PART 2Introduction
ROGER WAS CLEARLY FRUSTRATED. “NO PROJECT EVER seems to get fully completed. All we do is move from one fire to the next. Everyone is so stressed out that they've become lethargic and unmotivated. I'm not even sure what they are working on sometimes. My boss, and everyone else for that matter, is constantly on my ass to fix what is important to them. It's all becoming untenable.”
This is how Roger, the chief technology officer of a services company that runs entirely off the platform he is responsible for building and maintaining, summarized his current situation.
“So, what do you do about it?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” he replied.
“I mean, what do you do about everything you just described?” I asked again.
Roger paused and thought about my question for a moment. Then he provided me with the set of nondescript, non-specific answers I've become so accustomed to hearing as I begin working with new clients. “I just get it done. I crack the whip. We come together and work for however long it takes to finish the job.”
“Can you be more specific?” I asked.
“I just told you what I do,” he responded with a tinge of defensiveness.
“You told me you crack the whip. What does that mean?”
Roger paused again to think. He is very mild-mannered, but I could feel he was not comfortable answering these very basic questions. “You don't know what I mean by ‘crack the whip?’”
It was important for me to tread lightly because my intention was not to put Roger on the defensive, ...
Get Ice Cold Leader now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
