Career steroids. Dogs
I took the name of this career steroid from the famous BCG matrix (Boston Consulting Group). The matrix is simple, used to evaluate and develop a product strategy. Each product is evaluated on two scales - the growth rate of the market and its share.
There are four categories in total.
"Stars" - products that have a high share of the rapidly growing market. Stars all want to do.
“Cash cows” - the share is high, the market is growing slowly. These are, as a rule, old products that have long been introduced to the market and bring a steady income. Everyone wants to sit on dairy cows.
“Difficult children” - the share is small, but the market is growing. These are usually new products that you still have to tinker with, but the forecast looks promising. With caution, but many want difficult children to do.
And finally, our analogy is “dogs”. Low market share, which is not growing, or even stagnating. Nobody wants to be engaged in such products - it is necessary to put a lot of efforts, but the result is not expected.
Now we are translating the BCG matrix to our selfish career affairs. In any company, anyway, there are some topics . This may be specific products, and some processes, approaches, areas.
There are topics that are called HYIP, which everyone wants to do . For example, the same elevators that we talked about earlier. Or the obvious, obvious, career and motivational ladders stated in the documents. Do this, and preferably - like this, and you will be promoted and increased your income.
Around so many people spin around. In marketing terms, this is a red ocean , i.e. highly competitive environment. It is difficult to swim in them, because there are a lot of volunteers. These are the same stars.
There are simpler topics, but also from the red oceans - milk cows. These topics are often used to verb "sit down," "cling," "sit down," etc.
For example, this is often found in sales processes. Some programmers are tormented by doing small jobs with a bunch of clients, and some clever pepper finds one major client, with a good monthly budget and “don't beat the lying” job, and sits on this topic. Of course, no one is allowed to this topic.
In the career plan, dairy cows are more preferable to many than the stars, because they do not carry any special risks - they are stable and predictable. The only risk is to fall off the feeder.
Difficult children in their careers are few, due to the high risks. These are topics for which high bonuses are clearly marked, of any kind - if you do, you will be a complete success. But it will have to try, because the task is usually difficult. Something like “double the efficiency of work”, “enter the market of the UAE”, “build a new plant”, etc.
And nobody likes to engage in dogs . These are topics that, at first glance, do not bring any benefit to the careerist. In common, they are usually called "some kind of crap." The key difference between those dogs is that no one wants to do them.
Since no one wants to deal with the topic, then in terms of marketing this is a blue ocean , i.e. market with low or zero competition.
Collections of beautiful quotes and aphorisms often contain phrases like "do today what others do not want, and tomorrow you will live as others cannot." They are attributed to Jared Leto, then Confucius, then to some ancient Chinese sages.
As you understand, this is about dogs. Type do dogs, and you will be happy .
But it's not so simple. Go back to the products and think about it - where do dogs come from? After all, if the product is frankly bad, it is not claimed on the market, and the market itself falls - why is this product still alive, and the company continues to spend resources on its development, production and maintenance?
And the BCG matrix says - throw out the dogs! Of course, if the head is adequate, he will do just that - his money is being spent. And here it is the key question.
And if the leaders of all - adequate ? Are they all robots, mechanical or electrical automata, making decisions only on the basis of numbers, analysis and forecasts?
Unfortunately, or fortunately - no. Managers, owners - the same people as we are with you. Nothing human is alien to them, including love and affection. It is because of these emotional attachments that dogs live .
A dog can live exactly because “it was thought up by Evgeny Viktorovich himself”, or “well, I like it”. Inexplicable from the point of view of common sense, contrary to all calculations. I want, and that's it. Like. My dog. Favorite .
We return to the career. If for products, after all, the laws of the market are valid, and the person understands, and sometimes he knows exactly how much his dog’s maintenance costs, then with career topics it’s not at all.
Here the manager wants to have Lean in his company (lean production). All his dissuade, calculations lead, bad examples in other firms, but he still wants. Or CRM wants. Everyone understands that there is not a CRM problem, it will not help sales to raise. But wants, and that's it. Or give him a scrum. Or meetings to stand standing. Or the anthem of the company to someone composed. And so on, there are infinitely many examples.
And here is the key point. If the leader is hard, then his desire will be fulfilled quickly. He will simply order someone to implement Lean, or CRM, or Scrum, and run to perform.
But there are few tough, really tough managers. Because they are the same people as us. The head consciously or unconsciously understands that he wants some crap, and in a sense hesitates to talk about her.
It’s just that sometimes phrases appear in conversations, at meetings - “well, again, and if we had Lean, this wouldn’t have happened”, or “my blue dream is to calculate the prime cost of the programmers’s work”, or “I was at XXX, there boards hang everywhere, and TVs with indicators, so good ... ".
Here it is, the dog, and painted. What happens next? All, as one, begin to dissuade the head . But he does not give orders to anyone, he just listens and is sad.
It is sad because the dog is his personal, and it is personal condemnation, though not directly, indirectly, allegorically. If you overdo it with condemnation, and the director is offended, then the order to introduce will be heard - for you are not fig.
But, as is often the case, nobody really objects - it's more expensive. But at the same time, no one is taken - who wants to mess with the dog? After all, everyone understands that the main thing is the stars, milk cows and, in extreme cases, difficult children. Therefore, when talking about dogs, just delicately silent and nod their heads. But for the introduction of not taken.
And the director understands that the main thing is sales, production, development, marketing, finance, state. contracts, etc., therefore does not insist on the introduction of his dog. But wants to continue .
So, the steroid is to independently, without waiting for the order, to proactively take up the introduction of the dog.
The main thing is to look at the dog with fresh eyes. At first they seem to be very complex, and, as a rule, they go beyond the limits of your competencies. But this is only at first glance.
It is clear that if a dog is a large hadron collider in a company that sells tires, then you should not take it. As they say, the navel will rupture - and you, and the company. But in most cases dogs are simple projects, methods, approaches and topics. Their whole difficulty is that no one wants to do this .
Understand the topic better before you declare your desire to engage in dog breeding. Well, this is normal and reasonable. And it turns out, as in the proverb: took up a tug - do not say that it is not a lot. Soberly assess your strength and environment.
The ideal situation is when you have been working in a company for a long time, and you don’t see any career prospects for yourself. Stars and cash cows are busy, difficult children lack competencies, there are no special talents, there are no prospects, life is bogged down in a household routine, like in a swamp. If you are in a company recently, then rush is better.
If you read about elevators, you understand: the dog is also an elevator . The difference is that elevators, as a rule, are clearly marked, and dogs are not . Dogs - is the personal nonsense of the head.
Well, then you just need to grow this dog. There is no specific recipe, because dog breeds are countless. The key is to decide and take .
Dogs, like a steroid, are good because they do not carry any special risks. It turns out - well, it will not work - well, and figs with it. All the same, you will be in good standing, because at least you have tried to give the boss what he craves. In the eyes of the boss, you will become a person you can rely on, because you do not judge his dogs, but sincerely and diligently try to grow them.
But it is better, of course, to achieve at least some positive result. Let not one hundred percent, but at least fifty.
Well, another important point. Catching a dog, do not call it a dog. If you do, but, like everyone else, whine, that this is some kind of crap meaningless, then turn into a simple performer, even though he volunteered himself. In this case, there is nothing to reward you with. Maximum - get a one-time bonus in case of success. But they will not get in touch with you anymore - nobody loves whiners.
Better, as in the song - "even though he was gloomy and angry, but he was walking." You can not praise the dog - so at least do not scold. Silently, calmly, confidently, do it. It is necessary, then it is necessary.
Now a few examples.
The first example is not about a career at all, but it helps to understand the principle. It helped me.
It was still in school. He retired the old Trudovik - a respected, familiar to all, loved by children, parents and teachers. A new one came - young, ambitious (ha-ha, ambitious trudovik).
Naturally, he did not want to fade in the glory of the old Trudovik. He wanted something to stir up, out of the ordinary. What do usually work on? Shovels for shovels, pointers, cutting boards, handles for hammers. It is boring, because the students take all the products home - they will not present them to the authorities.
The school was a village, and one of its main troubles was sunflower seeds. Everybody clicked on them at every turn, and the corridors were filled up with husks. Radiators of heating especially suffered, or in common people - batteries. For them dumped tons of peel from seeds, and other debris, and raking out is quite difficult.
So the Trudovik came up with a solution - to attach something protective to the batteries, like lattices, only from wood. He could, of course, do everything himself, but this would not have been the result of the teacher — rather, something about the supply manager. He needed the lattice to be made by us, the disciples.
He explained to us his idea, and gave homework (for the first and last time in our life we received a DZ according to the works) - to invent and draw the construction of this grid.
For all of us, this was an obvious dog. First of all, no one drew any working drawings, such as those for which someone will actually do something. Secondly, no one wanted to do this crap at home.
I also did not want to, but I was an excellent student, and I was afraid of getting a deuce for an unfulfilled task. Therefore, he drew something - by hand, in a notebook, during a break before the works. The rest, of course, came with nothing.
Seeing that at least someone drew something, the Trudovik was terribly happy. He made everyone learn to cut boards according to my sketch (it upset me a lot). At the end of the lesson we went and put this crap on the battery. Until now, by the way, twenty years have passed.
Career growth, of course, did not happen, but I remember the principle. Of course, I became a favorite student, hope and support. Not for long, it is true - soon the Trudovik left for work to the North.
The second example is not about me.
In one company where I worked, there was no quality management system (QMS). OTC was, but ISO is not. No certificate, no process, nothing.
A new director came, who strongly wanted a QMS. He spoke about her, asked, offered. Everything, as it should be, was baptized as they could. Bullshit is everything, we don’t need it, because we live well and there are no specialists.
The director was already inclined to call for outsourcers and introduce the QMS by their own forces. We all were taken to a seminar, then the same teacher volunteered to introduce, but quickly fell off, because he said: here are the standard processes for you, implement. But the director wanted the “present” QMS so that, taking into account the specifics of the company, it is transparent, clear, beautiful and effective.
There was one aunt in the company, let's call her Marina. She worked as an economist, received little money, had no prospects, because Head of department was quite decent.
And Marina volunteered to introduce this dog - SMK. Like no one wants, but the company needs it, then I'm ready to try.
I went to the courses, received a certificate, learned (for some reason) to memorize these standards, and went to introduce it. In order not to be a fool, she took the help of outsourcers - the director was morally ready for this. But the roles, as you understand, are distributed in her favor. Marina - the head of implementation, outsourcers - just help.
Of course, Marina succeeded. The implementation of ISO standards is a typical dog that seems very difficult, but in reality it’s a puff. She only needed to organize the work of other people. Distributed the processes and managers, called them "owners of the processes" and forced themselves to develop these processes. The very same, in fact, carried out norm control.
It was funny there, I also participated, because was an IT manager. Made the process as I understand it and see. Marina looked, said - garbage process, so it is impossible. I say - well, okay, then do it yourself. There was an awkward pause that was several months long, and not just me.
But Marina got out. Persuaded the director to tie the premium for the year to the development of processes. The manager made his own process, signed with the director and the norm-controller - he received an award.
And she came to me, as I remember right now, on December 28 with two pieces of paper. One is mine, the other is hers. He says - take mine, you will receive an award. If you leave yours, not a damn thing shines on you. I, of course, pushed her piece of paper - one hell do not care for everything that is written there.
Yes, and Marina first became the head of the newly created quality department, and after a while - the director of quality.
The third example is generally strange.
The company was engaged in the development, sale and implementation of software. The owner decided to appoint a director.
There were two candidates - the head of the implementation department and the financial director. No brainer that the most suitable candidate is the one from the implementation department.
He managed the work of programmers for many years, he knows the whole kitchen, his clients respect him, in the company he is a great authority. A financial director in general has recently come.
Here is the owner and appointed the director, who was expected. But it was not there.
The owner had a dog - the accounting of works, the calculation of their cost, both in the context of programmers, and for projects, departments, etc. In general, as a decent production company, although the company itself was not.
This dog also undertook to grow up the financial director, though it was not his official duty. He was assisted by one of the programmers who was involved, among other things, in the internal automation of the company.
The project was short-lived and not particularly difficult - this is not a multi-forge-and-press production, everything is simple and clear. Month after two implemented.
And the owner got his dog. I was so happy that several times at general meetings I spoke with ecstasy how happy he was. There was also a real benefit - for example, products and customers came to light, work with which brought the company only losses. Previously, in the total mass of cash flows, this was not visible.
And here the unexpected happened - the newly appointed director was kicked back, the department was managed, and the honorary chair was given to the financial director.
Already sitting in this chair, figured out everything that is needed to manage a company of programmers. And quite successfully led the company for several years.
And who would have thought that on this dog you could get up like that? Judge for yourself: where are the programmers, and where is the calculation of the cost price. It is the calculation, and not just the "accounting closing of the month." Does your company calculate the cost of work of programmers?
The fourth example is similar to the third.
Manufacturing and trading company that dreams of sales. All — the owner, who was also the director, and the managers — talk about sales. How to sell, to whom to sell, what to sell, how to sell more, how to sell cheaper, enter new markets, expand your share to existing ones, etc.
But the owner, although he was the ideologue of this "corrupt" system, occasionally spoke about something else. As if to put things in order in the affairs, to increase the transparency of management, and in general to establish management, and not to deal only with “e-gay-gay, let's ship faster!”.
All, of course, heard his words, but answered with his own phrases: the main thing was sales. While sales are going, you can not bathe the insides. Then, still have time, not now, we would have time to ship. Everyone wanted to do milk cows and stars.
But one of the leaders saw the dog. He stopped excuses, condemned and talk only about sales. I read books, went to seminars, looked through the Internet.
And he began to talk with the owner about the order in business. I took on the formalization of management in my department, introduced some reports, plans, schedules, tasks, memos, etc.
Sense of all this was exactly zero, but the visible side was good - big beautiful tables, presentations, employee fines for delay, a couple of layoffs for non-execution, etc. This leader began to make the right impression - tough, fair, executive.
And the rest continued to pop only on sales.
Then the owner decided to appoint a director (before that he managed it himself). Who chose, what do you think?
WellThe fifth example , which I have already mentioned in hedging is restoring order in a warehouse. An example is described in the business novel "Easier than it seems."
In short - there were always big discrepancies in the warehouse between the accounting and actual quantities. Nobody knew the reasons and did not understand, just as nobody could understand, what for it bother at all.
It was not quite typical, but still - a dog. The owner wanted order. At first I tried to appoint those responsible, force them to raise his dog. These people had an appropriate attitude, and they did not hide it.
As it should be in dog breeding, even unsuccessful projects did not beat people in their careers - none of the “losers” were fired, lowered or scolded. So, if you look, the warehouse was not the company's vital place. More precisely, the warehouse itself was, but the accounting of residues was not.
But the owner did not want to part with this dog. And when, once again, he chose a new dog breeder, I volunteered myself. I was then a simple programmer.
If you read the book "Easier than it seems," then you know that everything turned out. On the way, in the middle of the project, I also applied hedging to increase my income, but I already talked about this.
Having raised this dog, I got the position of CIO.
Summary
Dogs are topics sluggishly initiated by a manager or owner.
Dogs are topics that no one wants to tackle.
Cause to grow a dog is better on their own, without waiting for the order.
A dog cannot be called a dog.
Realization of a dog does not bear special risks.
Dogs are unpredictable.
There are four categories in total.
"Stars" - products that have a high share of the rapidly growing market. Stars all want to do.
“Cash cows” - the share is high, the market is growing slowly. These are, as a rule, old products that have long been introduced to the market and bring a steady income. Everyone wants to sit on dairy cows.
“Difficult children” - the share is small, but the market is growing. These are usually new products that you still have to tinker with, but the forecast looks promising. With caution, but many want difficult children to do.
And finally, our analogy is “dogs”. Low market share, which is not growing, or even stagnating. Nobody wants to be engaged in such products - it is necessary to put a lot of efforts, but the result is not expected.
Now we are translating the BCG matrix to our selfish career affairs. In any company, anyway, there are some topics . This may be specific products, and some processes, approaches, areas.
There are topics that are called HYIP, which everyone wants to do . For example, the same elevators that we talked about earlier. Or the obvious, obvious, career and motivational ladders stated in the documents. Do this, and preferably - like this, and you will be promoted and increased your income.
Around so many people spin around. In marketing terms, this is a red ocean , i.e. highly competitive environment. It is difficult to swim in them, because there are a lot of volunteers. These are the same stars.
There are simpler topics, but also from the red oceans - milk cows. These topics are often used to verb "sit down," "cling," "sit down," etc.
For example, this is often found in sales processes. Some programmers are tormented by doing small jobs with a bunch of clients, and some clever pepper finds one major client, with a good monthly budget and “don't beat the lying” job, and sits on this topic. Of course, no one is allowed to this topic.
In the career plan, dairy cows are more preferable to many than the stars, because they do not carry any special risks - they are stable and predictable. The only risk is to fall off the feeder.
Difficult children in their careers are few, due to the high risks. These are topics for which high bonuses are clearly marked, of any kind - if you do, you will be a complete success. But it will have to try, because the task is usually difficult. Something like “double the efficiency of work”, “enter the market of the UAE”, “build a new plant”, etc.
And nobody likes to engage in dogs . These are topics that, at first glance, do not bring any benefit to the careerist. In common, they are usually called "some kind of crap." The key difference between those dogs is that no one wants to do them.
Since no one wants to deal with the topic, then in terms of marketing this is a blue ocean , i.e. market with low or zero competition.
Collections of beautiful quotes and aphorisms often contain phrases like "do today what others do not want, and tomorrow you will live as others cannot." They are attributed to Jared Leto, then Confucius, then to some ancient Chinese sages.
As you understand, this is about dogs. Type do dogs, and you will be happy .
But it's not so simple. Go back to the products and think about it - where do dogs come from? After all, if the product is frankly bad, it is not claimed on the market, and the market itself falls - why is this product still alive, and the company continues to spend resources on its development, production and maintenance?
And the BCG matrix says - throw out the dogs! Of course, if the head is adequate, he will do just that - his money is being spent. And here it is the key question.
And if the leaders of all - adequate ? Are they all robots, mechanical or electrical automata, making decisions only on the basis of numbers, analysis and forecasts?
Unfortunately, or fortunately - no. Managers, owners - the same people as we are with you. Nothing human is alien to them, including love and affection. It is because of these emotional attachments that dogs live .
A dog can live exactly because “it was thought up by Evgeny Viktorovich himself”, or “well, I like it”. Inexplicable from the point of view of common sense, contrary to all calculations. I want, and that's it. Like. My dog. Favorite .
We return to the career. If for products, after all, the laws of the market are valid, and the person understands, and sometimes he knows exactly how much his dog’s maintenance costs, then with career topics it’s not at all.
Here the manager wants to have Lean in his company (lean production). All his dissuade, calculations lead, bad examples in other firms, but he still wants. Or CRM wants. Everyone understands that there is not a CRM problem, it will not help sales to raise. But wants, and that's it. Or give him a scrum. Or meetings to stand standing. Or the anthem of the company to someone composed. And so on, there are infinitely many examples.
And here is the key point. If the leader is hard, then his desire will be fulfilled quickly. He will simply order someone to implement Lean, or CRM, or Scrum, and run to perform.
But there are few tough, really tough managers. Because they are the same people as us. The head consciously or unconsciously understands that he wants some crap, and in a sense hesitates to talk about her.
It’s just that sometimes phrases appear in conversations, at meetings - “well, again, and if we had Lean, this wouldn’t have happened”, or “my blue dream is to calculate the prime cost of the programmers’s work”, or “I was at XXX, there boards hang everywhere, and TVs with indicators, so good ... ".
Here it is, the dog, and painted. What happens next? All, as one, begin to dissuade the head . But he does not give orders to anyone, he just listens and is sad.
It is sad because the dog is his personal, and it is personal condemnation, though not directly, indirectly, allegorically. If you overdo it with condemnation, and the director is offended, then the order to introduce will be heard - for you are not fig.
But, as is often the case, nobody really objects - it's more expensive. But at the same time, no one is taken - who wants to mess with the dog? After all, everyone understands that the main thing is the stars, milk cows and, in extreme cases, difficult children. Therefore, when talking about dogs, just delicately silent and nod their heads. But for the introduction of not taken.
And the director understands that the main thing is sales, production, development, marketing, finance, state. contracts, etc., therefore does not insist on the introduction of his dog. But wants to continue .
So, the steroid is to independently, without waiting for the order, to proactively take up the introduction of the dog.
The main thing is to look at the dog with fresh eyes. At first they seem to be very complex, and, as a rule, they go beyond the limits of your competencies. But this is only at first glance.
It is clear that if a dog is a large hadron collider in a company that sells tires, then you should not take it. As they say, the navel will rupture - and you, and the company. But in most cases dogs are simple projects, methods, approaches and topics. Their whole difficulty is that no one wants to do this .
Understand the topic better before you declare your desire to engage in dog breeding. Well, this is normal and reasonable. And it turns out, as in the proverb: took up a tug - do not say that it is not a lot. Soberly assess your strength and environment.
The ideal situation is when you have been working in a company for a long time, and you don’t see any career prospects for yourself. Stars and cash cows are busy, difficult children lack competencies, there are no special talents, there are no prospects, life is bogged down in a household routine, like in a swamp. If you are in a company recently, then rush is better.
If you read about elevators, you understand: the dog is also an elevator . The difference is that elevators, as a rule, are clearly marked, and dogs are not . Dogs - is the personal nonsense of the head.
Well, then you just need to grow this dog. There is no specific recipe, because dog breeds are countless. The key is to decide and take .
Dogs, like a steroid, are good because they do not carry any special risks. It turns out - well, it will not work - well, and figs with it. All the same, you will be in good standing, because at least you have tried to give the boss what he craves. In the eyes of the boss, you will become a person you can rely on, because you do not judge his dogs, but sincerely and diligently try to grow them.
But it is better, of course, to achieve at least some positive result. Let not one hundred percent, but at least fifty.
Well, another important point. Catching a dog, do not call it a dog. If you do, but, like everyone else, whine, that this is some kind of crap meaningless, then turn into a simple performer, even though he volunteered himself. In this case, there is nothing to reward you with. Maximum - get a one-time bonus in case of success. But they will not get in touch with you anymore - nobody loves whiners.
Better, as in the song - "even though he was gloomy and angry, but he was walking." You can not praise the dog - so at least do not scold. Silently, calmly, confidently, do it. It is necessary, then it is necessary.
Now a few examples.
The first example is not about a career at all, but it helps to understand the principle. It helped me.
It was still in school. He retired the old Trudovik - a respected, familiar to all, loved by children, parents and teachers. A new one came - young, ambitious (ha-ha, ambitious trudovik).
Naturally, he did not want to fade in the glory of the old Trudovik. He wanted something to stir up, out of the ordinary. What do usually work on? Shovels for shovels, pointers, cutting boards, handles for hammers. It is boring, because the students take all the products home - they will not present them to the authorities.
The school was a village, and one of its main troubles was sunflower seeds. Everybody clicked on them at every turn, and the corridors were filled up with husks. Radiators of heating especially suffered, or in common people - batteries. For them dumped tons of peel from seeds, and other debris, and raking out is quite difficult.
So the Trudovik came up with a solution - to attach something protective to the batteries, like lattices, only from wood. He could, of course, do everything himself, but this would not have been the result of the teacher — rather, something about the supply manager. He needed the lattice to be made by us, the disciples.
He explained to us his idea, and gave homework (for the first and last time in our life we received a DZ according to the works) - to invent and draw the construction of this grid.
For all of us, this was an obvious dog. First of all, no one drew any working drawings, such as those for which someone will actually do something. Secondly, no one wanted to do this crap at home.
I also did not want to, but I was an excellent student, and I was afraid of getting a deuce for an unfulfilled task. Therefore, he drew something - by hand, in a notebook, during a break before the works. The rest, of course, came with nothing.
Seeing that at least someone drew something, the Trudovik was terribly happy. He made everyone learn to cut boards according to my sketch (it upset me a lot). At the end of the lesson we went and put this crap on the battery. Until now, by the way, twenty years have passed.
Career growth, of course, did not happen, but I remember the principle. Of course, I became a favorite student, hope and support. Not for long, it is true - soon the Trudovik left for work to the North.
The second example is not about me.
In one company where I worked, there was no quality management system (QMS). OTC was, but ISO is not. No certificate, no process, nothing.
A new director came, who strongly wanted a QMS. He spoke about her, asked, offered. Everything, as it should be, was baptized as they could. Bullshit is everything, we don’t need it, because we live well and there are no specialists.
The director was already inclined to call for outsourcers and introduce the QMS by their own forces. We all were taken to a seminar, then the same teacher volunteered to introduce, but quickly fell off, because he said: here are the standard processes for you, implement. But the director wanted the “present” QMS so that, taking into account the specifics of the company, it is transparent, clear, beautiful and effective.
There was one aunt in the company, let's call her Marina. She worked as an economist, received little money, had no prospects, because Head of department was quite decent.
And Marina volunteered to introduce this dog - SMK. Like no one wants, but the company needs it, then I'm ready to try.
I went to the courses, received a certificate, learned (for some reason) to memorize these standards, and went to introduce it. In order not to be a fool, she took the help of outsourcers - the director was morally ready for this. But the roles, as you understand, are distributed in her favor. Marina - the head of implementation, outsourcers - just help.
Of course, Marina succeeded. The implementation of ISO standards is a typical dog that seems very difficult, but in reality it’s a puff. She only needed to organize the work of other people. Distributed the processes and managers, called them "owners of the processes" and forced themselves to develop these processes. The very same, in fact, carried out norm control.
It was funny there, I also participated, because was an IT manager. Made the process as I understand it and see. Marina looked, said - garbage process, so it is impossible. I say - well, okay, then do it yourself. There was an awkward pause that was several months long, and not just me.
But Marina got out. Persuaded the director to tie the premium for the year to the development of processes. The manager made his own process, signed with the director and the norm-controller - he received an award.
And she came to me, as I remember right now, on December 28 with two pieces of paper. One is mine, the other is hers. He says - take mine, you will receive an award. If you leave yours, not a damn thing shines on you. I, of course, pushed her piece of paper - one hell do not care for everything that is written there.
Yes, and Marina first became the head of the newly created quality department, and after a while - the director of quality.
The third example is generally strange.
The company was engaged in the development, sale and implementation of software. The owner decided to appoint a director.
There were two candidates - the head of the implementation department and the financial director. No brainer that the most suitable candidate is the one from the implementation department.
He managed the work of programmers for many years, he knows the whole kitchen, his clients respect him, in the company he is a great authority. A financial director in general has recently come.
Here is the owner and appointed the director, who was expected. But it was not there.
The owner had a dog - the accounting of works, the calculation of their cost, both in the context of programmers, and for projects, departments, etc. In general, as a decent production company, although the company itself was not.
This dog also undertook to grow up the financial director, though it was not his official duty. He was assisted by one of the programmers who was involved, among other things, in the internal automation of the company.
The project was short-lived and not particularly difficult - this is not a multi-forge-and-press production, everything is simple and clear. Month after two implemented.
And the owner got his dog. I was so happy that several times at general meetings I spoke with ecstasy how happy he was. There was also a real benefit - for example, products and customers came to light, work with which brought the company only losses. Previously, in the total mass of cash flows, this was not visible.
And here the unexpected happened - the newly appointed director was kicked back, the department was managed, and the honorary chair was given to the financial director.
Already sitting in this chair, figured out everything that is needed to manage a company of programmers. And quite successfully led the company for several years.
And who would have thought that on this dog you could get up like that? Judge for yourself: where are the programmers, and where is the calculation of the cost price. It is the calculation, and not just the "accounting closing of the month." Does your company calculate the cost of work of programmers?
The fourth example is similar to the third.
Manufacturing and trading company that dreams of sales. All — the owner, who was also the director, and the managers — talk about sales. How to sell, to whom to sell, what to sell, how to sell more, how to sell cheaper, enter new markets, expand your share to existing ones, etc.
But the owner, although he was the ideologue of this "corrupt" system, occasionally spoke about something else. As if to put things in order in the affairs, to increase the transparency of management, and in general to establish management, and not to deal only with “e-gay-gay, let's ship faster!”.
All, of course, heard his words, but answered with his own phrases: the main thing was sales. While sales are going, you can not bathe the insides. Then, still have time, not now, we would have time to ship. Everyone wanted to do milk cows and stars.
But one of the leaders saw the dog. He stopped excuses, condemned and talk only about sales. I read books, went to seminars, looked through the Internet.
And he began to talk with the owner about the order in business. I took on the formalization of management in my department, introduced some reports, plans, schedules, tasks, memos, etc.
Sense of all this was exactly zero, but the visible side was good - big beautiful tables, presentations, employee fines for delay, a couple of layoffs for non-execution, etc. This leader began to make the right impression - tough, fair, executive.
And the rest continued to pop only on sales.
Then the owner decided to appoint a director (before that he managed it himself). Who chose, what do you think?
WellThe fifth example , which I have already mentioned in hedging is restoring order in a warehouse. An example is described in the business novel "Easier than it seems."
In short - there were always big discrepancies in the warehouse between the accounting and actual quantities. Nobody knew the reasons and did not understand, just as nobody could understand, what for it bother at all.
It was not quite typical, but still - a dog. The owner wanted order. At first I tried to appoint those responsible, force them to raise his dog. These people had an appropriate attitude, and they did not hide it.
As it should be in dog breeding, even unsuccessful projects did not beat people in their careers - none of the “losers” were fired, lowered or scolded. So, if you look, the warehouse was not the company's vital place. More precisely, the warehouse itself was, but the accounting of residues was not.
But the owner did not want to part with this dog. And when, once again, he chose a new dog breeder, I volunteered myself. I was then a simple programmer.
If you read the book "Easier than it seems," then you know that everything turned out. On the way, in the middle of the project, I also applied hedging to increase my income, but I already talked about this.
Having raised this dog, I got the position of CIO.
Summary
Dogs are topics sluggishly initiated by a manager or owner.
Dogs are topics that no one wants to tackle.
Cause to grow a dog is better on their own, without waiting for the order.
A dog cannot be called a dog.
Realization of a dog does not bear special risks.
Dogs are unpredictable.