people I routinely hang out with in Chicago are Y Alum.  I won’t go in to my dating history, but I will let you all know that a substantial number of the guys I’ve dated have had some sort of Y affiliation. I think the Break Away meeting last weekend and that sense of homecoming even though I was walking in to a room full of strangers rings true of my Y experience and why I continue to stay involved – the people that find themselves at the Y are some of the most passionate, interesting, and motivated people that you can find, anywhere.

The Y takes students that have this amazing trait – we tried to pin it down last weekend, and the closest we got was “spirited idealism” – that trait that people leave a room or a building cleaner than they found it, that they feel they are not doing enough unless they’re giving 110%, and that they have endless amounts of fun even when doing something mundane.  The Y provides a home for these students to come together and grow as people and as leaders, giving them both a physical venue and a mental home. I’m so lucky I found the Y on my first day on campus – I can’t imagine all the opportunities, friendships, and experiences I would have missed out on had I not stopped at that booth.

Thank you and good luck with the bidding.

Innovation on the Brain

 Innovation and Tech Scene in the Midwest
This article pissed me off. And a lot of other people in the Midwest Tech Scene.  But it fits in with several other discussions I've had, and ultimately makes a lot of sense. The folks at the TechLabs all had entrepreneurial inclination, but in a lot of cases were married by 25 and had kids on the way (well, the men at least, not so much for the women, but that's another story for another time). You don't see that too often in the valley, where folks work long hours because their dream for their startup is their family/baby/relationship/etc.

I went to the Technori Pitch on Tuesday to support my buddies at OurLabel. The Keynote speaker was one of the co-founders from SIRI, who is moving back from the valley to Chicago, and spoke highly of engineering in Champaign (and Northwestern) and trying to keep the strong engineering students in the area. There's a lot of cool entrepreneurial & venture capital stuff going on in the midwest, but there is a huge drain of talent out to the west coast. I have to wonder what would happen if more people stuck around here and started something new.

 Startups & Believable Leadership
 One of the interesting things about going to the pitch was hearing 6 different pitches from wildly different startups and looking at the Charisma of the co-founders - a huge variety in the ideas, the leadership, how the team came together, and how they were trying to scale their business (or even looking at the competition). It was really interesting watching their presentation styles - the first presenter  (ZealousGood) seemed like she was super sharp, super motivated, and had a good sense of how to try a business and scale it up. The next founder (Lovendar) was less likeable (in my book) but obviously has something that she could pitch on the Today Show or Oprah and make a lot of money with/go far/get a huge user base - but entirely less compelling to me, personally. She had great stage presence, and clearly had a good idea and good engagement with the crowd. Then there were some pitches that were great ideas, but the co-founders just weren't compelling at all to listen to. It definitely re-inforced the idea for me that good ideas will only get you so far, but being able to communicate your idea in a compelling way to a wide variety of audiences is probably equally important. There's a lot of public speaking classes out there, but if public speaking is not your thing and you really want to succeed in business, finding that partner that can be the "public face" of your idea is really important.

Gamification Schools
On Wednesday I got to tour the Chicago Quest Charter school - it was SUPER exciting and kind of blew  my mind. (So much so that when I was introducing myself I threw my pen halfway across the room. Woops.) It was "Boss Level" week - basically the end of the trimester - so all the kids were in their home base working on a puppet show. Very cool to see such tight technology integration and have the kids focus on teamwork (especially with 6th and 7th graders!). Talking to the staff was really interesting when they talked about the melt downs that kids have - imagine group projects in college where you have to deal with people you don't particularly like, but all of the hormones of middle school.