LSW#27 ⛵️Sailboats, fishermen, and careers
When rules rule, the game itself gets forgotten
When processes become proxies
Once organizations get to a certain size, they need processes which act as “rules” to operate efficiently. This is natural, and nothing wrong with it.
The problem starts when the processes (means) become ends in themselves. If you are not alert, over time, the rules change the goals of the game, and eventually the game itself.
The short essay below highlights this nuance:
The Goal of Sailboat Design
Once upon a time, people raced sailboats not for millions of dollars or for national glory, but just for the fun of it.
They raced the boats they already had for normal purposes, boats that were designed for fishing, or transporting goods, or sailing around on weekends.
It quickly was observed that races are more interesting if the competitors are roughly equal in speed and maneuverability. So rules evolved, that defined various classes of boat by length and sail area and other parameters, and that restricted races to competitors of the same class.
Soon boats were being designed not for normal sailing, but for winning races within the categories defined by the rules. They squeezed the last possible burst of speed out of a square inch of sail, or the lightest possible load out of a standard-sized rudder. These boats were strange-looking and strange-handling, not at all the sort of boat you would want to take out fishing or for a Sunday sail. As the races became more serious, the rules became stricter and the boat designs more bizarre.
Now racing sailboats are extremely fast, highly responsive, and nearly unseaworthy. They need athletic and expert crews to manage them. No one would think of using an America’s Cup yacht for any purpose other than racing within the rules. The boats are so optimized around the present rules that they have lost all resilience. Any change in the rules would render them useless.
— Donella Meadows in Thinking in Systems
What was intended to make the game better, fundamentally changed its very nature.
Specialization and optimization are the ethos of efficient processes. But efficiency often comes at the cost of resilience and adaptability. Bureaucracy kills flexibility, and by extension creativity and innovation.
Some questions to consider:
Do your processes enable right action, or do they prevent/delay them?
You might be hitting your metrics, but are you getting the results you want?
Are people “gaming” the system? If they are, don’t blame them. It’s pointing towards how your system is incentivizing the wrong behavior.
What are people complaining about? Complaints frequently point to how processes are suppressing creative action and causing frustration.
Careers as racing sailboats
Careers, and entire lives, can end up like racing sailboats — designed for maximum performance but fundamentally unusable for fun. We set out to work “in order to” make enough, so we can live the way we want to. Pretty soon, work (the means) gets confused with the ends (life). The rules are so restrictive, we don’t know how to operate in changing conditions.
You might have heard this parable of the Mexican fisherman and the American businessman. This time though, read it in the context of the above discussion.
An American businessman was at a pier in a small coastal Mexican village when a boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. Not long, was the reply. The American then asked the Mexican how he spent the rest of his time.
“I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and talk with my wife. I stroll into the village each evening, where I sip wine and play guitar with my friends. I have a full and busy life.”
The American replied, “I have an MBA and can help you. You should spend more time fishing and, with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from what you could bring in with the bigger boat, you could buy several boats; eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you would sell directly to the processor, and eventually open your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small village. Move to Mexico City, and then maybe to Los Angeles, where you will run your expanding enterprise.”
The Mexican fisherman asked, “How long will this all take?”
The American replied, “Fifteen or twenty years.”
“But then what?” asked the Mexican.
“That’s the best part! When the time is right, you could go public. You’ll become very rich; you would make millions!”
“Millions?” replied the Mexican. “Then what?”
The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, spend time with your wife. In the evenings, you could stroll to the village, where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your friends . . .”
— Russ Roberts in How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life
Usually, this story gets cited in the context of money dominating our thinking.
But there’s a deeper idea that Meadows highlights —the rules of the game bend it to the point where the original game, or intent, gets obscured. The fisherman didn’t lose sight of his endgame. He kept asking the essential question of, “Then what?”
Some questions to consider:
How have other people’s expectations turned into rules for you?
Are you even aware of these rules? (often we’ve lived with them so long, we don’t realize we are, in fact, following them)
How have the rules changed your game?
What game are you playing?
Leader’s Library
✍️Articles
In one of his shareholder letters, Jeff Bezos warns about processes becoming proxies. It’s also why Invent and Simplify is one of Amazon’s leadership principles.
I walked away from a successful, and equally lucrative, 20 year career in engineering and management, to restart life at the ripe age of 41. For a long time I had forgotten the game I was playing. Over time, I stumbled upon some fundamental career change frameworks that were pivotal in helping me think through that difficult decision. You might find them useful as well.
Too often in careers we forget what we initially set out to do. It’s useful to ask two critical questions about your career on a regular basis.
📚 Books
Thinking in Systems: A Primer by Donella Meadows
Systems thinking books are often laden with jargon that make them inaccessible. But Meadows’ book outlines key concepts in plain, engaging language. It’s an essential read especially if you work in, or with, large organizations. Equally applicable to aspects of life as well.
How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life: An Unexpected Guide to Human Nature and Happiness by Russ Roberts
Adam Smith, the forefather of modern economics, is well know for his Wealth of Nations book. But he wrote another insightful one with the esoteric title, Theory of Moral Sentiments. Russ Roberts takes key ideas from this classic, and puts it into a concise, usable format in this short book.
That’s a wrap for this edition. Have a fantastic week!