I had great conversations with two amazing coworkers (names shall remain hidden to protect identities) over the past couple days:
Boxification: The world is simpler when everything and everyone fits a box, but people can be more than their boxes!
Coworker B: An intelligent person can simplify situations and abstract out the complex.Me: It's weird that everything can be boiled down to a diagram of a bunch of colored boxes in boxes with lines linking them. Are we losing meaning in the process?Coworker B: There's value from abstraction (pulls people up from getting wrapped around in details when they are missing the point), but it's also important to understand the limitations.
I am consultant and a technologist. This means my mindset, if I apply stereotypes from both disciplines, could be that every world problem can be addressed by applying a 3-phase process, and the solution is some sort of app. As you can tell by my sarcasm, I have many concerns with this 'approach to life' :)
I completely agree with my coworker that there is value from simplifying situations. Case in point, I had a client who needed help with some analysis. He kept getting lost in the details of various policies/efforts/organizational issues and didn't know where to start work. My team was able to help him figure out an approach to conduct the analysis and identify a starting point. The initial "solution" was a simple document, that showed a collection of information from different sets. The team is currently iterating to mature the process and accompanying tools for capturing, analyzing, and reporting information on demand.
However, I wonder sometimes if we jump too quickly to come up with a solution and lose sight of important details in our quest to solve a problem. Maslow's hammer - give a boy a hammer and everything starts looking like a nail - seems like a common phenomenon in both consulting and technology. The irony is we always complain about it, yet we keep doing it, myself included!
The scarier thing, at least scarier to me, is when that mentality applies to people. I often hear managers try to type people - she's an analyst or he's a developer. Typing makes it a lot easier in large organizations to understand individual strengths and weaknesses and move people between projects. It makes it easier to hire and fire. However it can be a limiting viewpoint, particularly when there are folks who can fit other roles but are not given the opportunity to develop and market those skills. I know of some developers who are also great writers / editors and visual artists, but their talents outside of coding are rarely utilized to their fullest potential. Some of them have started side projects to nurture their talents, which is great, however their gifts go unacknowledged formally. The boxification mindset disincentives creative exploration and growth outside of set boundaries (why invest time doing a side project when you are only evaluated on stapling papers rapidly, just get better at stapling and do it for a long time so you get promoted to lead stapler). It also limits the benefits that can be reaped by the organization through harnessing talent.
In general, I hate boxes. When anybody tells me you can't do that or you aren't that, I get annoyed and go on a "I WILL PROVE YOU WRONG" rampage. I believe everyone can do whatever they put their minds to, and encourage my team to find their own limits and surpass them. I can come off pushy, I know, and am trying to harness it a back a bit so people go at their own pace and make their own choices. However, I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THE BOX and believe that people are unique snowflakes. If someone wants to stay in a particular role, that's totally fine - its their choice. Eventually all of us will be hired/fired/replaced, but as managers and leaders its our job to help our teams believe that they have unlimited potential individually and collectively and enable their growth.
Unrelated Note: My liver biopsy is in a few hours. Wish me luck! Hopefully the doctors will be able to confirm the diagnosis after reviewing results.
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