Those who can do, those who can’t…
Teach? Coach? Consult? Speak?
A few days ago some of our development team were working hard to keep our automated tests passing. We've been doing some serious development, and it's been real work to get and keep our tests passing. One of team members joked: "it's much easier to just tell someone to test?"
We've all been to the presentations at conferences. We've all read the books on things you "must" do -- the practices you "must" follow. The great thing about being a speaker or author is that it requires no follow-up. They don't write the tests. They don't stay late when the tests fail.
They are not even responsible for their recommendations. What if the practices don't improve the organization? Typically, I've heard pundits blame poor adoption for failures. This was very common in the XP community. I've heard XP consultants say, "you didn't follow all the steps." Of course this is an easy thing to say to a team trying to make a huge change.
It reminds me of the excuses astrologists make when they make poor predictions. An astrologist once told me, "you didn't give me the exact time of birth."
The bottom line is that it's easy to make recommendations -- it's hard to execute them.
Back it up!
We'd encourage teams to require consultants and speakers to back up their recommendations with data. Collect metrics. Demonstrate quantitatively that their ideas and philosophies work.
Our coach, Jared Richardson, isn't afraid to measure his recommendations. As a matter of fact, he requires it. Why spend time ( and money ) enacting change if the downstream effects cannot be proven?
I'd encourage any team that's enacting change to take a baseline and measure the results. Of course using a product like 6th Sense will make the task must easier, but regardless measure the results. This will not only benefit the organization as it strives for improvement, it will keep the consultants/coaches in check.
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Keeping Tabs » Blog Archive » Do analysts figure in post-purchase influence? ( 2008.16.07 10:34 pm )