And All That Jazz

The Manifesto Series # 2 :: EFFICIENCY VS EFFECTIVENESS1
(the secret behind effectiveness and efficiency)
And all that Jazz.
Clint Bryce - Group Chief Creative Officer
Friday 18 March 2011

The Manifesto Series # 2 :: EFFICIENCY VS EFFECTIVENESS
The story begins here. The year is 1999.
2
Crazy Blues.

Crazy Blues.

This is not the poster.

What do the following have in common?
5
tinderbox. Crazy Blues. Mr John Kao.

It wasn’t until the following year that I made the connection.
6
Mr John Kao.
First published 1996
ISBNB 0-88730-864-3

Business. Jazz.
It wasn’t until the following year that I made the connection.
+ =
Creative Business.

“Jazz – like business – implies a series of balancing acts.
It must always be disciplined – but never driven –
by formulas, agendas, sheet music.
It must always be pushing outward, forward, upward –
and therefor, inevitably, against complacency.”
8
– John Kao

“ ... whether I am alone or with others, my practice of
life and the conduct of my thoughts and actions are the
practice and conduct of a jazz player:
I proceed by improvisation, by jamming.”
9
– John Kao

At it’s heart jamming is about improvisation.

We are jamming when:
11
we enjoy a great conversation

12
we write a love letter, a poem, a song ...

13
... we blog

14
we dance ...

15
we train for that big cycle challenge

16
we win the cricket game

17
we deliver that blockbuster presentation

18
Rob delivers our Quirkstation chat

19
an inspired product development team
embark on the road to create something
new and exciting.

And yes. We are jamming right now. Right here.
20

When we
walk the
tightrope
between
analytic
rigor and inspired
passion ...
we leave
the sheet
music
behind for
new
horizons,
“
we are jamming.”

This improvisational style derives it’s power from the
way it juxtaposes certain vital human tensions, or
paradoxes. The same applies in business. With us.
This is very powerful stuff.

Examples of these tensions include ...
The established (tradition, powers
that be, status quo, processes) ...
Critical norms and standards ...
Responsiveness to the team ...
Discipline ...
Client service ...
Limiting budgets ...
Monitoring (reviews, time-keeping) ...
Expertise ...
Efficiency ...
The new. The new. The new. The new.
The new. The new.
The need to experiment.
Individual expressiveness.
Free abandonment.
Creative production.
Generous hours.
Unmonitored.
Freshness, naïveté.
Exploration.

Task
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Project definition $
days
days
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days
days
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$
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Information design
Visual design
Flash animation
Production
Programming
Usability testing
Competitive analysis
days
%
TOTAL
Copywriting
QA/testing
days $$
days $$
Estimate by Task
© Web ReDesign 2.0 | Workflow that Works (ISBN 0-7357-1433-9)
Production schedules
Time sheets
Efficiency
Creativity
Strategy
Innovation
Effectiveness
Examples of these tensions include ...

Jazz music is called improvisational because
it does not try to resolve these tensions.
In other words, it is impervious to recipes, to
formulas. It is satisfied to live them – to work or
rather ‘play’ them – for all they’re worth.
What I learnt was this:
i absolutely this!

What I learnt was this:
Realise that there is no winner, or loser, only the
sound of the tune you have all agreed upon.
Play the tension in the room for all it’s worth ... but do
not try to resolve it.

A well-managed enterprise cannot survive without sheet
music. It allows the management of complexity, without which
the performers would degenerate into cacophony.

Our role is to work the central paradox (or tension) of the ‘jam
session’: to locate the ever mobile ‘sweet spot” somewhere
between systems and analysis on the one hand ...
and the free-flowing creativity on the other.

Here are my Top 10 suggestions ...

10 BANISH PROCRASTINATION
Successful musicians are prolific.
If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.

9 ADOPT THE ‘POST-IT’ PHILOSOPHY
If It Won't Fit On A Post-It, It Won't Fit In Your Day
‘Closed lists’ are more likely to be accomplished. Your day has a finite no. of hours -
all your tasks for a 24h period should fit on a single 3X3 Post-It.
Time spent processing is arguably the most valuable and productive time of your day.
Smart Jazz musicians focus one song.

8 STEAL
Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination.
Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this your
work (and theft) will be authentic.
Stealing also gives you a head start.
“It’s not where you take things from – it’s where you take them to.” - Jim Jarmusch

7 DON’T BE A SUPERHERO
After quoting 2 hours on a job you're 4 hours into it and only a quarter
of the way done. Don't put your cape on.
Review 'dailies' will keep those capes in the closet and make progress
(or lack of it) transparent to the team.
Band member’s gather often and frequently to help each other out.

6 BAN THE ‘DEATH MAGNET*’
Death Magnets are the traditional habits and patterns of thinking that continue to seduce
companies. Because it has always been like this, we continue to follow like lemmings.
Yet we don't ask why?
Our ecosystem is littered with ‘dead documents' that do nothing but waste peoples time -
taking forever to create, but only seconds to forget.
Remove unnecessary layers of abstraction. It only distracts you from your tune.
*Death Magnet - a term coined by Jim Jones, a former M60 tank commander.

5 BE (INTELLECTUALLY) LAZY
Lazy folk find smart solutions. Do not solve problems with complicated approaches.
Find a Judo Solution; one that delivers maximum efficiency with minimum effort.
Judo solutions are all about getting the the most out of doing the least. This can also
be referred to as the’ Law of Least Effort’.
The important point is to be prolific and keep moving. The music must be played.

4 PRUNE MEETINGS AWAY
Few activities are more of a productivity drain than meetings.
If you must meet (and this should be a big “if”), make sure
everyone knows what needs to be accomplished from the outset.
"Do we all know why we're here?" and then follow with, "Does
everyone need to be here?"
If your set does not require the Sax then leave them out.

3 GET UP EARLY
Some of us are predisposed to late-night creation (like me), while others naturally
wake with the sun (like Sarah M and Grant W).
Age is also a factor. (How many elderly people do you know that sleep in?)
Like it or not, most of the world works on a 9-to-5 schedule, which naturally
provides the early riser with a certain advantage.
“Though evening people do have some advantages … they’re out of sync with the
typical corporate schedule. When it comes to business success, morning people
hold the important cards.” - Biologist Christoph Randler

2 MAKE TIME* AN ALLY.
Produce schedules, timetables and deadlines that harmonize disparate
work styles. Easily written. Impossibly difficult to create: synchronizing
differing perceptions of time ranks high among human problems.
The job of negotiating a mutually satisfactory agreement about time is
part of the managers job.
*Footnote: Time is relative. And man-made. You can bend time. Ask me how. :-)

1 BE A JAZZ MUSICIAN.
We are all musicians. We are all creative. We are all artists.
Recognize, then play, the human tension for all it's worth. Understand that
what may seem like 'conflict' does not require resolution. It is simply an artist
following a tune they believe in. Follow their lead until you can introduce a
complementary beat they then believe in.
Only then, will we be making music together.

fin. Q’s. Debate. Conversation.
40

And All That Jazz

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