The case against robots

Disclaimer: @jose602 is a robot and he’s okay.

There is something to be said for the production processes forwarded by the industrial revolution. There is also something to be said about knowing where those processes end and individual thought becomes a facilitator of speed.

Corporate America is full of lower level jobs where the individual is expected to perform specialized repetitive tasks for the sake of efficiency. When one of these processes backs up, the solution is to automate or throw people at it. However, there are many areas where we have simply decided that ’specialized’ and ‘repetitive’ means efficient.

Example:

I was recently asked to review a client’s process for handling what is essentially an escalated customer service response mechanism; in order to assist in developing interventions to mitigate a huge backlog. The process had regulatory requirements for timeliness that were not being met and the regulator was coming down on the client for sending out formal requests for extension to the timeframes en masse. In this process, they had broken down the necessary activity into specialized production tasks:

1. Sorting – Sorting is a simple repetitive task, so it was given to a lower level staff member.
2. Intake – Intake is a data entry and scanning job; also given to a lower level staff member.
3. Assignment – Assignment – or distribution of workload – was given to management based on trending and supervisory expertise; but was not considered a time consuming task.
4. Research and Response  – Research and Response was given to skilled workers hired for writing and critical thinking skills. (this was described as a combined task performed by one tier)

My initial observation was that this structure makes theoretical sense. It was only upon observation and review of the work product that I was able to determine the problem.

The back up was clearly in the tier related to Research and Response, as expected. This is the most time consuming part of the process. The client was aware of this and began adding people to the tier expecting that less volume per person would increase efficiency. There are two problems with this solution:

1. Efficiency is an equation = work output/work input x 100. The solution increases neither value because you are simply adding more people with the same capacity for input and output. And you’re going to bleed money. Executives don’t look at the traditional energy equation when they think efficiency; they look at “how much am I getting for my money?”. By the economic measure of efficiency, we change people to dollars: $50 gets you 50 files; $100 gets you 100 files. Do you feel more efficient now?
2. Secondly, you will have to perpetuate the model unless the increased volume is a temporary condition. What happens with periodic spikes? You end up workload managing instead of improving capacity of the existing resources.

This solution is temporary and expensive. Increasing the efficiency of the current staffing is a much more desirable outcome.

Further observation of the work functions and product were extremely revealing. The Research function is meant to determine whether rules were followed by both parties and whether subjective professional judgment was appropriately applied. The R&R team was tasked with reviewing the incoming inquiries; determining the nature of the inquiry; and distributing their caseload to subject matter experts for responses that would be placed in a letter to the inquirer. The job description function of this team was to draft the response letter and ensure that it contained a restatement of the issue, a description of the research that was performed, and provide an expert determination of validity.

This is how they did it. They reviewed the inquiry and typed the issue (generally verbatim) into a database. They copied this database field into an email which was sent to a subject matter expert. The subject matter expert would work through a queue of questions and respond based on their knowledge of the rules or circumstance by placing a comment directly into the database record. The team member would then pull up a form letter template that contained paragraphs of introduction and a statement that the inquiry was reviewed by a subject matter expert. Into this template, they would place the issue description and response paragraph from the database.

You see the problem?

The Research and Response team was not performing either task that they were ostensibly assigned to; and their job functions were intellectually far below their employment level.

The responses from other departments were never read by the team member. Rather than becoming a subject matter expert in their own right; they simply cut/pasted information into the form letter and sent it out. Therefore, anytime that a similar case came in, the time consuming step of sending the information to another party for review and awaiting response was needlessly taken.

The team was filled with robots and the robots were slowing down the process because they had been instructed not to think beyond the level of identifying – based on keywords – who else should research and respond.

My instruction to the client was this: Stop automating a process meant for humans and you will see an increase in efficiency.

The client needed to remove the instruction to simply populate templates with other people’s content and allow for the team members to read and absorb the inquiry and it’s associated expert response in order to train it’s employees up. Let the people that you pay to write well thought out responses write well thought out responses; and learn the business rules at the same time. Subject matter experts also often speak in jargon; so a cut/paste response probably wasn’t serving the company very well in the long run either.

There are still many instances where the Research and Response team needs to have a subjective decision reviewed by an expert prior to formulating the response to the customer; but this intervention removed the need for many of the time delays built into the “efficient” process and the need for additional expenditure for temporary assistance. The R&R team members are now able to draft many more responses autonomously and only pull out complex cases for the review process.

Faster production. Same amount of money. Workers empowered. Client happy.

I am not a robot,

Bully

Don’t Panic. It will probably be bad, but you’re a champ.

Lately, I have noticed that I know a lot of people whose natural reaction to a wrench is to panic. As a self-employed person and as a project manager, you would think I would be very prone to this same reactionary pitfall; but you wouldn’t want to work with me if I engaged in Chicken Little behaviors.

The key to sleeping at night is not to freak out at the – sometimes crazy – things that pop up in your well laid plans. Strategies for mitigation are myriad. Try these:

1) plan well in advance and write it down – you can’t plan for every contingency (and you shouldn’t; just make one path), but a plan is something solid that you can point to and identify where the cog was thrown. The best way to calm down is to identify the monster; then plan to kill it.

2) have resources/options in your rolodex – often the problem that arises to freak you out is that you have too much work and too few hands to complete it. Make sure that you have a few pocket aces that you can turn to when needed.

3) always have an escape hatch – if the worry is your clients pulling work, keep your pipeline stocked with people who know what you do well and have expressed that they could always use your skills. Keep in touch with these people and express that you are always willing; and if the opening arises, you’ll be there at the ready.

4) have a diversion – sometimes, what you run into is a delay. This is the worst for a project or timeline oriented person. We want to be on course and on schedule and sometimes we pack these too closely. If you simply can’t get a task done until something else happens, fall back on the list of things you either gave low priority or no priority to. Let everyone know that the project is off schedule and get all the “dead” resources on other tasks, then get yourself otherwise occupied.

5) breathe – you’ve made it through bad situations before. I don’t want to advocate ignoring problems, but I do advocate giving them only the appropriate level of life/death importance. You will wake up tomorrow. If you have to, remind yourself that there are people in Scottsdale, AZ without WiFi access. Your problems aren’t that bad.

6) step away and remember conversations – there are always important comments made by your superiors and peers that clue you in to the big picture importance of things and also let you know where you and your project stand in the grand scheme. Think back to whether you are on firm ground. How was your last review? Has your work been praised up until now? Is there a parachute around should you – gasp – fail on one thing?

7) don’t think about money – think about need. Are your bills paid? Do you have a roof over your head for the month? Is there food (even ramen) in the cupboard? Good, now go back to breathing and get a plan together for next month.

These are all very simple things that are not always easy but, applied in the appropriate situations, you should be confident. It looks and feels bad when you hear the bad news; but you’re a champ and will survive.

Calm Down Crazypants

-Bully

Taking the Extra Step

Today’s post is one of those common sense reminders that I have to give myself every now and then; so I thought I would share it with you.

When I was young, my father spent a lot of time reminding me of my responsibilities and prodding me to finish what I started. Lists of chores half completed; promises to “get to it tomorrow”; dishes left in the family room; and clothes in the washing machine from the day prior all contributed to his frustration with my work ethic. I didn’t see the harm, myself. I mean, I always got these things done eventually. I usually ended up forgoing recreation to finish up these tasks; that’s dedication, right? [You know where I am going with this] No. I could have finished the tasks when they were in front of me and not had to forgo anything.

So, as an adult, I sometimes have to remind myself of the lessons learned earlier. I repeat this mantra to myself as I walk my house or begin to pack up my mobile work station for the day: “take the extra step”. I look for the things that remain half finished and I force myself to finish them while they are in front of me. I take the glass back to the kitchen, rinse it, and put it in the dishwasher instead of leaving it on the counter. I write the summary email and send it out before I walk out the door. I take the trash out to the dumpster when I need a new bag under the sink.

I have taken these extra steps and they make my day better and my head clearer. I also find that I have a lot less to remember to do later so my stress level is much lower when I am out relaxing.

This can also be applied to your conversations. Don’t stop yourself from having a necessary conversation when the other party is right in front of you. Carrying a thought away with you for later discussion leads to misunderstandings and allows you to have an inner dialogue about it that may lead you down a bad path. Say it now. [this shouldn't be universally applied; I think some angry thoughts need to be held for diffusing]

Finally, the extension to this policy is “if you see it needs to be done, do it.” We all have a habit of walking by things that are sitting where they don’t belong or doors that are open that should be closed. I think of the fastidious mom of my past; who would always be closing blinds, putting the lid on the peanut butter, turning off the unwatched television. Those undone things weren’t the result of her actions; but she saw they needed to be done, so she did them. I do this in my daily life now. I don’t go looking for things to do (i’m not crazy), but if I see something – regardless of whether it is mine – that needs doing, I do it if I can. This makes my life better and the lives of those around me. Others may not ever notice it, but it won’t pop up in their face later and you can satisfy yourself with that thought.

So, there you have it. Finish your chores. Simple as that.

I smell cookies,

Bully