Bring me a different rock

I don't know if you've played this corporate game, but I have over the years.  This is a game where you attempt to guess the requirements of a manager who cannot or will not communicate his or her goals, and the best attempts to do so resemble a series of frustrating discussions where you are told that your "rock" (product, schedule, process, proposal) is not correct and you should present a new "rock" in a short time frame.  The problem is, the person who is rejecting your "rock" is unable or unwilling to describe what an appropriate rock looks like, feels like, tastes like.

The problem with this game is that it is played all too frequently in corporate America, simply because many managers are unwilling or unable to convey their needs and requirements in a way that allows their staff to create new products, processes or proposals that are acceptable.  I believe there are at least three reasons for this inability to define needs and requirements:

1. The senior management team is uncertain of its expectations and goals and has not provided clarity for the manager, who does not want to risk anything so he or she plays for time, waiting for clarity from on high
2. The manager is simply a poor decision maker and is waiting for a flash of insight.  A good rock, like pornography, can't be defined, but he'll know it when he sees it
3. The manager is a poor manager of people and of time, and does not understand the frustration that this leads to within her staff.

I once played the "bring me another rock" game when I was consulting for a small software firm.  The CEO of the firm had been invited to write an article for a leading journal, and he asked me to write about the market and the impact our product might have on the market.  Given these requirements I wrote up a short synopsis and outline and provided it to him for discussion and further development.  Nope, he said, wrong rock.  OK I said, what's the right rock?  Don't know, he said, just not this rock.  This back and forth went on through at least four different iterations of outline and even two nearly completed articles.  We eventually missed the deadline for the article and our chance to frame the discussion in a leading journal.  I never figured out if he was unwilling to allow me to write the article or if he merely could not make up his mind about what he wanted to say.

As I've written previously, firms that have clarity in purpose and a strong cultural expectation for clear communication, inside the firm and outside as well, seem to perform more effectively since everyone understands the goals and the directions.  Unfortunately, too many of us play the bring me a different rock game every day.

Comments

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i love rock. it's the best type of music out there. what's your guys opinion on it?

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Yes.... this is very different type of music... I really like it.... It's just rocking!

Thanks very much!
James, NY

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Wow, this is really cool. Just imagine the attention that you will get when you have those things around with you. Both are really awesome combination if you were to ask me.