The dilemma of Monitoring vs Operations.

Monitoring takes a significant resource, for example is Activate Task Manager in my 1,700passmark laptop and i’m up by ram and Cpu goes up significantly. Writing a journal or log takes time, we have words per minute and composition speeds to draw from when measuring our ability to write down our ideas and thoughts.

The Dillemma comes from how much resources are saved when we Monitor and Plan, when we never monitored before. Actually we dont need to monitor, we can learn and know look at historical effects. Monitoring is a powerful prevention and control tool that is very hard to master because – it is a systematic and complicated habit. Pretty much like Dieting – calorie control is not the only element, preventing calorie binging is part of it. Cost monitoring and control is a small part, we can say that that is the 20% of what makes the habit hard – the 80% is learning what can be prevented and understanding the conditions and systems that create cost overruns.

I’m facing the problem of the traditional biz org; Operations (service or production) is prominent 80% while QA, Planning, etc… 20%. If operations is only 80% whats management doing? if its all standard and repeatable activities, isnt there enough instructions to carry out the activities (Recently I learned – Supervisors, a management level position – no overtime, so that management can focus on harder problems – like managing costs systematically.

Why does Management have no time?

Because they do micromanaging, tasks that can be accomplished at the supervisor level without further instruction from the manager. Management does 80% micromanaging instead of 20% systematic inspection and documentation (monitoring and planning).

80% of Management’s time is learning and writing about the problem exhaustively.

Why are they doing those tasks?

Company Innertia – following up and is the method we all grew up on. The method we should be using is systematic evaluation of accomplishments. By systematic we have embedded validation criteria because we know what are the Key-indicators of red-flags and proceed systematically to document and categories these issues.

Communications and Systematic Approach

A pair of traits that are hard to come by is Communications and Systematic approach.

Someone who takes the time to listen and communicate well, effectively, comprehensively, and systematically. There is a obsessive compulsion to be clear, simplified, and verbose with specificity. For expedience, we write down all the heavy and detailed instructions – but we break it down into chunks so people can skip ideas they probably already understand and know. Yet they can use the instructions as checklist of what to get done, and plan around the specifications. It allows for the chunking (limits of audience attention) and expedience, while being comprehensive about what is at stake, needed, and affected.

Someone who is Systematic in Understanding, Action, and Solution. Whose actions are emulate, because he talks about the process (again a strong Systematic an Communications) and walks through a method anyone can follow and understand

Able to talk about what they need to know, what they don’t know, and asking the questions we all should be asking. Focusing on defining the problem they use systematic inquiry – Why questions? Because – its criteria based – its drawing from another part of our minds that give us doubt, fears, and concerns, vs the instinctual parts that seem to think it knows answers. When we ask the question again – we test our certainty and practice asking – How do we know what we know? what will prove it what is evidence of it? what is not muddled like memory?

We’ve come a long way

Its hard to be a “modern” business as a lot of the textbooks talk about. We have to undo a lot of conditioning and distractions, and I’m not coming from a place that has its own distractions and demons. There is so much we don’t know, and that gives me anxiety, and all I can do is build over what little we know and hopefully share our knowledge and experience to fill that void.

Game in the Brain