Focusing On Quality Makes A Difference

“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”

Steve Jobs

Underperforming organizations are usually led by multiple levels of managers, all using and reinforcing each other’s bad habits and getting promoted for them. Try leading based on doing quality work first, and yes, it will be risky but worth it.

Numbers Uncover The Opportunities

“No one had ever counted this before, and I don’t think anybody realized that there was such a gap. Overall, we were about 75% male — for speaking characters and line count. That was standard across the industry.”

Jessica Heidt, features department manager, Pixar Animation Studios, Bloomberg Businessweek, March 21, 2022.

If something just does not seem right, no matter how well it is accepted by everyone, try capturing the numbers that characterize the ‘not right’ we are seeing. Expect denial and disbelief, but it will pass if we’ve done good research.

Good Estimates Deliver On Time With Quality

“Garbage estimates don’t account for the humanity of the people doing the work. … This ends up forcing bad behaviors that lead to inferior engineering, loss of talent, and ultimately less valuable solutions. … Can’t craft a quality solution in the time you’ve been allotted? Hack a quick fix so you can close out the ticket.”

Infoworld, Software engineering estimates are garbage, Jeremy Duvall, June 14, 2022. 

Otherwise known (by me) as Benson’s Bylaw: People will work at a quality deficit if given insufficient time. Use our past performance to make good estimates, and yes, expect pushback because the schedule will appear to be “too long” even though it is how long it is already taking. Delivering on time with good quality will annoy the naysayers but delight the customers.

Tools Enhance Quality And Productivity

I tell my computer science daughters that they have the greatest toys (ok, tools) to work with when it comes to developing and managing software-intensive systems. Make sure to learn and use those tools, including all the AI bots, when managing your projects, but remember that your best project management tool is still you and that paying attention every day helps to sharpen that tool.