Stress in the Workplace

Our modern – get it done yesterday – world is really kind of a sham.  Very few products are really thought out and built out as well as they should be and everyone suffers.  From the customer who pays their hard earned money for something that does not work as advertised to the employees who hurry to rush something out the door in order to make artificial deadlines set for economic reasons.

We all end up suffering, the deadlines, the public bitching and moaning about: “Why is it taking so long?” and the stress that the developers of the products incur all add up to a situation that can only implode.

If the demand is overhyped and the company overproduces, they run the risk of being stuck with a huge bill and a huge stock of worthless product.

If consumer demand is not managed, the consumer will be let down by the reality of the product and the company again risks failure.

When companies fail, their support structure fails.  The customer has no one to turn to for help when the product stops working or when they need more.  Then they run to risk of failing in whatever they were using the product for.

The risk oriented economic culture that we have in place is to blame for the current economic downturn. 

Had the automakers taken the time to design and build their cars right, they would not have lost business to the import cars coming from Asia and Europe. 

Had the financial institutions taken a conservative approach to investments, they might not have needed bailouts from the government.

More importantly, had we, the consumers, not forced companies to push products outs before they were fully baked and vetted, we would not end up owning junk.

We all just need to take a step back and think about the choices that we make. I remember seeing a diagram that described software development.  It was a pie chart with three equal slices: good, fast, cheap.  Underneath, it said: Pick two.

This is not just true in software development, but in all product development.  You can have a car designed and into production cheaply and have it well made, but you better be patient and hire people who are willing to work for less.  However, those people might need a lot more time than their higher paid counterparts to design the car.

On the other hand, you can have a really well made car, and you can design it quickly.  It’s called rebranding and technology leasing and high end car manufacturers do it all the time.  If you know of a good engine, lease out the technology and have someone else do it for you.  It’ll cost you an arm and a leg, but at least it will be fast and good.

I think we all know what fast and cheap gets you.  Every Pinto, Aztec, and HHR built stands as an example of rushed decisions. Focus groups are great, but the do not read the market.

So, for all of our sakes, slow down, think about what you are doing and do not commit to thing that are nigh on impossible to achieve.