Bad Habit: Mind your own Business

I have seen this in Nible2. There was a financial crunch. Suddenly, every manager, every clown acts like the Finance Director. How so? They stop hiring, sighting the lack of money. They stop buying equipment.

Hello? Why on earth should the R&D Manager do the work of the Finance Controller? The work of the R&D Manager is to see if the purchase is necessary. Then, find out what's best to buy for the company. Compare products. Ensure the products work. Work out the utilization if purchased. Work out alternatives if the company cannot purchase - rent it, or the simple beg, borrow or steal. Try to avoid the last option. What are the justifications for purchase? Return of investments? And what happens if the purchase is not made. In any case, all these must be done regardless of the financial situation of the company.

Then, you get a fucked up Finance Manager doing the work of the R&D Manager. The Finance Manager would ask why is the equipment needed. Are you sure you need it? I mean, fuck it. Unless the R&D Manager is buying dildos for his staff, or anal plugs, please do not ask such moronic questions. If the R&D Manager hasn't done his job, tell him to do his part - as stated above. Don't try to do his work.

I have seen endless chaos. HR trying to figure out how many staff should be in production and how to use staff better. Hello. You have your production manager. If he or she is doing a bad job, fire him / her. Then, get a new Production Manager. Don' try to act smart. You are in HR for a reason.

HR Managers and Finance must remember their roll. Their roll is a supporting roll. If someone needs staff, their job is to find the best staff. If the company needs financing, the job is to get the money. R&D too. Their bloody job is to do R&D. Don't bloody ask - is the product necessary? If you are given your task, just do it.

So, who exactly decides what to design or manufacture for the company? It should be Marketing. Marketing must do it's research on customers. See what customers want. Then, they will do a proposal, including investment required and returns. This should be submitted to the Board of Directors for approval. Once approved, Marketing must brief all, including Finance and HR on what the new product is all about. Sell them the idea. Then, all departments must strive to deliver - not poke holes at the proposal. If you want to poke holes, do it before the damn thing is approved. The approval process should cater for feedback.

This is the only way forward. Not try to tear things apart. Imagine - every department trying to tear each other apart. They act in their own best interest. They don't want to do the extra mile. Look around you - this is all too close to home.

Bad Habit: Team Work

Teamwork itself is not a bad habit. But really, try asking yourself. What is teamwork?

Most people would say - when you are in a team, you must do your part. Hmmm. I say, bullshit. That's not teamwork. That's a damn selfish definition of teamwork. Teamwork really means that working in a team, when your teammates slack or is unable or unwilling to perform, you take up the slack. In other words, you do more.

No bloody use in pointing out who is doing less. Or complaining that it's not fair you have to do more. News flash. Life isn't fair. I am unsure if death is. So, get use to the idea that life is not fair.

I now have my own company. I enjoy working with my business partners. We all contribute in different ways. Sometimes, they cannot attend meetings - I will attend those. I won't mind when they cannot attend the meetings. Sometimes, I am not able to attend the meetings. That's OK too. If we truly work as a team, we fill in the blanks for each other. Not bloody shoot at each other.

At times, managers are also to blame. Even CEOs are to blame. When someone tries to do more, they say - just do your job. That's someone else's problem. In a team, there is no such thing as someone else's problem. It is everyone's problem. But it may not be your business. For example, if I had argue with my girlfriend last night, I would be in poor spirits today and one way or another, if will affect my performance. That will affect the whole team. But it is none of their business what the argument was about. So, if you can help me out that much on a bad day, do it.

The key is really - to recognize the problem and to realize what is our business or is it someone else's issue. If it is a financial issue, realize it. That would be beyond your job scope, but see how you can work as a team to help out. An informal discussion over lunch with Finance would be a start. But please don't start by sending bloody emails.

So, how exactly do you define teamwork? Do you help others when you complete your task? Or stand there and laugh at others suffer when you are free? Always remember - it is better to be in the position to help than to ask for help. So, help when you can.

Bad Habits: What managers should do

A lot fail to understand the role of a manager. Everyone wants to be a manager, but really - what is the job scope of a manager? A manager is to manage. That's clear. But how to manage? What do you start to do to manage?

I have seen so many teams fall apart. Some fast. Some suffer a slow death. Why to teams or sections fall apart? Why do companies fail to meet their goal? How can managers help? The answer is real simple. Managers must start with giving a clear direction. Clear directors to everyone is dead important. I have some statistics to prove it.

Let's say there are 10 persons in the team. Most team have about that many person. If everyone has a 90% correct understanding of the team's goal, the team is almost doomed. Why? Statistically, the chances of reaching the goal is only about 35%. That's 0.9 to the power of 10. Mind you, 90% understanding isn't bad for an individual, but as a team, that's real bad.

If you have a team of 5 with each individual's understanding of the goal 80% correct, the chances of success are 32%. However, if there are 5 members with an 90% correct understanding of goals, the chances of success would now be about 60%.

This clearly shows that small groups are easier to manage. More importantly, the manager's roll is really to make damn sure everyone has at least a 99% percent of correct understanding of the goals and objective of the team. Once the understanding is clear, things will move along better. Not trouble free, but at least the chances are better.

So, what's the success factor of your team?

Bad Habit: Who's Interest?

Most companies do not do well for one key reason. Employees fail to act in the best interest of the company. Seriously, what's your thinking process before doing something for your company? I have seen this happening all the time.

Shareholders fight and try to kill each other. Sometimes, it results in hostile takeovers. CEOs and MDs want to make a decision that will make them popular, famous or rich. Senior managers worry about their little empires. They want more staff, more budget in their domain. Engineers want a pay raise. Corrupt purchasing officers worry what's in it for themselves.

We all have to take care of ourselves, but please make decisions that are in the best interest of the company. Otherwise, companies are doomed to fail. Many have failed in the world. Investment bankers trying to look good to their bosses. Bosses who worry about their multi-million dollar profit.

If this is how things work, be prepared for the doom of the company. Don't be too surprise if the doors are closed one working - just like the now historical Lehman Brothers.

Just Do It... at the right time

A horrible habit is to point out problems without given a solution. Occasionally, you can point out problems without a solution, but do so in a solution orientated manner. In other words, seek to solve the problem. I had staff who pointed out endless problems. I mean, there really is limited value to pointed out problems. I am no idiot. Your boss is no idiot (usually the case). (Also, never assume the another party is an idiot). So, why point out the problem? Surely he must know it too.

The real value comes in solving the problem. However, there is a catch. It must be at the right time.

A Ipoh lenglui complained that her boss didn't value her suggestions. It was obvious - her suggestions were sound, good for the company, but yet - her boss was annoyed with her. I gave her an example and she understood her situation well.

It's like repairing roads or doing road works - say resurfacing. Surely, repairing a road to get rid of potholes would be good. However, imagine if you choose to carry out the repair works on a Monday morning when school re-opens for the new year. That's real shit isn't it? Or closing one lane along the North South Highway during the Chinese New Year 'balik kampung' rush. Everyone would be swearing and cursing. "Why do it now? Why not later?"

So, timing is important. In schools, there is always a right or wrong answer. The right answer is simple anyway. There is no situational analysis. In real life, we must analyse the situation. Great ideas in the wrong situation is worse than a bad idea.

My Story

I cannot even remember if I have blogged this before. When I start off in Nible2, I was with Research and Development. I completed my first project real fast, ahead of time. Without another task, I was given the CIF2 task. CIF2 is a very new technology. No one else in the world has it. It was ground breaking. The flip side of CIF2 is, it has loads of problems. Of 750 units manufactured, 500 ended up as rejects. Being the world's first, there wasn't anyone to ask for guidance.

My task sounded simple enough. Find out what is wrong with the 500 dead printed circuit boards and make them work. I had a technician who could not care less. He was either smoking outdoors or smoking in the toilet. My first recommendation would be to sack him. On day 1, I didn't even have the bloody schematics. Took me a few phone calls and a visit to a sister company to obtain the schematics. Good thing I met up with him - he help me a lot and remains my friend till today. Like I've said, a face to face meeting helps heaps.

Now I had the schematic, there was no documentation to it. So, I had to reverse engineer the whole darn thing. This was not easy. Very hard work. A number of more senior engineers have attempted this task to no avail. Mind you, these engineers were involved with PDA design - sophisticated stuff back in 2003. They had a file that was 3 inches thick - lots of experiments with no results.

I figured that the engineers must be right. No point in repeating what they have done. Instead, I looked for other root causes. As for the technician, I did show him the importance of learning. He learned and became an expert in the CIF project. After 6 months, I enjoyed working with him and we are still friends. To think about it, I nearly had the poor bugger sacked.

To cut a long story short - I found the root causes. It was bad design, no documentation and horrible manufacturing processes. I did not complain or stopped there. I also fixed the darn problems.

It was a difficult problem. I could have given up easily, but I did not. I did something that the senior engineers didn't do - make a phone call to the sister company. The sister company managed the external design contractor. The contractor was bust in 2001. Couldn't talk to them directly.

The senior engineers before me saw it as a nuisance. They wanted to concentrate on PDA. They looked into it for a while and gave up to go back into their PDA projects. I took it as a challenge. Basically, I played the hand that was dealt to me. Wasn't a good hand, but you just have to play it.

Solving the CIF2 problem made me sort of an expert of some sort. I went on to develop the next generation of CIF readers - ended up with the best design in the world. In an international meet, our design beat the Germans, Japanese, US, EU and many other countries. I do not claim all the credit, as I was the team leader for a whole bunch of engineers. It was a nightmare trying to get the engineers to do something right.

By then, everyone wanted the CIF project. It was glamorous. I traveled worldwide - spending more time overseas than in the office. This is a fact. For every month, I will be away for at least 2 weeks. Visited more than 12 countries. CIF project was the priority of the company. Now, everyone wanted the project. But guess what? They still could not do it.

After leaving Nible2 for 2 years now, I am still a consultant to Nible2 for the CIF project. Now, I get to charge them more than RM10,000 per month, plus lots of profit. There is a reward from hard work - but I only get it when I started my own business. The Nible2 engineers still couldn't get things right - not because I am smarter, but it's because of the bad habits that they have.

Bad Habit: Being Wally

Most people end up with the "I Do Not Care" attitude, just like Wally. I was Wally once too. Still am Wally in many ways, but that's because I prefer to work smart rather than work hard.

The I Do Not Care attitude is very bad on us. I have seen many colleagues ending up in the I Do Not Care dead end. First, they will start off real enthusiastically. Then, HR or some idiots make demoralizing policies. It sorts of kill the Dilbert in people and make them Wally. But the real killer is unrealistic expectations.

Most people expect to be well rewarded when they work hard. That's logical. But do be careful with when or where you expect the reward. If you expect a pay raise or a big bonus - that would be trouble. I have seen so many, suffering when they get only a month's bonus. Or a mere 5% raise.

From the management's point of view, that could have been very generous. Or it would be difficult to pay more. Or they are just being greedy bastards who want to keep the money for themselves.

This is when we must know what to expect. No one has ever gotten rich from working in a cubicle. That's a fact. You work for others, others get rich. But it is kind of fair - they have to pay wages regardless of economic situation or sales. Not easy to be a boss either. I won't say who's right or who's wrong, but remember this - we must be realistic.

As such, it is best to adopt the attitude to be there to learn. If you get more pay - good. If pay remains the same - still work. At the end of the day, it is our time that we are wasting being Mr. I Don't Care. Put in your best. Learn hard. Get the experience. Experience and knowledge will be with you forever. No one can take that away.

When we work for someone, do it for the experience. If you want to be real rich, go start your own business. Be it online or a fried rice stall, at least what you do will be yours. Do NOT expect your boss to make you rich.

If it gets so bad, walk out. Leave. Resign. Don't bloody sit there and do nothing. Again, it is your time - and your time is precious. You will never be 25 again, or 31, or whatever your age is. But the world will keep up moving.

Bad Habit: "Short Cuts"

When I was with Nible2, there were two major incidences which reminded me not to pick up this bad habit. We were having a collaboration to jointly develop a product with a company in USA. This was at least 4 years ago. One day, someone remarked that her email to USA were never answered. So, the matter was handed over to another manager. No reply either. The US engineers just ignored the email.

I wasn't the most popular guy back in Nible2, but eventually the problem ended up with me. I wrote to them, and I got a reply immediately. Strange. For doing a good job, I was rewarded with more work. For all future contact, I had to write to them. I suspected it had something to do with the way I wrote, but never thought too much about it.

Then came the second incident. I was in US and it was good to meet someone in person. The first thing that guy said to me is "Do your colleagues speak English?". He went on to complain about the lengthy emails that he could not understand. Alas, he binned it. He also said the email didn't look important - it was full of shorthand ala SMS-English.

To think about it, it is true. Why waste time to respond to something that looks like it is written by a Year 6 kid? This shows a lack of respect and worse still - makes the email look trivial. On top of that, don't assume everyone can understand the same SMS English.

It was an embarrassment for me to have such complains. Moral of the story - write properly. One subject, one predicate per sentence. Keep it simple. Follow grammatical rules. There is a spell check function in most software nowadays. Bad English simply isn't going to make the cut.

I Just Called....

Bad Habit 3: I just Called to Say I Love You

Maybe some of us are too young to remember the song " I Just Called to Say I Love You." by Stevie Wonder. It is an all time favorite. If one listens to the song carefully, Stevie didn't say fax, SMS, email or write a letter. Instead, it is Call to say I love you.

In this technological soup, people are getting more and more robotic. If there is a problem or there is something to be said, pick up the phone and make the call. You can follow up with an email or fax, but call! Many times, people like to send email to-and-fro. Come on. Take a hint. If two emails doesn't resolve it, pick up the damn phone and make a call.

Better still, go and meet the person. There is only so much calls can do.

I know that there are bean counters and the evil HR who will limit cost of calls, let alone a face to face visit. But you will be amazed at how fast and in the long term, how much it will save to resolve issues fast. I can understand how slowly this bad habit creeps in. So many times, we are asked to put it in formal writing when there is a suggestion or a request. That's fine and good. But we should remember to call or to meet up when things are no longer moving.

Yesterday, I was suppose to have dinner with a certain lenglui. A number of SMS were exchanged as to where we should have dinner. I tried to call her, but she didn't pick up. (Case of a NR). Instead, she continued to SMS. Screw it. SMS takes too much time. Not worth the savings. I ended up at home with a good book to read.

Remember, pick up the phone and make that call. If so necessary, meet up!

Bad Habit 2 : Broken Promises

Here's another bad habit in Nible2 - which is still on going and irritates everyone. There is a project which I am a contractor for Nible2. But alas, the stupid project has been delayed for more than 6 months. That's very normal for a project, but the broken promises are not acceptable. They promise to send the latest drawings over by "Wednesday", when nothing happens, it would be "next week". It has been 5 months now.

Delays are normal. But please do not do a NR and let the other party wait in vain. This is very unprofessional. In this case, it is so bad that my two colleagues no longer want to deal with Nible2. Nible2 doesn't know that yet. I will have to break the news to them when their minds are back on the project.

Always keep to your promise. As they say, under promise and over deliver. Don't do it the other way around. If there is a crisis or a delay, call the person adversely affected. Most of us are kind hearted souls, so we will understand. Don't even up in a situation where no one professional would want to deal with you.

Bad Habit : No response

Working in Nible2 has caused me to pick up some nasty habits. I have left Nible2 for almost 2 years now. I was fortunate enough to have someone point out some of the nasty habits I have picked up. Sadly, some of my good friends in Nible2 are still stuck with those nasty habits. I intend to write about these habits and hope it is useful to someone out there. Mind you, these habits are rampant - not just in Nible2.

So, the first habit I will write about is No Response, or known as NR. NR is a classification of dead chips when they do not respond to the test signals or respond with a power up sequence.

A lot of people has this NR habit. They do not acknowledge emails. No response to SMS. When they say they will call back, they don't. They do not pick up calls. Basically, NR.

This is very bad etiquette. If you are busy, just say "I got your email. I will read it in detail later as I am busy." That would be fine. Or reply to an SMS. It does not take a lot of time to reply. Come on - it would take 30 seconds at most. And yet, these are the people who will go home on time or spend hours for their lunch. I am OK with that, but please reply to messages.

A lack of response shows an indifference attitude. If you pick up these bad habits, you mind end up doing it to your loved ones. Bad habits usually will not have limits. They will extend to all concerns. And this is when it will seriously screw up one's life. In the competitive world, it is a huge difference between no response and a response. Most people out there are talking about the right response, and yet we have idiots who have NR.