The fundamental problem with Good Engineers

The fundamental problem with Good Engineers is "Perfectionism".

The fundamental problem with Good Engineers is "Perfectionism".

Businesses are troubled by high cost and slow movement of engineering work.

Startup Businesses require fast iterations for searching product fitment to the market.

Establish Businesses too require fast development to defend the position and maintain the quality of complex work.

Speed is the ultimate tactic,

Quality is the only goal to follow.

Every CEO must know...

"how to curb perfection tendencies so that business will innovate fast and attack the competition"

The Good!

The obvious question, Good Engineers may ask...

"then doing just any dirty working shortcut patch is what you recommend a work standard?"

To Good Engineers always believe...

Making Things has Art in it,

and Art coms from Perfection.

Good vs Great!

There is a subtle difference in Good and Great engineers

Great Engineers are Minimalist and Simplifiers,

Great Engineer is always Artist in his Minimalism

Great Engineers live in the Real World.

They have an immense sense of...

We all have limited energy, time and budget,

Complexity can easily swallow last available $ or second,

and still no guarantee of useful result

Great Engineers can differentiate Quality and Grade,

while most Good Engineers are magnificently confused in Quality and Grade.

Great Engineers often choose perfect Quality and required Grade possible in permissible time-costs

while most Good Engineers suffer YAGNI Blindness because Perfectionism skews everything

To Great Engineers,

Art need not equate to Quality,

Art need not equate to relevance to the current application,

Art can be simple… not necessarily complexity

while most good Engineers

Art is Completeness in all aspects in their specific pet manner

Art vs Engineering

Fundamentally, Engineering is about "Application of Science".

While Art is beauty perceived through senses or understanding for the arrangements, structure, working or design that comes from controlled order and detailing which often requires creativity

There is grand confusion everywhere as Engineering is considered Art

Case of Art

Engineering work can be an Artwork too.

Art and culture always flourish when there are sponsors to it. Mainly Monarch and Royals, who have an unlimited budget to spend on your perfect Art.

Art is never cheap,

even to buy or make

Surprisingly most artists are never rich. Must be some serious $-in vs $-out the problem or no-demand problem. Many attend fame and value after they die.

Art is costly, because…

Creativity is searching an appealing option from endless possibilities.

Some are naturally good at it while most can attend it through deliberation.

Making things more Artful may require more work and means than usual mainstream common things built with Goldilocks conditions of cost and complexity.

If simpler and efforts saving condition is discovered, it is more likely to become mainstream

Art exists in all times, but it flourishes to peak before civilizations collapse.

Art is an essential element, but how much to deliver now is wisdom.

Pragmatic Business case

Real business is a "Survival Strategy" game, just like real life.

You got to be most powerful to increase your odds.

Be monopolist like Monarch.

Pragmatic fact is

Results matter more, but the budget remains the same

You always spot an Immature Engineer by his motivation to make Grand or overly-detailed things.

Over-engineering is his symptom.

Dreams are good but don’t pay for your dreams from the company’s pocket.

Company's dream may be different, to become most profitable or #1 market leader and your derived dream may have poor alignment to it.

Stressing Business Survival

Uncontrolled costs lead to self-kill.

Businesses are often shut down when there is no money left to operate.

Businesses are killed because cash outflow is more than cash inflow.

Every company needs to be Froogle in its functional activities.

Don't act as if Monarch is your sponsor.

Cut costs in making things.

Deliver the best Quality at varying Grade.

Engineers can take Organization down with their Perfectionism!

Mindless Perfectionism is a Lose-Lose game.

Perfectionism brings high costs by introducing complexity and over-engineering which leads to less time and $ left for attending required Quality

Complexity leads to more bugs, less manoeuvrability, less manageability,…

Over-Engineering leads to unnecessary costs in making and also cost when change required.

Minimalism is the answer.

Why do startups fail?

Why do startups fail?

Many reasons.


But there exists a most significant well known single reason.

Simple and fundamental reason

“not making what people want”

But why do most startup leaders don’t do this basic thing?

Because

"People follow their own beliefs"

And their belief is, 

"something super interesting that they conceived is definitely going to be the super hit in the market and change the world!"

Self-beliefs when differing from reality, failure is bound to happen.

Differentiating between “interesting” and “validated need” is often confused.

Most startup leaders fail to realize, that they alone don't represent the general mass.


The delusion of self, gives false validation when one does self-validation.

Self-validation is important and can get you the right path.

It is easy and fastest thing to do.

After all, we have a brain and we live in the real world with real experiences and real opinions.

But we are an extremely small sample of actual general mass.


Many startups fail because not understanding what they are making does sale or it is a poor sale by all standards… and not many want it to buy.

Sad reality with Startup Leaders is...

"Belief competes Wisdom"

Belief wins almost always unless you have hardly any money left to lose.

Losing money can get many to become rational.Then the newly instated rationality can help make some money back and again fail because of the strengthened belief...

"I am right. I can and I will"

Belief is a blinding force for any leadership.

Belief means no validation and you are still betting on hell.

Belief means...

"you don't know the truth"

Truth exists with buyers.

Startups often fail because people in control of the fate of the startup, drive it in their own way, making something nobody wants today and or even tomorrow.

The state leaders not afraid, but often is the reason to lead

With leadership as you go up, there is constant pressure.

The pressure is to perform, something against the adversities of most tough things, to achieve something which at that level existence is too much challenging. 

The state of this pressure only intensifies as you become more responsible and influential.

This pressure is perhaps constant since you started taking control of your own affairs.

It is state of 

"worst situation to be in,... without any hint of how to get out successfully"

"वाट लगी है,... मालूम नही कैसे करेंगे"

Every leader has to make harmony with this state and keep proceeding without losing focus on the Goal.

This is the constant state rather further intensifying.

When you are giving a board exam or a general certificate exam, it is there, the night before the exam.

"वाट लगी है,... मालूम नही कैसे करेंगे"

Stop feeling uncomfortable about this state. It is not going anywhere. Only by accepting it, you can get control over it. 

Relax and think "what can be done now?". 

You still don't know how to overcome the situation, but you don't leave your battle.

It is the state of pressure you have to meet every day.

Your every aspect is in this state. Yourself, your loved ones, your community, the system, the nation, the humanity... all are in the same state.

Stick to the stage and keep acting.

Never stop paddling because the storm is too stronger force than you could. 

Your small efforts focused on goal will take you there. 

"How" is not decidable in the first place. 

So calm down.

Cowards always want "How?" resolved first.

Sometimes it is a voyage, that must be kept going.

This is jump without parachute thing, you will be dead anyway.

Leadership is dealing with this state of pressure "वाट लगी है,... मालूम नही कैसे करेंगे"

Businesses and High IQ executives often forget this

Businesses and High IQ executives often forget this.

Cash inflow vs outflow is most important metric than anything else, for a long term sustained healthy future while being conforming to social greater good and ethical discipline.

Having too many micro metrics can often take our eyes off the future cash inflow metric.

Planning, innovating, working and sacrifice today is only for brighter future cash inflow.

Not starting with cash flow metric, is a symptom of defocus taking over to kill, in a high wire performance tracking board meetings.

Every action in the organization is for sustainable today and brighter tomorrow.
High IQ executives often device dozens of performance indicators. Their analytical madness often finds intellectual entertainment in discussing numbers. That's good, provided they first focus on the most significant single parameter that influences market share or valuation or direct revenue or profitability, the cash inflow now and in future.

Surprised? but many organizations close down because owners and executives follow their own beliefs of improvement parameters than a simple cash inflow today and in future thing. Completely lost in their fifty odd meaningless parameters.

Any other metrics without this are entertainment invented by management and CXOs for themselves.

What takes Organization and Civilizations down

People want to make you and everyone in the company busy 
because they don't know "What exactly should be done now", 
instead they want to "try everything". 

Be on high alert for such people
they take Organization and Civilizations down

What does a Manager do?

What does a Manager do?

Of course "Manage".

Manage what? 

Something that needs to be done or delivered in absolutely certain manner!

Dictionary meaning:

"succeed in surviving or in achieving something despite difficult circumstances" 

"succeed in achieving or producing (something difficult)."

What is to Manage against? 

Risk of not able to do or deliver thing against various agreed parameters by keeping constraints intact.

e.g. Quality, On time, Cost, Completeness, Correctness, Reliable, Acceptable, Legitimate, Certainty, Precise, etc...

Guarding the most obvious and important delivery parameters first

Essentially the question is, 

What happens when "management" happens? 

It is "Risk Free Delivery".

A manager has "Managed well" 

when he has managed all the risks "well".

There are internal and external factors which interfere with the agreed delivery

Manager has to "Manage" against all odds about, how will he factors and overcomes every obstacle

Planning, Risk Mitigation, Estimation, Communication, etc. are tools to help "manage"

These tools also need to be used correctly. 

e.g. Realistic Plan, Well thought Risk Mitigation, Correct Estimation and enough times repeated, Overly Simplified Clear Communication,...

So there is science in using and talent or art in applying these tools

Manager must be rated on results not on efforts!

Managers metrics is, 

What risk emerged, 

How he handled it, and  

How deliverable achieved as per agreed expectations

If no risks emerged, then it was easy task!

So Manager's true performance is, 

when many issues emerged and he did not let delivery affected

More capable managers have more capacity to deal with many and very high risks situations successfully

Leader is more of leading the change for better for everyone and together

He identifies the need and initiates the change process

While Manager is required to take care of every risk to ensure deliveries happen as expected

Individuals and organizations value system, social and legal norms gives boundary framework to carry activity of "Managing" something

otherwise "managing something" can take form of "bribed to get it done"

Manager is for doing things in a right manner that covers all risks against expected delivery

Science of Management is about how you get Right in the Manner.

Biggest thing we should be doing

Biggest thing we should be doing is appreciating peer functions.

Without their presence we could have not done anything.
We crib often for what they failed at doing for us, but that was just a small thing compared to what they doing perfectly well but are invisible because our pain is gone.

Good performance is always invisible.