Software Engineering, Project Management, and Effectiveness
I thought it might be helpful to walk through a deliverable so you can see my current approach for building prescriptive guidance in patterns & practices.
Stage 1: Knowledge BaseWe start by building the knowledge base:
In this stage, we do a lot of solution engineering. This includes framing out the problem space using Scenario Frames. After all, you can't fix a problem if you don't know what it is, and you don't know when you're done, if you don't know what good looks like. It also includes creating repros for problems and solutions. I think of this as Test-Driven Guidance.
At this stage, we create what I call "guidance modules." These are focused nuggets. At a high-level, we factor reference from action. Our key types include guidelines, checklist, how-tos, and practices. I think Weinberg's term, the Fieldstone Method, applies to what we do.
We also publish our modules to Guidance Explorer at this point so you can build your own guide on the fly.
Stage 2: The GuideAt this stage, we build the guide.
The guide helps put the story together. The guide is divided into roughly two parts. The first part is a series of fast-paced chapters that paint the broad strokes and highlight key concepts. The second part is the hard-core reference section. This gives us a combination of top-down and bottom up.
We share the guide in HTML and PDF. This ways it's easy to share URLs and play in the community, or download and read the guide offline.
Stage 3: MSDNAt this stage, we port the guidance to MSDN:
Stage 4: AmazonAt this stage, we partner with Microsoft Press and we bake the printed book:
Team GuidanceOne of the things you'll notice about the guides is the breadth of participation. I'm a fan of integrating customer perspective, product perspective, field perspective, and expert perspective. I think the best way is to involve key folks that represent those perspective. Here's an example of the contributors and reviewers for the TFS guide. For a more extreme example, see the team behind our Threats and Countermeasures Security Guide.
Measuring SuccessAt the end of the day, I measure success of the guides based on how well they improve your effectiveness. I think our best guides improve your confidence and competence. As much as I'd like you to enjoy reading the guides, I assume you're reading the guides to get your job done. That's why they are dense with insight and action.
Why Guides?Not everybody is a fan of the guides. Personally, I see them as a way to share expertise. You don't get the benefit of working alongside all the product team members, the field, our various customers, subject matter experts, ... etc. That's what the guide is for. It's a way to consolidate and share the expertise. While they won't solve your every problem, you don't have to start from scratch. I think the best guides help you bootstrap your success and avoid reinventing wheels. Why go it alone, when you can stand on the shoulders of giants and learn from what works?
Related Guides
Key tips -- if you want to become a security and performance expert, learn the principles, patterns and practices for security and performance from Improving .NET Application Performance and Scalability and Improving Web Application Security.
My Related Posts
What practices can we learn from the leaders in innovation? How can you improve the success of your R&D efforts? In "Smart Spenders, the Global Innovation 1000," an article in strategy+business magazine, Barry Jaruzelski, Kevin Dehoff, and Rakesh Bordia write about the key practices that the most successful innovators use.
About the Study In the study, Booz Allen Hamilton set out to find which companies have been getting R&D spending right, and then to identify common attributes. They analyzed the data for the Global Innovation 1000 using seven performance screens: sales growth, gross margin percentage, gross profit growth, operating margin percentage, operating income growth, total shareholder returns, and market capitalization growth. They analyzed the following industries: Aerospace & Defense, Auto, Chemicals & Energy, Computing & Electronics, Consumer, Health, Industrials, Other, Software & Internet, Technology, and Telecom.
Lessons Learned Jaruzelski, Dehoff, and Bordia identify some of the key practices for successful innovation:
There's No Silver Bullet Jaruzelski, Dehoff, and Bordia dispell the idea that there's a silver bullet: "How did they do it? There's no silver bullet; we found examples of many different models and approaches. If these high achievers have one thing in common, it seems to be a focus on building multifunctional, company-wide capabilities that can provide them with sustainable competitive advantage. They design their innovation investment for the long run, and create superior growth and profitability over time."
Innovation in the Nonprofit Sector Jaruzelski, Dehoff, and Bordia shine a spotlight on St. Jude Children's Research Hospital as both a success story and to compare and contrast with corporations. Here's a rundown of the key points:
What are the key stages in the innovation life cycle? What is the end-to-end value chain for bringing innovation to market? In "Smart Spenders, the Global Innovation 1000," an article in strategy+business magazine, Barry Jaruzelski, Kevin Dehoff, and Rakesh Bordia write about the four key stages of innovation that the 94 high-leverage innovators have in common.
Four Stages of Innovation According to Jaruzelski, Dehoff, and Bordia, the four key stages of innovation are:
High-Leverage Innovators Jaruzelski, Dehoff, and Borida write:
"Based on press coverage and interviews with executives, we conclude that each of the 94 high-leverage innovators has built sufficiently strong capabilities in all four links of the value chain, and has seamlessly integrated them, to provide a high level of performance over time."
Key Take Aways Here's my key take aways:
What are the high-leverage strategies that the leaders in innovation use? In "Smart Spenders, the Global Innovation 1000," an article in strategy+business magazine, Barry Jaruzelski, Kevin Dehoff, and Rakesh Bordia write about the successful strategies that the 94 high-leverage innovators use.
Example High-Leverage Strategies Here's a sampling of the high leverage strategies:
I created a snapshot of the top 100 blogs according to Technorati. I'll be starting with these blogs to identify patterns and practices for effective blogging. I'll be analyzing blog design, user experience patterns, key features, content, style, frequency, information management, community interaction, impact ... etc. I think there's a lot of lessons to be learned.
Top 100 BlogsThis is the list I see in Technorati as of 02/23/2008.
How can you read faster while improving your comprehension? A few of my colleagues who follow my Book Share blog asked me how I read books. Simply put, I don't focus on reading faster. I focus on learning faster.
5 Tips for Reading FasterHere's the five things that help me read and comprehend faster:
Additional Tips
That's how I read insightful, informational or technical text these days.
Stop and Smell the RosesIf it's pleasure, then I slow down and focus on experiencing the author's story and world. Savor the moment.
Additional ResourcesHere's a couple of relevant posts:
What's the best way to build momentum and get results? Start with something simple. Seriously. I get to see folks who get results and those who don't. The difference nine times out of ten isn't smarts. It's simply action. The smart folks who don't get results, either get stuck in analysis paralysis or add too many dependencies up front. The folks who get results start taking action and adjust along the way.
Why This WorksStarting with something simple works. It's not that thinking up front doesn't help. It certainly does. The problem is, three things can happen along the way:
The best way to fuel your fire is to incrementally get results. Start with something simple. Results feed on themselves. If you start with something small, you'll learn faster and you'll start to adapt. You'll inform your thinking.
How To StartStart with the smallest thing you can personally do. If you don't know where to start, here's key questions to help:
Personally, I find asking what I can do today to be the most effective. Time is a great forcing function. It's very easy to cut scope using time. If you don't respect time, then it's very easy to add way too many things that will never happen.
Fail FastWhile starting with something simple helps build momentum, you'll also want to quickly spike on your risks. You can do this separately, after you have some success under your belt.
To fail fast, cut your idea into thin end-to-end slices and test your results. For example, take one story or usage scenario and try to instantiate it. Even before you build the solution, simply doing a dry run will reveal a lot of questions you can use to shape your approach.
The purpose of failing fast isn't to fail. It's to uncover your risks and pick better paths.
Self-Start Techniques for the Action-challengedIf you know your pattern is to think a thought to death before daring make a move, then here's a quick way out. Here's two proven practices:
Once you get in the habit of just getting started, you'll wonder how you ever got stuck in the first place.
Success SnowballsAt the end of the day, nothing succeeds like success. Success is a snowball, so build on your successes. Good luck, and get started, on whatever it is that you've been thinking about starting.
I'm in the process of analyzing my blogging strategies and practices. As part of the process, I'm doing a post roundup for this blog. I did a 2007 post roundup for my Book Share blog and it helped me get a bird's-eye view of my post content. Seeing my posts at a glance, helps me both rekindle the year and spot patterns for improvement. With the benefit of 20/20 hind-sight, I then carry the lessons forward. Here's my 2007 posts at a glance:
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007 - Posts
November 2007
December 2007
How do you improve your results? How do you consistently increase your success? Have you ever wondered why somebody's *advice* was useless for you at the time? Maybe, they were giving you ideas to change your thinking when what you really needed was better techniques. Have you ever spun your wheels and churned all your energy, only to realize later that you needed to think differently about the problem and change your approach? The first thing to figure out is where you need to change. Here's a simple frame I've been using to help colleagues understand where to change, so they play their best game.
The Change Frame You
Situation
How To Use the Frame As simple as this frame looks, it's very powerful. If somebody gives you advice and you feel a tug in your gut that it's not helpful, there's a good chance that it's not the advice itself, but it's at the wrong level. Telling you how to think about a problem won't help when you really need a technique and action for the problem. You can use this frame as a vantage point and to analyze your approach to be more effective.
Changing You The fastest and most effective thing you can change is yourself. You should also know that changing your thinking, changes your feelings, changes your actions. If you know this, it's a powerful concept. If you don't have the energy you need to get results, then you might have to start with changing how you're thinking about it. If you're stuck in analysis paralysis, then you might just need to start taking action and tuning your results.
Changing the Situation Some people spend too much time trying to change for the situation that's not right for them. They ultimately change, but at the expense of their strengths or passion. Another approach is to get better at figuring out up front where you can play to your strengths.
While you want to be flexible and adaptable, you also need to be self-aware. If you know your strengths and weaknesses, you can either avoid situations where you won't be successful or you can set situations up for your success. If you know your strengths and weaknesses, you can also be more deliberate about how you change for the situation and whether you are giving up your strengths.
Adapting, Adjusting or Avoiding For example, if you are used to position authority for getting results, then you'll want to either find those situations where it works or you'll want to avoid them. If you want to be more effective across a wider range of projects, situations and roles, then you'll want to learn how to influence without authority. The key to remember is that it's not a question of can you change for the situation -- of course you can. It's really a question of should you, or is there a way to set the situation up for your success, or is another situation a better fit for you.
Hitting a wall? Sometimes pushing an idea from the inside-out, doesn't work. Sometimes you need an outside-in approach. One of my mentors has a simple way to phrase this -- "Use the system to educate."
Examples
It's along the lines of "you can't be a prophet in your hometown" ... sometimes the change agent needs to be external.