A familiar refrain in business is ‘we need better communication’.  When things go wrong, fingers often point to poor communication.  Survey results always offer up ‘communication’ as a solution to business woes.  Strong leadership characteristics lists always include communication.

There is also plenty of advice and help available for communication strategies.  The how and the why of communication sustains a whole strategic department in many businesses.

When communicating in a technical field, though, we should definitely pay more attention to the what.  The ‘what’ of technical communication – the knowledge –  is at least as important as the how and the why.

We instinctively know that there is a difference between knowledge and ideas. So, while philosophers may debate the nuances, at their core: knowledge is true or false, and ideas are neither true nor false. Ideas are in the mind, knowledge out in the world.

Problems arise when ideas are treated as knowledge. Or when knowledge is put aside in favour of ideas. Putting knowledge into action gets results more often than putting ideas into action.

Of course, some ideas will develop into knowledge.

There is power in knowledge. Similarly, ideas are powerful too. But they are not the same thing.

There will always be people who ‘fall into’ having lots of money, or who have great genetics and so are naturally good at something, or who mysteriously rise to positions of power without displaying depth or gratitude that should accompany it.

The real win is recognising if you find yourself in one of those positions.

Unearned money leads toward being foolish with money. Unearned flattery can lead to false pride. Unearned power leads toward being disconnected and distant.

When you earn money or flattery or power (leadership) by adding value and doing good work, you’ll have more appreciation for it.

If you look at the word with too much scrutiny, it starts to look really weird (and maybe somewhat inappropriate). But otherwise, “assess” is an incredibly important verb in knowledge work.

To assess something is to evaluate or estimate the nature or quality of it. Those of us working with words, charged with the responsibility of taking that bunch of words, adding value to them, and turning them around into a different bunch of important words, are assessing all the time.

Another word for assess is ‘judge’. A significant portion of work these days relies on assessments, or on judgement.

The evolution of an idea is a beautiful thing. Inventions evolve from an idea to a product through many steps. It’s a slower process than we may realise; consumers usually only see the final product.

Sometimes – many times - during an innovation process, progress falters and the team has to regroup and start again. The story of how the iPhone, or whiteboards, or tissue packets came to be, would all be fascinating journeys of evolution.

Evolution is also stated as being the survival of the fittest. Innovation is similar. The strong, useful ideas survive, and the weak, inefficient ones shouldn’t.

I spent many years in the middle of my career in project controls roles. This meant the collecting, entering, checking, and reporting on project progress data. I used a wide variety of software programs, from very basic spreadsheets to complicated internally developed systems through to commercial off-the-shelf behemoths.

Consistently, each program required significant effort to report on what happened in the past. The ability to reflect on the past – hindsight – was intricately reported to deep detail.

Consistently, each program did not seem to dedicate equivalent effort to future forecasts – foresight.

And yet, foresight is so much more valuable than hindsight.

Everyone has that cupboard, closet, or junk drawer that needs a good cleanout. For some, it’s the overflowing email inbox in desperate need of culling.

It’s spring in the southern hemisphere, and spring is a good time for a good declutter.

One of the reasons decluttering is so difficult is all the deciding.

For each item, figuring out whether to sell, keep, recycle, donate or toss, is simply exhausting.

When you strip away the emotional sentiment, or put aside the enormous amount of time involved, what makes it so tiring is the number of decisions that need to be made.

The importance of knowing our identity is underestimated. Self-awareness in someone shows in their behaviour. Those who have it, tend to be successful, and those who don’t, often spend time wondering why things didn’t work out as expected. Actually, those who are self-aware wonder that too, but in a different context.

Who we are, how we think, what we believe, and how we behave, all combine to establish our identity. Identity is tied to self-confidence. And like self-confidence, if identity is undermined or questioned, it can be shattering. Rightly or wrongly, our identity is sometimes oversimplified to our job title.

People are not things. Things are not people. This is obvious but bear with me here.

People have to work with people, and people also work with things. And of course, things don’t have to deal with people. Some people love dealing with people.

Some people love dealing with things. Some like both equally, but there aren’t many like that.

In the working world, it’s worth figuring out your preferences: dealing with things or dealing with people.

And it shouldn’t limit progress.

Though we all know, unfortunately, that those who prefer things don’t make it far up the leadership ladder.

Building anything is a process. Whether it’s a thing like a bridge or a webpage, or whether you’re building a habit, or if you’re trying to build confidence, have a plan and processes to get there.

To build something usually includes some repetitive work. So be prepared to do parts more than once. Also when building, plan to allow for some ad hoc problem-solving, because there’s always something you didn’t think of. And, building something usually means there is a defined end point, although sometimes that can be a little blurry. If it’s blurry, at least know that it is.

In terms of document signatures, ‘p.p.’ is the acronym for “per procurationem”. It means ‘when signing on behalf of another’.

You’re allowed to sign as ‘p.p.’ for someone in their place: the key thing is having permission to do it. If they are unaware of it, signing for someone under p.p. borders on fraud. It’s not to be taken lightly. You must have the authority of the person who is supposed to sign.

Because if there’s a problem in the future, and the named signatory did not know you had signed for them, that’s not good for either of you.

I remember the relief I felt a time a long time ago, having just joined a company for a short-term assignment, and the senior person handed me a company style guide.

One of my tasks would be to write some reports, to present information about a project that had recovered from a poor start but had a strong finish.

The style guide – owned by the technical not the administrative staff - outlined the company rules on report structure, length, content, and review and approval process. It was a relief to know they had taken the time to document those expectations.

I joined a new social group for an online meeting recently. At in-person networking events, I’m generally comfortable enough to just join a table and introduce myself.

In this online meeting, however, the conversation just took off with the 10 people who obviously knew each other. And that’s normal enough. But that means I could only just listen politely. The ability to jump in and participate in this environment was fraught with awkwardness.

We have a long way to go if this method of socialising is going to stick. There are some new protocols for all of us to learn.

Thinking of push/pull might have you thinking about a door.

Or, maybe a weight-bearing exercise routine, since they say those workouts are the ‘best’.

You might think of marketing strategies, where the medium either pushes information out to the masses, or, built-up loyalty pulls customers to your product or service.

When smartphones first came into being, there was a choice to have emails “pushed” in real time, or an option to “pull” them in when you were ready.

It fits in business, too. Effective business processes reduce friction by utilising either a push or pull regime, depending on the situation.

It’s actually a recognised word, ‘voluntold’. It describes the occasion when someone else volunteers you for something, or when you’re told to volunteer without much leeway to say no.

I’ve used the word jokingly in my committee work, where we’re already there voluntarily, and there’s just another task someone needs to do. But the online corporate definitions refer to underlying negativity of the situation, and how it can be used in underhanded ways.

I hope that’s not as common as it might seem. Volunteering is a wonderful use of time, and it should be a positive experience, not under duress.

“Can you hear me?” and “you’re on mute” have to be the most stated lines in 2020.

Commencing an online meeting, where we are not in the same room, is very different to commencing an in-person meeting.

A more challenging model – which may become more normal – is the hybrid, where there are some in the room and some onscreen.

Having good video is good, but having good audio is even more important. Since we’re not eyeballing each other anymore, it’s imperative that we can hear clearly.

Listening is already hard enough; try not to let bad audio be the reason.

[ Driver under instruction ]

The other day I saw a city council bus with the ‘driver under instruction’ signage in the window. Seeing the supervisor beside the driver, watching how they interact around corners and at stoplights, it gave me a sense of calm and trust.

I’m always impressed with the bus drivers’ deft handling and professional skills behind the wheel.

For tacit or tangible skills like driving, we publicly announce when we are still learning.

For internal and intangible skills like knowledge, we keep learning really quiet. Probably too quiet, when there sometimes may be a valid case for an “under instruction” tag.

In sporting endeavours, repetition is important for skills improvement, so repetitive drills are undertaken. Same with musical pursuits: scales on the piano, breathing drills for the flute.

There isn’t an equivalent for knowledge work. In fact, most knowledge work prides itself on its uniqueness each day, the variety, ‘every project is different’.

And yet, having repeatable skills in some parts of knowledge work, bedded in, coming instinctively and without pause, might just make knowledge endeavours that much more satisfying. Something similar to mastering a complicated piece of music or outsmarting the opponent in your soccer (football) game with fancy footwork.

It’s a little contrarian to think this, but here we go. While I agree we need technical people to be able to communicate and collaborate, I also think we need our technical people to want to do the technical work.

The purpose of an engineering degree – or any degree with a technical focus – should be that the graduate can do the engineering, science, or technical work. The reasons for getting an engineering degree should not be to be a manager or CEO.

Engineers should want to design, build, maintain, solve problems, create new innovations, or better yet, all of those.

The PMBoK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) is being revised. I don’t use it directly much, but I’m glad to know the next edition will incorporate a principles-based format.

Basing wide-ranging applications, like project management or standards development, on principles makes sense.

A strategy, or document, or even goals, based on principles, rather than on targets or rules, allows a better framework for when the unexpected occurs.

A principle is more over-arching and all-encompassing. Rules can’t cover every eventuality.

The twelve PMBoK principles are solid: stewardship, team, stakeholders, value, holistic thinking, leadership, tailoring, quality, complexity, opportunities/threats, adaptability/resilience, and change management.