Geekwork and Bean Counters

1
Geekwork and Bean Counters

• Fostering effective communication between
  business and technical staff

David Schmidt, FHSU Jerry Smith, PSU CHECK
Conference May 23, 2007
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Thinking Differently

• Many major college and university IT projects
  require detailed interaction between information
  technology workers (Geeks) and university
  business and operations staff (Bean Counters).
• The degree to which these teams effectively work
  together is a major (maybe the most important)
  factor in determining the projects success or
  failure.
• Studies have shown that Geeks and Bean Counters
  seem to think and act differently and
  understanding these difference can greatly
  facilitate effective communications within the
  team.

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Why Are We Talking Stereotypes?

• Stereotypes exist for a reason - they help us
  consider some general patterns of behavior.
• In reality the behaviors are unique to each
  individual.
• Yet, people are attracted to professions that
  complement their personalities.
• An effective leader needs to understand how to
  work with a variety of personality styles.

4
Geeks Are Different

• Interpersonal relations can be challenging among
  people who work with technology
• People who choose technical careers do so, in
  part, because they would rather work with
  technology than people
• The fact that the term Geek has come to be
  applied to technical workers indicates that there
  exists a difference in style among those who
  develop and work with technology.

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What is a Geek?

• Geeks are the knowledge workers who specialize in
  the creation, maintenance, or support of high
  technology
• Geeks are the highly intelligent, usually
  introverted, extremely valuable,
  independent-minded, hard to find,
  difficult-to-keep technology workers who are
  essential to the future of the university

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Geek Characteristics

• Even though all individuals are unique one can
  identify some attributes that often apply to
  information workers
• A Passion for Reason
• A Problem-Solution Mind-Set
• Experienced Early Success
• A Joy for Puzzles
• Curiosity

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Geek Characteristics (cont)

• Geeks Choose Machines
• Self-Expression Equals Communication
• My Facts Are Your Facts
• Judgment Is Swift and Merciless
• My Work Is My Art
• A Reverence For Smart People
• Loyalty to Technology and Profession
• A Strong Sense of Fairness
• A Strong Rebellious Streak

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An Illustrative Project

• At FHSU there was a pressing need to display some
  data on the web.
• One staff member rose to the challenge.
• The staff member consulted with one major
  administrator and posted the information.

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Illustrative Example (cont)

• A technical success users used the system
  extensively the response-time is good people
  count on it.
• A project failure the Administrator liked it,
  but other managers found the information
  confusing, and their staff had more work.

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Illustrative Example

• The Problem too much of a Lone Ranger approach
  a mismatch between user expectations and what
  was delivered.
• No review of screens ahead of time.
• No real input from users.

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Geekwork Is Different

• The character of geekwork doesnt conform to
  many common assumptions or images of the
  workplace, turning some long-held beliefs on
  their heads - some examples are

• Failure is normal
• Ambiguity rules
• Figuring out what to do can be harder than doing
  it
• Geekwork is organized by what you do not know
• Geekwork requires deep concentration
• The boundaries of work are hard to define

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Geekwork Is Different (cont)

• Subordinates know more than managers
• Geekwork requires both individual and teamwork
• It is hard to get done with a job
• Creativity can not be controlled
• Estimates are always wrong

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Bean Counters Are Different Also

• Business Workers also have personality traits
  that may conflict with Geeks
• People are attracted to business related jobs
  because they like order and predictability.
• Clear boundaries between work and personal life.
• Bottom line, solution focused - not into the
  process or the elegance of solutions.
• For the most part Bean Counters do not like
  ambiguity - but many learn to live with it.
• Getting tasks (job) done is a major motivator.
• Bean Counters tend to be loyal to the
  organization more than the industry (profession)

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Differences Lead To Conflict

• These differences may lead to a Geek Focused
  environment in companies that build and market
  technology, but in the university environment
  technical workers must be able to work with a
  wide variety of people from Humanities Professors
  to Football coaches.
• If the wide range of personalities at the
  university make it difficult for those who are
  highly skilled in interpersonal relations to get
  along with everyone, how exceedingly difficult it
  can be for a technical staff member.

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Sources of Conflict What Makes Bean Counters
Mad At Geeks

• Geeks are hard to understand Cant get a
  straight answer
• Geeks expect to be treated differently
• Geeks are hard to work with on a team They just
  want to do their own thing
• Geeks Cant Get Stuff Done On Time (or Budget)
• Geeks arent loyal to the university

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Sources of Conflict What Makes Geeks Mad At
Bean Counters

• People have unreasonable expectations
• People do not take the time to understand the
  technology and what it takes to deliver requests
• People do not appreciate the beauty of the
  technology solution
• People dont treat me fairly
• People do not provide adequate resources for the
  task
• People are stupid

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A Successful Project

• Small programming team (4 web programmers 1
  mainframe programmer)
• Complex programming environment (.NET, Java
  uPortal, Cobol legacy code, stored procedures,
  UDB) could not break the existing mainframe
  program.
• Complex undertaking reengineering enrollment
  for the web

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Success Factors

• Very significant, continuous administrative
  involvement every week at least 2 hours
  Registrar, Director of Virtual College, Dean of
  the Graduate School, Managers of Advising,
  Student Fiscal Services, Financial Aid, and the
  Technical Team (Director of IT and Team)
• High visibility, tight deadlines, real give and
  take, clear responsibility for tasks

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Success Factors

• High focus on productivity
• The non-technical people did user-training (so
  high ownership from the sponsors)
• Met a controlled pilot deadline -- made
  adjustments opened it up for all
• A very usable product accepted by students
• Communication valued the common good
  willingness to compromise (all)

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The Need for Conflict Resolution

• In most cases university technical staff leave
  (or are asked to leave) their positions, not
  because of technical competency, but because of
  difficulties getting along with fellow workers,
  clients or others in the university community.
• To be successful in the university environment
  the technical worker must learn how to deal with
  conflict in effective ways.
• University business staff often settle for
  information services that do not fully meet their
  needs because of conflict with technical workers
• Both Geeks and Bean Counters can be significantly
  damaged (in both work output and interpersonal
  relations) if conflict is not resolved

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Building the Conflict Resolution Environment

• Leadership is important in establishing an
  environment where conflict can be managed and
  resolved.
• Traditional leadership approaches based on power
  and authority do not work well with technical
  workers - Production is grounded in thought, not
  behavior.
• Effective leaders must provide for facilitation
  -maintaining the local work environment and
  information flow

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Facilitation of Conflict Resolution

• The effective leader must develop an environment
  conducive to productive work
• A culture of community must be developed and
  fostered
• Establish and reinforce core values
• Most importantly the culture must provide for
  safety for ideas
• It must also be safe to make stupid comments
  without being dismissed by the group as an idiot

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Building an Environment for Healthy Conflict

• Valuing achievement
• Defining physical space
• Be a Therapist
• Facilitating tasks - cutting red tape
• Allocating resources
• Coordinating schedules and tasks
• Overcoming obstacles (must know when to help)

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Building an Environment for Healthy Conflict
(cont)

• Monitoring effectiveness (making sure things are
  moving along)
• Arranging interventions
• Must not intervene too soon
• But, dont avoid interventions when needed
• Streaming information
• Information sharing helps set the tone
• Information sharing must be with the whole group
  / staff

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Managing Conflict through Representation

• The effective leader of technical workers can
  foster productivity in relationships by providing
  representation of the technical staff to external
  groups.
• This representation includes
• Managing expectations
• Projecting prominence and group prestige

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Managing Conflict through Representation (cont)

• Providing protection to the group by
• Being an advocate for the technical staff
• Acting as a political insulator
• Being a buffer to change

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Summing it up

• The natural differences between Geeks and Bean
  Counters will naturally result in conflict
• Technical workers can become stronger team
  players by developing some basic conflict
  resolution skills
• The leader of the technical staff can provide
  instruction, encouragement and facilitation to
  make conflict manageable and even productive

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References

• Amabile, T.M. (1998). How to kill creativity.
  Harvard Business Review. Sept Oct 1998, pp.
  76-87.
• Dana, D. (2001). Conflict Resolution. New York
  McGraw-Hill.
• Glen, P. (2003). Leading Geeks how to manage and
  lead people who deliver technology. San
  Francisco, CAJossey-Bass.
• Hertzberg, F. (1987). One more time How do you
  motivate employees? Harvard Business Review.
  Sept-Oct 1987, pp. 6-13.
• Humphrey, W.S. (1987). Managing for innovation
  leading technical people. Upper Saddle River, NJ
  Prentice Hall.
• Ivancevich, J.M. Duening, T.N. (2002) Managing
  Einsteins leading high tech workers in the
  digital age. New York McGraw-Hill.
• Raelin, J.A. (1991). The clash of cultures
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  Business School Press.
• Tannen, D. (1998). The argument culture moving
  from debate to dialogue. New YorkRandom House.
• Weinberg, G. M. (1986). Becoming a technical
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  York Dorset House.