What Not to Do: Expect Different Results by Doing Something New

WHAT NOT TO DO

Paul Perrotta, Director, Shared Content Services

Juniper Networks Information Experience

Expect different results by doing something new

AGENDA

Introduction

Decision-Makers

Success

Examples

3 Copyright © 2012 Juniper Networks, Inc. www.juniper.net

A LITTLE ABOUT ME…

• 25+ years in technical communication

• 18+ years in management

• BS, Technical Writing & Editing, from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA

In General

• Director, Shared Content Services, Juniper Networks (March 2012 to Present)

• Retirement (March 12, 2010 to March 12, 2012)

• Senior Manager, Technical Documentation, Network Management Technology Group, Cisco (2000 to 2010)

• Acting Account Mgr, EDS, at Fujitsu Microelectronics (1998 to 2000)

• EDS Operations Mgr and Acting Director, Technical Documentation, Pyramid Technology (1994 to 1998)

• Manager/Writer at Pyramid Technology (1990 to 1994)

• Writer at IBM/ROLM Systems (1985 to 1990)

Career Landscape


ABOUT THIS SESSION

My experience in high-tech during good/bad

times

Tech Pubs, Tech Docs, User Assistance,

Information Experience, Customer Learning

In general we were not well-regarded

It doesn’t have to be that way: we can be successful business

partners


Confusion of purpose

High cost: people,

tools, delivery

Long dev cycle

We’re “special”

“We make books”

We are artists

TechDocs

THE WAY WE WERE

Confusion of purpose High cost:

people, tools,

delivery

“We make books”

We are artists

Long dev cycle

We’re “special”

TechDocs

We do not understand our

value well enough and we do not

articulateour value to the

right people.


DRAMATES PERSONAE

VPOperations

Sr. Mgr.

Prog Mgmt

Mgr.,

Labmgt

Sr. Mgr.,

Tech DocsMgr., Web Services

Sr. Mgr., Business Planning

VP Engineering

Director, Dev Team

Director, Dev Team

Director, Test Team

Sr. Mgr, Tech Docs

Sr. Mgr., Prog Mgmt

SVPMarketing

VP

WebTools

Director

Operations

VP

User Assist.VP Customer Experience

VP, Partner Programs


THE GOAL: BUILD A BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP

General Behaviors• You agree on the problems you’re trying to solve• You have a common or related strategy• You’re consistent• Focus is on the business

Behind the Scenes: Building Trust• Confidential information• Customer and business focus• Do what’s right• Represent one another


INTERNAL DECISION-MAKERS

Who in the org makes decisions?

• Project funding• People funding• Performance• Equipment• Tooling /

environment

Is the decision-maker…

• An ally?• Skeptical?• A glorified

mommy or daddy?


WHAT WE THINK OF …

All-knowing, scheming, poor ethics, in it for only personal gain…


… THE REALITY

Decision-Maker

Educated

Time is Precious

Strong Opinions

Focuses on entire business

Optimist

Decision-maker

Well connected

Well paid

Why Does It Matter?

• This person wants you to succeed

• You want you to succeed

• You want your team to succeed

• You want your company to succeed


WELL-KNOWN PATHS TO SUCCESSWITH APOLOGIES TO NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI

• Incriminating photos (find / take / shop them)

• Frame the competition

• Character assassination

• Career assassination

• Lie

• Cheat

• Deflect blame by going on the offensive

• Sex

• Sabotage projects / programs

• Voice misgivings

• Orchestrate transfers and job changes

• Be competent (recommended)


SUCCESS IS AN ONGOING CONVERSATION

Do a good job. 1. Know your team (inventory / analysis)

2. Define a vision and a strategy

3. Build your sales pitch

4. Propose a funding model

5. Reinforce the benefits

Scout the landscape: Know your leader and your leader’s peers. What are their strategies? What is on their minds?

Engage

Measure

Report

Discuss


EXAMPLE 1: “WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON?”

“Look at this 400-line project spreadsheet.”

“We are understaffed.”

“We need more people.”

“Our understaffing affects morale.”

“Our tools suck.”

Traditional

“Here’s how what we do fits into the company strategy.”

“Here’s how our projects map to your priorities.”

“Here’s what’s above the line and below the line.”

“Here’s how we add value to the company and to customers.”

“Here are ways we could solve this problem, but we might need some help…”

Executive Whisperer


EXAMPLE 2: “WE MAY HAVE TO DO LAYOFFS”

“My team is too valuable to have layoffs.”

“Morale is already bad.”

“This will make a lot of people unhappy.”

“I need assurance that this will be the last one.”


Traditional

“Let’s talk about what we know about the size and scope of potential cuts.”

“Are we making any changes to the rest of the business?”

“Here’s how I would make these kinds of decisions.”

“Decisions like these might have effects on other programs. Here is a preview.”

Executive Whisperer


EXAMPLE 3: “CUSTOMERS SAY QUALITY IS LOW”

“We’re doing the best we can.”

“They’re wrong.”

“The product is crap.”

“Morale is the lowest I’ve seen it.”


Traditional

“Let me investigate what’s going on and get back to you.”

“We haven’t seen this kind of comment before. Can we contact this customer to gather more information?”

“We made a tough decision to focus elsewhere. Here is what we can do short term and here is what the long term plan might look like.”

“With some help, we could address this issue and others like it.”

Executive Whisperer


EXAMPLE 4: “WE SHOULD HAVE QUALITY MEASURES”

“You can’t measure artists.”

“Our process is too complex to measure well.”

“We don’t have time to measure.”

“Morale is really low.”


Traditional

“We already measure in many ways. Let’s discuss what we’re doing so far.”

“Here is what we think is important. Do you agree?”

“Here are current measures and here is our performance compared with our goals.”

“Other companies have similar measures. Here is why we think some measures are more important at this company.”

Executive Whisperer


EXAMPLE 5: “LET’S TALK ABOUT YOUR BUDGET”

“We need more money and people.”

“Morale is really low.”


Traditional

“Here is what we do today with our current budget.”

“With a little help, I think we could tackle some quality issues that we’re just not able to get to now.”

“Here is how what we do today compares to your goals.”

Executive Whisperer


THANK YOU!

Documents

What Not to Do: Expect Different Results by Doing Something New