Author: Jason Cox

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Generative AI

Lightning across a digital eye of a typhoon

Typhoon warning! My nephew is a Lt. Commander in the US Navy currently stationed in Guam. He teaches and manages trauma and emergency care at the hospital. Last night, he was preparing his family for the typhoon that would be sweeping across the small Pacific island in just a few hours. They closed the storm shutters, stored their Jeep in the basement and ensure their backup power and pumps were working. My nephew drew the short straw at the hospital and will be managing the ER while the storm rolls through. I worried about the hospital being built for these type of events and he assured me that it was, but of course, he was quick to add that the generators were built by the lowest bidder.

There is another typhoon coming. Gazing out over the technology horizon we can see a storm forming. But this one seems to be more than heavy winds and rain. I’m talking about the recent astonishing developments in generative artificial intelligence (GAI). I’m increasingly convinced that we are sitting on the edge of another major tectonic shift that will radically reshape the landscape of our world. Anyone who has spent time exploring OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Dall-E, Google’s Bard, Microsoft’s Bing or Co-Pilot, Midjourney, or any of the hundreds of other generative AI tools out there, will immediately recognize the disruptive power that is beginning to emerge. It’s mind blowing. GAI’s capacity to review and create code, write narratives, empathetically listen and respond, generate poetry, transform art, teach and even persuade, seems to double every 48 hours. It even seems that our creation has modeled the creator so well that it even has the uncanny ability to hallucinate and confidently tell us lies. How very human.

I have never seen a technology grow this fast. I recall the internet in the late 1980’s and thinking it had the amazing potential as a communication platform. Little did I realize that it would also disrupt commerce, entertainment, finance, healthcare, manufacturing, education and logistics. It would create platforms for new businesses like the gig economy and provide whole new levels of automation and telemetry through IoT. But all of that took decades. Generative technology is announcing breakthrough improvements every week, sometimes every 48 hours. To be fair these large language models (LLMs) are all using decades old research in neural network (NN) technology. However, when you combine those NN with enhancements (e.g. newer transformers, diffusion algorithms), hardware (e.g. GPUs) and rich data sets (e.g. the internet) they unleash new capabilities we don’t even fully understand. The latest generations of the LLMs even appear to be doing some basic level reasoning, similar to how our own organic NNs help us solve problems.

Businesses are already starting to explore the use of this technology to increase productivity, improve quality and efficiency. Wendy’s recently announced that they are partnering with Google to use GAI to start taking food orders at their drive-throughs.1 Gannett, publisher of USA Today and other local papers, is using GAI to simplify routine tasks like cropping images and personalizing content.2 Pharmaceutical companies like Amgen are using GAI to design proteins for medicines.3 Autodesk is using GAI to design physical objects, optimizing design for reduced waste and material efficiency.4 Gartner identifies it as one of the most disruptive and rapidly evolving technologies they have ever seen.5 Goldman Sacks is predicting that GAI will drive a 7% increase in global GDP, translating to about $7 trillion!6

It’s time to prepare for the typhoon. I’m excited about the future! As a technologist, I know disruptions will come, challenging our thinking and changing how we work, live and play. I know it can also be terrifying. It can prompt fear, uncertainty and doubt. But now is the time to prepare! Don’t wait to be changed, be the change. Start exploring and learning. I have a feeling that this new technology will be a 10x amplifier for us. Let’s learn how we can use it, work with it and shape it to be the next technological propellent to fuel our journey to a greater tomorrow!

This blog text was 100% human generated but the image was created with OpenAI Dall-E2.

  1. Wendy’s testing AI chatbot that takes drive-thru orders. (2023, May 10). CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/wendys-testing-ai-chatbot-drive-thru-orders/
  2. Publishers Tout Generative AI Opportunities to Save and Make Money Amid Rough Media Market. (2023, March 26). Digiday. https://digiday.com/media/publishers-tout-generative-ai-opportunities-to-save-and-make-money-amid-rough-media-market/
  3. Mock, M. (2022, June 7). Generative biology: Designing biologic medicines with greater speed and success. Amgen. https://www.amgen.com/stories/2022/06/generative-biology–designing-biologics-with-greater-speed-and-success
  4. Autodesk. (2022, May 17). What is generative design? Autodesk Redshift. https://redshift.autodesk.com/articles/what-is-generative-design
  5. Gartner, Inc. (2022, December 8). 5 impactful technologies from the Gartner emerging technologies and trends impact radar for 2022. https://www.gartner.com/en/articles/5-impactful-technologies-from-the-gartner-emerging-technologies-and-trends-impact-radar-for-2022
  6. Goldman Sachs (2023, May 12). Generative AI could raise global GDP by 7%. https://www.goldmansachs.com/intelligence/pages/generative-ai-could-raise-global-gdp-by-7-percent.html
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The Best Pottery

It was the first day of the pottery class. The instructor welcomed the students and began to orient them on the material. He announced that the final grade would be determined by one of two measures. For half the class, he said that their final grade would be determined by the “quality” of their pottery. Their goal was to work on a single high quality product. For the other half of the class, he said that their final grade would be determined by “quantity”. Their goal was the sheer amount of pottery produced. Fifty pounds of pots would be rated an “A”, forty pounds a “B”, and so on. The class began and the students began their work.

The last day of class finally came and a curious fact emerged. The works of highest quality were not produced by the group focused on quality. Instead, the highest quality works were all produced by the group graded for quantity! It seemed that the “quantity” group got busy producing piles of work and learning from their mistakes as they went along. In contrast, the “quality” group sat around theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little to show for their work than some theory of perfection and a lump of dead clay.[1]

The key to becoming a great artist, writer, musician, etc., is to keep creating! Keep drawing, keep writing, keep playing! Quality emerges from the quantity. It strikes me that the same thing applies to software and systems we run. When we focus purely on the quality, we actually miss the mark. The way to improve quality is to keep creating, testing and learning. In the software sense, we want to keep releasing our code as often and as fast as possible. By doing that, we build operational expertise, knowledge and automation. We develop fast feedback loops that nudge the digital clay into a better shape. We tune processes to provide faster feedback loops, remove toil through automation, and minimize human error and mistakes. We optimize for a high throughput of working products and reap the prize of high quality outcomes.

But does this hold true? In my career, I have seen this to be true time and time again. Areas where we remove friction and optimize for faster release cycles (even multiple times a day), with automated integration, testing and delivery, ultimately result in higher quality products. I see the same thing looking out to the industry. The highest performing teams optimize for highest flow. The prize of perfection comes by delivering and learning. In the book, “Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations,” Dr. Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim ran a multi-year research project looking at practices and capabilities of high-performing technology organizations. Their conclusion was that the highest performing organizations embraced the notion of continuous delivery, the ability to deliver changes frequently, reliably and with minimal manual effort.[2]

We ship! As technologist, software engineers and SREs, our teams help design, build and run the digital trains that deliver amazing products and experiences to our customers and fellow employees every single day. Our goal is to make these experiences shine! And, as the pottery class learned, it is quantity of our practice and continuous learning that makes them more perfect.

Keep shipping. Keep improving. Keep delivering!

References

  1. The pottery parable is a true story as captured by David Bayles and Ted Orland in their book, Art & Fear. There is a similar story about photography in James Clear’s book Atomic Habits.
  2. Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations by Dr. Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim also identifies other key traits of high performing organizations, including having loosely coupled architecture, embracing a learning culture of experimentation, adopting lean principles to optimize flow, and creating a high-trust and empowering environment.
  • Forsgren, N., Humble, J., & Kim, G. (2018). Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations. IT Revolution Press.
  • Bayles, D., & Orland, T. (1993). Art & Fear. The Image Continuum.
  • Clear, J. (2018). Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. Avery.
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A Seat of Opportunity

“You can’t plan to meet the people who will change your life. It just happens. Maybe it’s random, maybe its fate. Either way, you can’t plan for it. But you want to recognize it when it happens, and have the courage and clarity of mind to grab onto it.” – Steve Jobs

It was standing room only. The meeting hall was packed. Stanford Business School frequently invited industry experts to speak to their MBA students. On this particular occasion, the room was completely full. Students were still coming in only to discover there were no seats left. They started sitting in the aisles. One of the professors, concerned about the safety of the students and the fire marshal code, started telling the students in the aisles that they would need to leave. He made his way down the rows evicting the reluctant students from the lecture hall. A young lady, not wanting to be evicted, spotted a few empty seats in the front of the room. They were clearly reserved for the speaker and any dignitaries that would accompany them, but it was worth a shot. She quickly made her way up to the front and sat in one of those open chairs. Moments later, a young man made his way up at sat in the seat next to her. He noticed her and smiled.

The lecture was about to begin. After some introductory chatter, the man next to the young lady stood up to give the talk. She was shocked. She smiled at him as he spoke. Midway through his lecture he lost his train of thought as he stared at her in the front row. She had clearly taken his attention. He managed to keep going and completed his talk. Many of the students came up to speak with him after the lecture. She was there too. He hoped to have the chance to speak with her, but suddenly she was gone. Where did she go? He was afraid he would never see her again. He wrapped up his conversations and left too. To his surprise and delight, he ran in to her again in the parking lot. “Would you have dinner with me?” he asked boldly. She agreed and gave him her phone number. 

The young man needed to leave quickly. A group of important customers wanted to meet him for dinner. He was walking to his car when it hit him. “If this was the last day of my life, would I rather have dinner with the customers or her?” The answer was clear. He raced back, just as she was about to drive off. Catching his breath, he asked with a smile, “How about dinner tonight?” She smiled back, “Sure.” Eighteen months later, that visiting lecturer, Steve Jobs, and the brave young MBA student, Laurene Powell, would be married.

I love that story! I love how Laurene had the courage to sit up front and I love how Steve had the courage and clarity to turn around. Those bold choices and seemingly random encounters with other people can change our lives forever. You never know when it will happen, but be ready to grasp it when it does. Steve used the powerful filter, “If this was the last day of my life, would I…?” It’s a great question. It distills decisions down to their enduring essence. It provides a timeless perspective and gives courage to follow your heart.

We are in a time of rapid change. New opportunities will appear. Challenges will arise. Unplanned moments will roll out before us as the story of our life unfolds. But we have choices to make. Choose wisely. Be available. Be brave. The future is full of wonderful possibilities! Don’t miss them. Have the courage and clarity of mind to grab onto them when they happen. It may even come along and sit in the seat next to you. 

Story from: Make Something Wonderful - Steve Jobs in his own words by the Steve Jobs Archive.
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Be a Stranger

“When you are a stranger in a place, you notice things that you rapidly stop noticing when you become familiar.” – Steve Jobs

Spring! It’s a time of renewal and new growth. It’s also a time of sneezing and itchy eyes. I’m feeling it! But I did it to myself. During this past weekend, we spent a lot of time outside, enjoying the warm sun, budding flowers and visiting birds and squirrels. This morning, I’m paying for it. I’m rubbing my eyes trying to bring my calendar into focus while plowing through my inbox. Can you relate? I may complain about the pollen, but I’m grateful for the changing of the seasons.

Have you noticed how we take for granted the things around us? We become so familiar with our surroundings and the things as they are, that we suddenly no longer really see them. They fade into the caverns of our subconscious. We navigate those places and contexts without even knowing. Have you ever commuted to work or a local café and wondered, “How did I get here?” Auto pilot took you there. Our minds form low-energy pathways to handle the routine, the mundane and the familiar. It’s important to help us navigate the complex world we live in, but it also means we can fail to see the wonder that is ever before our eyes. Those tiny golden moments of time with people we love. Those subtle graces of kindness all around us. Those hidden miracles, care from others, well planned architectures and helpful technologies that are like pavement under our feet, supporting us, elevating us and enhancing our lives. Even the very air we breathe we take for granted.

When things change, we get a chance to see the unfamiliar again. We become strangers. As we are confronted with new seasons, the ambience becomes new. We delight again in the spectacle of the moment and get to open our eyes to what is before us. A new season is here. Breathe it in. Let the newness wash over you. It will become a worn blanket before you know it, so don’t miss it.

Change is coming. Change is here. It can be frightening and uncomfortable too. You might even sneeze! But change brings new life. It infuses our story with new challenges, new perspectives, new opportunities, new friends and new experiences. Be a stranger. Rub your eyes, take a good look. Enjoy the new!

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Moore’s Optimism

“In order to survive and win in the ever-changing world, keep updating yourself.” – Gordon Moore 

Gordon was born during the Great Depression. His dad was the local sheriff. They lived in the small farming and ranching town of Pescadero, California. He was a quiet kid, but he was optimistic and hopeful. He loved the great outdoors and would often go fishing or play at the Pescadero Creekside Barn. He also love science. His parents bought him a chemistry set on Christmas one year which eventually inspired him to pursue a degree in Chemistry. He earned a Bachelor of Science at UC Berkeley and went on to receive his PhD at Caltech.

After college, Gordon joined fellow Caltech alumni and co-inventor of the transistor, William Shockley, at Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory. Unfortunately, things didn’t go well there. Shockley was controlling and erratic as a manager. Gordon and most of the other top scientists left after a year and joined Sherman Fairchild to start a new company. At Fairchild Semiconductor, Gordon and his friend, Robert Noyce, help devise a commercially viable process to miniaturize and combine transistors to form whole circuits on a sliver of silicon. This led to the creation of the first monolithic integrated circuit, the IC.

Gordon and Robert eventually left Fairchild and decided to form their own company. They would focus on integrated circuit development so they named their company, Integrated Electronics. They started making memory chips and focused the company on high speed innovation. The company did extremely well at first but also faced some difficult times that required significant changes. All the while, Gordon focused on pushing things forward and taking risks. They had to constantly reinvent themselves to survive. The company was later renamed to something that you might be familiar with, Intel.

Gordon believed that the key to their success was staying on the cutting edge. That led to the creation of the Intel 4004, the first general purpose programmable processor on the market. Gordon had observed that the number of transistors embedded on the chip seemed to double every year. He projected that trend line out into the future and made a prediction that the number of transistors would double at regular intervals for the foreseeable future. This exponential explosion that Gordon predicted would power the impact, scale and possibilities of computing for the world for years to come. Of course, you know that famous prediction. It was later named after him, “Moore’s Law”.

In 1971, the first Intel 4004 processor held 2,300 transistors. As of this year, the Intel Sapphire Rapids Xeon processor contains over 44 billion. The explosion of capability powered by science continues to accelerate the technology that enhances and amplifies our daily lives. This past Friday, Gordon Moore passed away at his home in Hawaii, but the inspiration, prediction and boundless technical optimism that he started continues to live on.

I know there is a lot going on right now. We are facing uncertainty and considerable change. It can create fear and apprehension. Technology is constantly being disrupted as well as its role, and our roles, in applying it to our businesses. While not comfortable, we need to embrace the change. Lean in and learn. We need to constantly find new ways to reinvent ourselves and what we do. Embrace the exponential possibility of the future! We can do this!

Moore’s Law – By Max Roser, Hannah Ritchie – https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2020/11/Transistor-Count-over-time.png, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=98219918
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The Art of Removal

“The sculpture is already complete within the marble block before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.” – Michelangelo

A tanker truck hauling 8,600 gallons of gasoline approached the MacArthur Maze, a large freeway interchange near the east end of the San Francisco, Oakland Bay Bridge in California. The driver, traveling faster than he should, lost control, hit the guardrail and overturned the load of highly flammable fuel. It spilled out on the interchange and exploded into a violent inferno, sending flames hundreds of feet into the air. The heat weakened the steel structure of the three-lane section of Interstate 580, causing the road to collapse onto Interstate 880 below. Thankfully, the driver survived and no other vehicles were involved in the accident. 

California Department of Transportation, Caltrans, rushed in to quickly assessed the damage of this crucial interchange which handles some 160,000 vehicles per day. It would take weeks to clear the debris and several months to repair. Initial cost projections reached $10 million with an impact cost of $90 million. Bidding for the job started immediately. Due to the urgency of restoring this vital link, the state offered an incentive of $200,000 per day bonus if the work was completed before the deadline.

Bidding started. C. C. Myers had been planning for this his whole life. While other contractors in the room were offering on-time proposals well over the $10 million estimate, C. C. Myers shocked the room. He would do the work for $878,075, promising to complete the work well ahead of schedule. This was not the first time C. C. Myers had taken on heroic work. His company had a proven track record of rebuilding damage freeways well ahead of schedule, including the Santa Monica Freeway after the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Needless to say, he won the bid.

C. C. Myers went to work. He had assembled a logistic transport team and forged agreements in Texas and other areas to expedite steel delivery to the interchange. He streamlined processes and cut away any distractions and superfluous procedures that didn’t directly contribute to safely delivering the roadway ahead of schedule. As an example, the typical inspection process requires steel workers to complete all their welds before scheduling government X-ray inspection. C. C. Myers convinced the government to embed X-ray technicians in his team and perform the test immediately after the weld was complete. This allowed the crew to get real-time feedback on any area that didn’t pass and fix it immediately before moving on. 

C. C. Myers’s efforts were successful. The monumental work was completed over a month ahead of schedule, right before a busy Memorial Day weekend. C. C. Myers earned a $5 million bonus for completing the work early. He quickly gave credit to his workers and their ability to deliver, but moving the mountain had required his artistry as well.

Like Michelangelo, C. C. Myers’s genius was his ability to stare into the mountain of “marble” and see what could be removed to reveal the ultimate outcome. Procedures and processes that didn’t directly deliver value were debris that had to be swept away. Every ounce of energy, every minute, and every movement was precious and deliberate. Everything that wasn’t part of the goal was chiseled away. 

What is the work and marble before you right now? What is the goal? What sculpture are you trying to reveal? What can you remove? As all you wonderful artists head into your work channel your inner Michelangelo. Chisel away the useless motion, process and procedures to reveal the incredible work of art buried in the marble.

Credit: A friend of mine, Paul Gaffney, spoke on this at the 2023 DevOps Enterprise Forum. His story was far more eloquent than my version. It motivated me to do more research on the incident. The result is this post. I’m indebted to Paul for his inspiration.

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The Joy of Snow

Snow!!! We were checking out the last few items at our recent Target shopping trip and chatting with the clerk about how cold and wet it has been with the rain. As we loaded up the bags into the cart, we could hear a steady rise in chatter. Voices could be heard coming from the front of the store. Kids were squealing with glee. A grown adult yelled across the store for his family to come and see. Something exciting was happening!

We made our way to the doors, frantically pushing past other customers who were still completing their purchases. Everyone stuck in the checkout lines were craning their necks in the direction of the loud crowd forming by the exit. We finally made it to the door. I tried not to push over any kids, but I might have knocked over a few display stands. We rounded the corner and beheld the wonder that was sending shockwaves through the multitude. It was snowing! The downpour had crystalized into floating magic.

Big fluffy flakes were in the air. Cars, concrete and customers were covered with snow. The winter storm had blanketed the landscape with a layer of white. Even the palm trees and succulents were frosted. Kids and adults alike were dancing with excitement and reaching for their phones to capture this unusual moment. Of course I did the same and immediately tried to send the pictures to the rest of my family. Cell service was down. Everyone in the valley was doing the same thing! Complete strangers, with huge smiles, were talking with each other. People were abandoning their shopping cards full of treasures just to touch the snow. Kids were building snowballs and snowmen. All of us were jumping through the snowy slush to get to our snow covered cars. It was delightful!

Now, for those of you from the Midwest or from the North who are laughing at us by now, I understand. It is true, we are going crazy at what would be a typical winter Tuesday in your hometown. But keep in mind, snow in SoCal is as rare as finding a person in Los Angeles who can actually drive in it. I found it amazing to observe how the shared experience brought us all together. If anyone was in a bad mood, it seemed to have been washed away with the snow. Smiles. Laughter. Fun.

Have you noticed how shared experiences like that create a higher level of happiness, wonder and excitement? The social dynamics of hearing and seeing others react to the event seems to amplify the moment. That is why I still love going to the theater to see a movie or watch a play. There is an invisible comradery that is formed with the audience.  A community emotion seems to dance over you like those fluffy white snowflakes.

Over the last several weeks, as more people return to office, I have had the opportunity to meet with many people I haven’t seen in person since the beginning of the pandemic. Be on the lookout for chances to interact. Take advantage of those shared experiences. Embrace them and celebrate the opportunities to amplify each other’s life-streams as we live life together. Don’t miss it. Slip away from your screens, cameras and cell phones. Look up. Reach out. Enjoy the journey together. And of course, when it snows, scream with excitement and rush outside to build a snowman.

February 25, 2023 – Valencia, California
Tiny “Flurries the Snowman” in SoCal
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A Tribute to Game Changers

Jerry had a new idea. The coin operated arcade game he had developed in his garage was cutting edge. Instead of using discrete logic hardware that typically drove video arcade games, Jerry decided to use a microprocessor. His microprocessor-driven arcade racing game, called Demolition Derby never made it past field testing to appear in the video arcade scene, but a year later, Gun Fight appeared as the first widely released microprocessor-based arcade video game. What Jerry had developed in his garage became a real game changer. But his biggest contribution was yet to come.

Jerry Lawson was born in New York City. His dad was a dock worker, a longshoreman, who was fascinated with science and along with his wife, always encouraged Jerry’s interest in scientific hobbies, including ham radio, chemistry and electronics. After college, Jerry moved to San Francisco and took a job in the sales division of Fairchild Semiconductor as an engineering consultant. It was there that his garage experiment became a reality. He was promoted to Chief Hardware Engineer and Director of Engineering and Marketing for Fairchild’s video game division. He also became one of the two sole black members of the Homebrew Computer Club, a group of early computer enthusiast that included well-known members, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

One of the problems with video games at the time was that they were hardcoded to just one game. Home game devices had been created but they were limited to the games you could store in hardware. Jerry knew that the home gaming market could be expanded if they were able to offer a way for consumers to change out the game in a convenient way. He set to work on a new idea. Based on the previous pioneering work he did in moving from complex discrete logic to a software microprocessor-driven design, Jerry knew there had to be a way to make that software portable. He moved the game code to ROM (read only memory) and packaged it into a highly portable cartridge that could be repeatably inserted and removed from the console without damage. This would allow users to purchase a library of games to enjoy, effectively creating a new business and revenue stream for console manufactures and game developers.

Jerry’s invention, the Channel F console (the “F” stood for Fun) included many pioneering features. It was the first home system to use a microprocessor, the first to include a detachable joystick, the first to give users a “pause” button and of course, the first to have swappable ROM cartridge-based games. Sadly, the console was not successful, but the invention changed the home gaming world forever. A year later, a gaming console came to market using Jerry’s revolutionary concepts, and took over the world, the Atari 2600. Many other game consoles followed with the explosion of games and options for the consumer.

Jerry changed the industry! Despite his two game changing products being market failures, his ideas lived on and created a new industry. He is now recognized, honored and celebrated as the “creator of the modern video game console”.

I don’t know about you, but Jerry and his story inspired me. I see brilliant minds all around us. They dream into the future and even implement pioneering work that changes the game. Sadly, many go unnoticed until they are gone. Jerry’s story reminds us that we should applaud these pioneers. They help nudge technology and our human experience forward. We should celebrate them, acknowledge them and honor them. I know some of you are pioneers too. Keep innovating, dreaming, creating, building and inspiring! We need the game changers!

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Leading Change

My dad always dreamed I would follow his footsteps and become a land surveyor and civil engineer. In my teens, I worked summers as a surveyor. It was hot, dusty and grueling work. I was fascinated at how you could use science, geometry, a transit and a level to convert a cow pasture into a residential or commercial subdivision, but I was enamored with computers more. I decided to pursue a computer science degree. After college, I started freelancing. I wrote business management software for retail and mail order companies. I installed networks, set up file servers, and developed control software for a local glass factory. I loved working with people and enjoyed seeing technology help solve business problems. I was having a blast! Ironically, my next client would help fulfill my dad’s dream.

My dad’s engineering firm needed to “computerize” to stay relevant in the market. Their manual design work, drafting and surveying was being displaced by modern firms using computer aided design. They needed help. I was hired to computerize the business. I purchased AutoCAD and began writing software to automate the tedious calculations for hydrology, earthworks, structural analysis and coordinate geometry. All the drawings were manual so I started working with the drafting team to convert them to digital. We were making great progress getting new projects into the computerize workflow. Then I hit a snag.

“Keep that @#$% computer away from my projects!” One of the founding engineers was less enthusiastic about all this new technology. His team was instructed to avoid me and stay the course on their manual processes. I was shocked! I hadn’t anticipated this reaction. Why wouldn’t everyone want this technological magic? I was faced with one of the great leadership lessons in life. People resist change. We are habitual. We avoid risk by default, especially if the change isn’t something we understand or control. I started this transformation expecting that the hardest job would be all the lines of code, integration of new software and systems, but I soon discovered that the biggest tasks was going to be onboarding my fellow humans. How should I respond? I could enlist the edict approach. After all, I happened to know the boss. But I knew that wouldn’t create the culture or environment that would lead to our long term success.

I set my target on being as successful as possible with the teams that were onboard with the transition. They were excited and enthusiastic about what we were doing. It was hard work and required some iterations, but finally all the calculations were being made by the computer. To be fair, for the first projects, it took a little longer than the manual path. Our skeptical engineer was quick to call that to our attention. We printed our results and submitted them for review at the city. A new requirement hit from the land owner and the city council. A complete design change was needed, an effort that would have taken months. The skeptical engineer laughed at first, but what happened next changed everything. Because it was digital, we only needed to edit the code and have the system recompute the models. In less than a week, we resubmitted and received approval. We moved on to construction.

“How on earth did you do that?!” the skeptical engineer was shocked. We patiently explained what it took. We were honest about some of the difficult bits and listened intently to any of the concerns or questions that were raised. The team that had been through the transformation was elated with the results and their enthusiasm was contagious. Soon, the once skeptical engineer, still being terse and grumpy, demanded, “How soon can you get all my projects in that @#% thing?”

The engineer who was skeptical not only acquiesced to using the new technology, but he and his team became the biggest users and supporters of the systems we built. They were delivering two times more projects than everyone else. He went from blocker to champion.

This taught me a valuable lesson that has stayed with me throughout my career. As technologists, we amplify the business by introducing new ways to deliver value. We automate. We code. We transform. We create faster ways to get things done. But in all of that, we can’t forget that the most important role we play is bringing our fellow humans along for the journey. Sometimes that even includes that fellow human looking back at us in the mirror. Change is hard. Change without people is impossible. With patience, empathy and determination, we can enlist the hearts and minds of our fellow human beings and help unlock the unlimited potential before us.

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Listening

“Dad, you weren’t listening! We told you already.” 

I’m a great listener. Well, at least that is what I originally thought. In reality, there are many times when I’m present in body, but absent in listening. The audio channel is working but my mind is tuning it out. In some conversations, I find my mind daydreaming, racing toward solutions, practical steps and action planning instead of hearing what is being said. Have you ever experienced that? Thankfully, I have three attentive daughters who make sure I know when that is happening.

Listening. It’s one of the core senses we have as humans, but do we use it well? In my conversations with businesses across the company and across the industry, they often cite that a key challenge working with “centralized shared services teams” is getting them to listen. I am often told things like, “They come to tell, but we wish they would come to listen.” When I probe that sentiment, it is very clear that the desire is to have the other party fully understand them. It isn’t just to recognize the words, concepts or thoughts, but to fully connect with their frame of reference. It is to intimately understand their challenges, their business needs, their priorities, passions, practices and people. By doing so, the help that the central team offers is more relevant, effective and wanted. In the end, they want to be heard and understood. Isn’t that what we all want? 

In a recent call with our CIO, she challenged us all to pick a “focus word” for 2023. For me, on both a personal and professional level, I picked the word “listen.” I want to improve my ability to hear with understanding. And I want to champion and expand my team’s ability to “listen” and help the businesses we support.

We know there are challenges ahead. I anticipate a great deal of flux with new demands across the globe, new opportunities, new adventures and new perspectives. The ability and focus on intentional “listening” will be a superpower to help us all succeed. And, yes, my daughters will be happier too.