Leadership for a Networked World :: Can we correct a common but dangerous 4th grade mistake?

Can we correct a common but dangerous 4th grade mistake?

Can we correct a common but dangerous 4th grade mistake?

In the technology community, many of us come from science and engineering backgrounds. We solve puzzles. Compared to others, we are good at quickly finding the right answers. Our code runs. We've known we are good puzzle solvers since roughly the 4th grade.

What we've often missed in this early self-awareness is that many of the world's problems aren't puzzles with right and wrong answers. They're people problems. The challenge is getting a group to agree on how to work together. There are many good enough answers, some better than others. But all the good answers are negotiated agreements where enough of the group is motivated to work together successfully.

Engineers -- and economists -- often recognize the importance of negotiation problems intellectually, but many don't like to work on them. They don't like "politics." They don't like emotion-driven negotiations and compromise.

This orientation hurts results when technology needs to be used as a catalyst for institutional strategy and change -- i.e., when the essence of the problem is negotiation and politics.

In this context I recently -- and finally -- got around to reading the popular Getting to Yes book of Roger Fisher and William Ury. (Roger's brother Frank has been a friend of mine for many years, so I felt a little guilty about not having read the book earlier.)

In my view, the core Getting to Yes idea is a warning that we tend to handle negotiations as a one-dimensional tug of war, a zero-sum conflict between our position and that of whomever we are negotiating with. The book argues against negotiating "positions," urging instead an exploration of the multi-dimensional "interests" that have generated those positions. In this larger framework, shared interests and win-win opportunities can often be found, with good answers identified by relatively objective principles to meet the needs of both parties.

Among many high profile examples offered by the book, consider the Egypt v. Israel negotiation over the Sinai. Both wanted all of it, considering a 50-50 split unacceptable.

In that case, the interests were broader and bigger than land per se. What Egypt was interested in fundamentally was sovereignty over territory which historically had been theirs "forever." What Israel was interested in was defense from another attack by an all-too-close Egyptian army.

With the underlying interests understood, Egypt was given sovereignty over the lands and people, with Israel getting an agreement that Egypt would bring no military capacity into the territory.

The "mantra" of Getting to Yes is:

Separate the people from the problem. Show you understand "their" problem and seek to turn the process away from conflict and towards the potential for collective problem-solving.
Focus on interests, not positions.
Invent options for mutual gain (i.e., not just one possible solution, but many; and not just gain for you, but gain for them as well)
Insist on using objective criteria to legitimize a solution; strength of will alone should not define the answer.

In my view there are better and much deeper books on negotiation (Howard Raiffa's Negotiation Analysis: The Science and Art of Collaborative Decision Making, for example). But Getting to Yes is a good quick read. The main ideas in the context of other writing on negotiation can be usefully explored in this Wikipedia article.

We should care about negotiation skills if we want to improve the impact of CIOs and other technology leaders in government, especially in making them more effective members of the senior team. Negotiation skills are essential.

Given the criticality of negotiation, what examples do we have, if any, of where and how negotiation skills have led to better CIO+CEO relations and IT strategies? What's out there?

And finally, can we use what's been learned via theory and/or practice to handle people problems better than we did in the 4th grade? How can the CIO community better learn and utilize negotiation skills?

All the best,

Jerry

02:51 PM, 16 Sep 2009 by Jerry Mechling

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Psst... tomorrow in Cambridge at 5 pm (with food, pass it on)...

Some would argue that the biggest NEW idea re: how IT can make a difference in government is aggressive sharing of data with the public.

Some argue otherwise, of course.

To figure out for yourself, you have a chance tomorrow to talk with some of the key folks involved with the DC Data Feeds program, the Innovations Award winner that has been at the forefront of "democratizing data."

Increasing Civic Participation Through Democratization of Data

Date: Thursday, April 15, 2010 Time: 5:00 p.m.

Location: Ash Center, 124 Mt. Auburn Street, Suite 200N, Cambridge, MA

Designed to increase civic participation, government accountability, and transparency in government practices, the city of Washington, D.C. created an initiative making virtually all current district government operational data available to the public in its raw form rather than in static, edited reports.

Spearheaded by the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO), raw data from multiple D.C. government agencies is housed at the District's Citywide Data Warehouse (CityDW) and supplied via over 320 data feeds to online sites, citizens, and government agencies to increase civic awareness. In addition, OCTO launched an annual Apps for Democracy contest awarding the best applications that use CityDW data feeds. Its 2008 contest received 47 applications from software developers in 30 days-avoiding an estimated $2.6 million in internal development costs.

The program won the Innovations in American Government Award in 2009.

A light dinner will be served.

About the Speakers

Julia Bezgacheva is a project manager at the Data Transparency and Accountability Program (Citywide Data Warehouse) at D.C.'s Office of the Chief Technology Officer. Her responsibilities include coordination with the District agencies and other stakeholders, participating in developing recommendations, policies, and procedures related to the new practices implemented by the Citywide Data Warehouse, and managing application design and development.

David Strigel joined the District government in the summer of 2004 to lead technology projects for the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO). Strigel comes to the District with over 16 years of experience in building Web applications, software, and technologies for companies, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations. At OCTO, Strigel leads the Citywide Data Warehouse (CityDW) program planning and managing, technology direction and strategy, service development and rollout, purchasing and contract negotiations, training and deployment strategies, IT strategies and solutions, and customer/partner relationship management.

Innovations in Government Seminar Series This event is part of the Innovations in Government Seminar Series, which explores various aspects and approaches to the study and replication of government innovation. This year-long series seeks to educate and inform the next generation of government innovators.

All the best,

Jerry

04:27 PM, 14 Apr 2010 by Jerry Mechling

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After this, of course, it's back to work...

Hello hard workers --

Having not completely recovered from the "almost but not quite" Butler basketball extravaganza the other night (with proper congratulations to Duke fans for the hard fought victory), I offer a poem (?) that, if you've seen it before, you'll enjoy seeing again, and -- if it's new to you -- could make your evening.

Spell-checkers are sooooo useful...

After this, of course, it's back to work...

CANDIDATE FOR A PULLET SURPRISE
I have a spelling checker.
It came with my PC.
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss steaks aye can knot sea.
Eye ran this poem threw it,
Your sure reel glad two no.
Its vary polished inn it's weigh.
My checker tolled me sew.
A checker is a bless sing,
It freeze yew lodes of thyme.
It helps me right awl stiles two reed,
And aides me when aye rime.
Each frays come posed up on my screen
Eye trussed too bee a joule.
The checker pours o'er every word
To cheque sum spelling rule.
Bee fore a veiling checkers
Hour spelling mite decline,
And if we're lacks oar have a laps,
We wood bee maid too wine.
Butt now bee cause my spelling
Is checked with such grate flare,
Their are know faults with in my cite,
Of nun eye am a wear.
Now spelling does knot phase me,
It does knot bring a tier.
My pay purrs awl due glad den
With wrapped words fare as hear.
To rite with care is quite a feet
Of witch won should bee proud,
And wee mussed dew the best wee can,
Sew flaws are knot aloud.
Sow ewe can sea why aye dew prays
Such soft wear four pea seas,
And why eye brake in two averse
Buy righting want too pleas.
Jerry Zar, 29 June 1992

===

Back to work!

And all the best to you,

Jerry

08:38 PM, 07 Apr 2010 by Jerry Mechling

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Congratulations, Teri Takai...

For those of you who have followed us lo these many years, you know that we've worked hard to keep the academic side of what we do connected pragmatically to what's happening in the "real world." A key tool for that has been the "Harvard Policy Group on Network-Enabled Services and Government."

And the key role within that group has been the Practitioner Chair held by Teri Takai, first as CIO for Michigan and now as CIO for California.

Good news for the country: With yesterday's announcement by the White House, Teri has been nominated by President Obama to become Assistant Secretary (Networks and Information Integration) of the Department of Defense.

For the HPG, Teri has been smart, pragmatic, well-respected, and... just what we needed.

For DoD, which is now struggling with strategic shifts to respond to new threats and possibilities, Teri will again be smart, pragmatic, well-respected and... just what is needed.

Congratulations, Teri! And congratulations, all of us. More here.

All the best,

Jerry

04:15 PM, 30 Mar 2010 by Jerry Mechling

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