Thinking Big, Staying Lean

I wrote a post a few days ago about being able to operate in a lean environment. I had written it on the heels of some really absurd things that had happened at my current place of work, where decisions that were made in the context of trying to ensure good quarterlies were going to put projects well behind schedule. I published it, then pulled it down because the spirit of the post was mostly negative. This post is intended to capture the positive points of my previous post, while removing some of the vitriol.

I have operated for a number of years in very lean environments ( in big company vernacular you would call this understaffed or underfunded ), and this has forever skewed my thinking toward being able to do more with less. The skills you learn in squeezing maximum value out of every resource you are in charge of are invaluable, regardless of the size of the company or organization you work for.
It has been interesting to see how different organizations fund different initiatives. In most smaller, more agile organizations, the process usually goes something like this:
  • Someone has an idea for what needs to be done
  • You iron out the particulars of what is required
  • You get to work with the team you have, getting something out as quickly as possible
  • You listen to the customers as they scream at you for what you got wrong
  • You adjust ( hopefully in time to keep the customer interested in your product )
  • Repeat
In larger organizations, it seems to go something like this:
  • Someone has an idea for what needs to be done
  • There are lots of meetings where all of the various “stakeholders” talk about why it won’t work. Consensus must be achieved.
  • You arrive at a set of watered down requirements that go half of the way toward what you really need to be offering
  • There is jostling for the upcoming funding ( like people waiting for air drops of food during a famine )
  • There is a big team spun up
  • There is a date for delivery set sometime far in the future
  • People are hired onto this new, big project team
  • Lots of meetings ensue to get consensus from all of the egos on the big team
  • Territories are established and marked clearly
  • The project lurches forward, and is almost immediately off schedule
  • Things are pulled out of the product to hit the delivery date
  • People are let go from the team because of some financial target
  • The project gets further off schedule
  • The angel of death arrives to finish the project off
So, why do big companies operate this way when the smaller, more nimble organizations continue to move past them with newer ideas and products that are closer to the customer? It boils down to a few, basic principles:
  • Smaller organizations do more with less, not because of the fear of a massive layoff, but because they can see their work making a difference.
  • The fight for budget dollars at a big company makes you think like a bureaucrat. “If I miss out on my piece of this funding, I will be left behind. I should add staff just in case.”
  • Smaller teams ALWAYS out-perform larger teams. There is less blame-shifting, more ownership, and easier to measure results.
  • The issues that ensue with having more people on the team ( time to hire, time to train, time for reviews, time to lay off when the cuts come ) take valuable inertia away from the core mission, which is to get something out the door.
I have seen big companies that do this differently, and the results speak for themselves. Google acts as an incubator for new ideas and projects. Ideas are brought forward, small teams are formed to get the product to market, and when the product is out, those team members can go and work on the next project that interests them. Team members are essentially applying for a position on products of interest. Success breeds success.
The problem with larger organizations is not in the vision or ingenuity of the people working there. Any successful organization has smart people working for it. It is almost entirely, at least in my observations, in the execution of an idea.
There is tremendous value in bringing the discipline of thinking big and acting lean to any organization. I would recommend reading the work of Eric Reis. He is doing excellent work in the area of applying Lean concepts to technology.
What have you observed in the organizations you have been a part of? Are there large organizations doing things the right way? If so, what makes them successful?