Steve Jobs (1955-2011)

We are a Mac based workplace here at Totem. I could bore you with why we made that decision, ease of use, low support costs, etc, but you probably don’t care. We like them and we like the customer focus that Apple has.

It was for that reason that we were very sad to hear of the the death of Steve Jobs. Aside from the human tragedy of someone dying so young,  the world has lost a maverick, a visionary and an incredible business man. He probably wasn’t easy to work with but people wanted to work with him. He stood on the shoulder of giants, in the form of his team of engineers and designers, but he assembled that team in the first place. He gave them their goal and ensured they stayed focused. He defined one clear model of leadership in the tech industry.

Fuller obituaries are elsewhere, everywhere really, a measure of the impact he and his team had. If we can have 1/100 of the impact on the world that they have, we’ll be a pretty happy team.

Hidden in one of Apple’s core products is something that I think sums him, and Apple, up well.

All Mac users will recognise the icon for Text Edit, the default editor that comes with OSX from Leopard onwards. If you zoom in on the icon, the lines of text are not scribbles, or gobbledygook, but a poem, “Here’s to the crazy ones’”. It was part of the “Think Different” campaign created for Apple in 1997, itself an artistic leap of marketing.

It’s an ode to those that challenge the status quo, who forge new paths and set off on adventures. Here it is in all its glory;

Here’s to the crazy ones.

Here’s to the crazy ones.

The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.

The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo.

You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.

About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.

Because they change things.

The fact that you can read it means the handwriting isn’t mine but I love the fact that, for one course at least, it is possible to pinpoint when all the ideas came together. [Click for a larger version]

Choosing the right form of review is a skilled task, more art than science. Here are 10 questions to ask yourself before you dive into your next review

1. Do we want to review what just happened?

Sometimes it’s important to review as a group, sometimes it’s best to let the action speak for itself. The individual’s reflection over time may be enough.

2. Are we ready to review yet?

Even if we want to review the action, are the participants in a state where it will be useful? Could they do with more time to process what just happened or are they bursting to share their thoughts?

3. Is this the right time to review?

Even if we feel ready to review what just happened, is it worth leaving until we have eaten or are less tired, or do we need to capture the learning now?

4. Are we in the right location to review?

Sometimes it helps to be at the scene of the action, sometimes some distance is useful. Is this setting inspirational, will it help anchor the learning. Are there distractions and are they useful?

5. Are the right people here to ensure a successful review?

Do we need the whole group here? Should we split into smaller groups? Do some people need to reflect on their own? With or without leaders/trainers?

6. What role will I have in the review?

Should I contribute? Facilitate? Sit quietly? Be absent? Observe?

7. What format and structure will the review take?

Options include: Group discussion, written reports, structured notes, questionnaires, presentations, personal conversations, pictures, slideshows.

8. What tools do I have available to me during the review?

Do I have access to exercises, models, pictures and theories that might help explain my points, or help others to make theirs?

9. Are we going to capture the review for further review?

Is the review of interest to anyone other than the participants? Will they want a chance to revisit the review again later? Will they be building on this review?

10. If we are, how?

Sometimes taking notes is useful, what about video? Is there a formal system in place for reflection that needs to be completed?

The six most important words…

I admit I made a mistake

The five most important words…

I am proud of you

The four most important words…

What is your opinion?

The three most important words…

If you please

The two most important words…

Thank you

The most important…

We

…and the least important…

I

We were blessed with sunshine and a good amount of wind which meant the racing amongst this very competitive fleet was close, intense and exciting. In this type of event there aren’t many tactics, the short courses and identical boats mean that most races are won by making your boat go faster through the water. A 1% drop in performance will cost you 60m over the race and probably about 5-6 places.

What struck me out on the water that a small yacht like the Sonata, normally crewed by 3 or 4 people, was a perfect medium for team building.

It is a high pressure environment

Yacht racing is a bit like close quarter jousting using 23 foot, wind-powered horses on a field that flows in one direction and bounces up and down. It has a complicated set of rules for defining who has right of way that require constant reference to the wind direction and an understanding of what every boat in the near vicinity is doing.

As you approach a buoy marking a change in direction on the course, you must go around it without hitting it, reset your sails or raise new ones, find the next marker and make a tactical decision about how you are going to get to it. Meanwhile ten or more boats, many within touching distance, are trying to do the same thing as you, only faster and no-one has any brakes.

At times the boats are less than a metre apart, there is frequently a lot of shouting as people claim their right to clear water and the damage if a collision occurs can run into tens of thousands of pounds. This high pressure environment demonstrates clearly that a cool head and the knowledge that your crewmates are doing their jobs are essential.

You have a clear goal

Everybody on the team understands the goal, to win this race. Everybody on the team understands how they are going to do this, by being faster than any other boat on the water that day. Since the boats are identical, everybody understands that the only way to achieve that goal is to do their specific jobs to the best of their abilities.

Everybody has a specific role to play

On a Sonata there are four roles,

The Helmsman, who is also normally the skipper, steers the boat, makes decisions about direction and sail choice and leads the team.

The Trimmer, who handles the main sail, making tiny adjustments, frequently as small as 2-3cm, to gain the maximum amount of power out of the sails to allow the helmsman to sail his chosen course as fast as possible.

The Winch Grinder, who is the muscle on the boat, pulling in the foresail every time the boat changes direction as quickly as possible to allow the helmsman to reset his course. He raises the sails and shifts his weight around to keep the boat as flat and as fast as possible.

The Foredeck who deals with anything that happens forward of the cockpit. Launching and recovering sails, making alterations to the rigging, they also move their weight to where it is most useful.

Bigger boats may have more people on board but the roles are as clearly defined and everybody knows, at each point in the race, what they should be doing.

You have a clearly defined leader

Upon seeing a person on another boat wearing a jumper that had ‘skipper’ on the back, one of the crew quipped “If you need to wear a badge to tell the crew you are the skipper, you are doing it wrong”. Clear, defined leadership is essential at sea, where not only are races won or lost but potentially lives too. The skipper has complete control over the boat and all on-board. They oversee everything going on and make the decisions, which the crew then enact.

Responsibility is automatically devolved

The skipper doesn’t have time to think about how to get the most power out of the sails or whether a fastening is attached correctly so responsibility is automatically devolved to one of the defined crew roles. He relies on his crew to do the right thing at the right time. If the crew take up that responsibility then the boat performs well, if not, they are likely to lose.

It is obvious if you are performing as a team

Since yachts are very difficult to sail single handed, if the boat is moving, you are performing as a team. If the boat is moving fast, you are performing well as a team.

You have to work together

Once out at sea, if you don’t work as a team, you won’t get home. There is nothing like rough seas or the call of dry land and the bar to persuade people to put aside personal differences and to work together. In high pressure environments it is easy to snap at someone or to take affront at an off-hand comment but for the sake of getting home, you must learn to let it all wash over you.

You can’t get away

Confronted by a high pressure environment and uneasy team dynamic, the temptation is to walk away and not go through the difficult learning process that is team building. On a 6.9m boat, you can’t go far!

Sadly, our results in the Sonata Nationals suggests our teamwork could be better but it certainly gave me food for thought.

Photo from Roberto Venturini‘s flickr stream. Used under CC-deriv license.

Inevitably some are better than others but at about 20 minutes each, they make great listening in the car or while commuting.

The downside is that they are only available through iTunesU which means that if you don’t use iTunes you might struggle to get them. This use of propriety software is frustrating and unnecessary, if you are willing to jump through hoops, you can get around it.

Link to Podcasts on iTunesU