Rule Ait
MOVE ALL CONSTRAINTS TO MEATSPACE
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Who controls the past, ran the Party slogan, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past
George Orwell

“Cyberspace,” Franck announces, using an imitation of the voice which is always used for the voice-over descriptions of trailers of cheap ‘coming shortly to a cinema near you’ films, the deep gravely tone nicknamed in the industry, ‘The Voice Of God’, “Cyberspace the final frontier!”

The participants are looking at him as if he has finally gone mad.

“I know you think I’ve lost the plot, but I haven’t. We only know that meatspace exists because we can touch it. Cyberspace we only ever interpret. The sounds coming down the phone line, as a voice, the black and white pixels on a computer screen, as a page and so on. The great thing about cyberspace is the speed with which the parts can move. Look, why does any business not make an infinite amount of money?” He pauses and then commits the sin he had promised not to, for the third time that day he answers his own question. “It’s surely, because ‘something’ holds it back. That ‘something’ is a constraint. Constraints limit our ability to deliver what we wish to. If you accept that every process has constraints, then the question I need to ask you is, ‘Where would you want the constraint to be?’ If it was entirely your choice ‘Where would you wish the constraint to be?’. Would you want it in your own control? Or in someone else’s?” This time he waits for an answer.

“Could you repeat the question again?” asks the Re-engineer

“Sure. If you accept that every process has constraints,... where would you want the constraint to be? Would you want it in your own control or in someone else’s?”

Phrased like that, the answer is quite obvious. A business whose constraints lie in the market will find itself with over-capacity and unable to plan but always be driven by the market place. Or perhaps if a regulatory body holds the business constraints, they will find themselves forced into constant re-negotiations and requests for policy changes. Definitely, you wish constraints to be in your own control. The Re-engineer says so.

“Good. Now how about this one? Would you rather have your constraints in cyberspace, for example the difficulty of retrieving data or a slow computer system which results in long queues of customers or unbilled work, or would you rather be constrained by a meatspace issue, such as the actual speed of installation or the managerial time available for managing the business?”

This is less obvious. There is a very, very pregnant silence.

“Why don’t we break into buzz groups to discuss it and see what we come up with?” A second later the room is abuzz. At the end of the group discussion Franck concludes, “Any organization seeking to compete on speed must move as much as possible of its operations into cyberspace. Think about the impact this has on strategies which have been pursued for decades such as centralizing production or making use of centers of excellence. As soon as the information flow lines stop being the same as the reporting and control routes, people become very important. It is by finding and empowering the people who fall at the nodes of the communication that we really get the best out of cyberspace whilst keeping the constraints firmly in meatspace and firmly in our control.”


RE-INVENT INFORMATION
The problem with cyberspace, is that, just like the lower reaches of real space, it’s full of space junk. You don’t believe me.? Surf the net for a day and see, or even simpler, work out how much of your e-mail today was really useful. My personal belief is because most people don’t really know what information is or what it’s for.” He pauses with this challenging statement but all he receives is agreement.
“Yeah, makes sense, all the stuff I get copied in on.” says the organisation development manager., “In my organization we seem to use e-mail as a way of avoiding doing any work. You get a task first thing you do is e-mail everyone and do nothing. If anyone chases you, you can claim that you’ve e-mailed key stakeholders and are waiting for their input.” Heads nod in agreement.
Franck looks disappointed at this reaction. He had wanted more discussion.
“I spend the first half hour every day opening e-mails with attachments and trashing them.”
Franck seems to brighten. “Why do you think that they are sending you stuff which is of no value to you?”
“I guess it’s like we heard yesterday, ‘information and data are not the same thing, you want answers, you want information. Information is the answer to the question asked. If you are not asking the question then anything they send you is useless to you. It’s just data’.”
“I agree,” he says, “information is part of a living system your organization needs to rediscover. You remember earlier someone mentioned attachments?”
“It was me, I was complaining about them. And how long it takes you to open them up, only to discover that they are in the wrong format or version or add nothing to your thinking.” said the Global Communicator
“But tell me about the attachments. Why are they sending you those?” asks Franck
“I guess they expect me to use them to work out the actions I need to take.”
“So some information is about actions?”
“Yes.”
“And some tells you what has happened?”
“Yeah.”
“So are those two types of information different?”
“I don’t understand what you mean?”
Information enabling you to take an action versus information which tells you about what has happened?
“Oh I see. You mean, is the reason that I need the information different? I guess it is.”
“And does that mean you want to get your hands on a different type of information?”
“I guess so.”
Franck has turned his attention to a flip chart, and even now, is marking up and labeling a diagram.
“I’d hoped it wouldn’t be four but there seem to be four types of information. He explains why he had wished for a different outcome. “Four types seems a bit trite. Everybody has models with groups of four.”


The first type of answer, is the type which organizations are usually very keen on. It is the answer to the question ‘What happened?’. It is information where the data required has been created and collected sometime in the past. As a rule, the data simply records an event or parameter. It tells you about the content of a historic activity. A bit like swotting up the dates in a history lesson. Most organizations are obsessed and swamped with this sort of information. What were last month's sales?, (or even next month's sales projections?, remember, the targets were probably set six months ago even though the event hasn’t occurred yet), market share information, number of employees, their names, hobbies and dog/cat preferences are all this type of content information. Organizations tend to focus upon one type of content information, the attributes. This includes numbers of units, perhaps color, and so on. The attributes act as a shorthand for content information, but going back to the history lesson you may know the date the Mayflower sailed and how many people were on board but asked to describe one of the sails you may want to resort to another type of content information, form information. Form information answers questions on just that, ‘What is it?’ the form of an object. Form data describes the roughness, the fiber content the actual shape (they weren’t exact rectangles) Content information, as attributes, is brilliantly compatible with computer cyberspace. It easily fits into databases and spreadsheets. Form data can also be stored in computer cyberspace but not very efficiently, for a start, a translation of Form to numbers has to happen. Just think about how big even graphics files are. And then you need to go out and buy an enormous hard disk.”
“You mean form data is less efficient to store?” asks the Re-engineer
“Infinitely, especially information on real objects. Storing the Form information, even on something as important as your Phoenix shirt is a major task.”
“Perhaps that’s why we have concentrated on content attribute information.” Suggests the informatised manager.
“I agree. And we’re brilliant at it but just remember, as customers become more demanding, Form gives us another dimension to explore. The seats in your car could be not only gray leather but soft gray leather or warm gray leather. Two different types of information linked to two different questions. ‘What color are the seats? What is the seat like?’”
The Customer Focused Manager is scribbling furiously.
“Let’s look at something else. Go back to the earlier part of our discussion, when we were talking about organizations’ obsession with attribute content data. If you think about the sales meeting where you were asked for last months sales, you may also remember being asked why the figure is so brilliant (in your case), abysmal (in mine). I bet you embarked on a Fairy Tale. ‘Once upon a time in a market far far away, there were a group of customers who formed a segment. Now in this segment, there was a need for a product. But because there was no product, the people in the segment felt very sad. One day, a sales knight came along etcetera, What you are now describing, is still in the past, but now you are explaining how it came about you are describing some of the softer aspects such as how the people were feeling the behavior of the various stakeholders within the fairy tale. Of course in your case the fairy tale is what actually happened. (In my fairy tale it’s all made up.) Often, the discussion then moves to ‘What could it be?’. this type of information is predictive, It’s like consulting an oracle or soothsayer.
“Are you suggesting that we look in a crystal ball for business answers?” asks the Strategist.
Franck grins in response. “I always think of the story of that Greek bloke, Croesus, Emperor type, King of Lydia, I think ages ago, who consulted the oracle at Delphi which told him that, if he attacked the Persians, a great empire would be destroyed. So he attacked and his empire was destroyed. What do you think that the oracle was actually trying to tell him.
“Perhaps that both parties had fully entrenched positions and that when a pair like that go to war it usually ends in destruction for one of them.” The Strategist replies insightfully.
Precisely. Predictive information is about patterns. It’s about recognizing the general from the specific. It’s like what we are doing now, using last nights tales to discover rules.”
The Strategist nods smiling.
“Now let’s go back to your discussion in real life. After you’ve told them the Fairy tale and you’ve made some predictions about the common patterns in similar situations, my guess is the conversation turned to ‘How could it come about?. Am I right? Is that what happens? I guess the challenge is to use all four types of information. Each on it’s own is useful but together, and only together, do they provide the learning and action essential for success in a New World which is also a Virtual space world.
To be an effective New World manager you must develop your capability to expliot all four types of information. I have a very simple exercise. It’s a simple audit of where you invest your time to gather information.” He draws on the flipchart a diamond similar to the previous one only this time he leaves it blank. He instructs, “What I’d like you to do is to think through a day at work, either a specific day or typical day, or even a meeting and on this diagram lets see where most time was spent. I’ll tell you what, why don’t you do it on your own first, and then we can discuss it as a group?”
They share their reviews. Some people have shaded in the diagram to represent the focus, others have placed ticks or crosses representing each topic or hour. The result is depressing. Franck suggests a short ‘comfort break’.

STAY DIGITAL
“This one is a no brainer. In virtual space world there is nothing more effective than staying digital. Whatever you do avoid moving from space world into Here and Now world. If it’s in a digital format keep it there, don’t print it out. But staying digital is more than just about the medium you use for storing and transporting information, it is also the basis of a New World strategy. Stay digital should affect your investment strategy. If you are in manufacturing, where should you be manufacturing? Should you move products to ‘centers of manufacturing excellence'? Or should you move the information to where the materials are. An interesting example I saw recently, from a utility company, was the use of locals with head mounted cameras through which pictures of their plant, cameras, a bit like a miner’s helmet but with a camera instead of a lamp.” Now he is miming what he is describing. Trouble shooting and inspection could be beamed from the camera. It meant that an ‘expert’ somewhere in the world could observe guide and provide the know-how for dealing with problems as they came down the cable to their screen.”

STOP COMMUNICATING

“Eight people meet in a darkened room for half a day. Adding up the cost of salaries, associated costs, e.g., the company cars, costs of traveling to and from the venue and the costs of the venue, the total amount of money spent on that half day comes to just under £1500. What you need to know, is that the profit margin for the organization is 10%. So if this meeting is anything over and above the normal day-to day stuff of business, guess how much additional sales revenue will have to be generated, just to stay square? Yes, you can do the sums too, £15,000 - frightening isn’t it. And yet, all over the world, people invest in a form of activity called face-to face meetings. Bizarre.”

While the participants are reeling under their own thoughts of the implications of the bizarre way in which their organizations are spending their money, Franck headbuts them again. “Another strange thing. Most people believe that the way to get a message over is to communicate it. Now, you may know, that the advertising industry employs many of the world’s most creative minds and puts them to work for days and weeks crafting communication messages. These messages, these beautifully constructed, scientifically validated messages in the right color and tone then have to be repeated to the average citizen a good half dozen times before they even notice it. And then another half dozen times before they understand it. And maybe are biased to respond. But we only notice the communication if the message both matches the medium through which it is delivered and matches our perceptions at the time. I remember reading about a company which seven years ago produced a mobile phone which was smaller than a packet of cigarettes, approximately credit card sized. This was in the days when most mobile phones weighed as much as a large full briefcase and were about the size of pair of household bricks. And yet sales never took off, because people watching the television advertisement, didn’t recognize it as a real product, they just ignored the message, dismissing it as a James Bond type, fictional gizmo. Perhaps the medium was wrong or the perception was wrong. Tell me, what chance do we, with our busy schedules, normal levels of creativity, lack of time to beautifully craft our messages, what chance do we stand in trying to use communication, especially written communication or even spoken communication (without the sexy pulsating backing track to underpin the message)? What chance do we stand of ever having an effective communication process for the whole organization? And yet the management gurus and consultants have convinced us that this is the one way to develop strategies and create the changes we need to succeed with in the New World. Just work out the additional sales you need to support a meeting of 100 staff and see whether the communication is worth that much. What do you think? Don’t you get it? Meetings are in meatspace.” He grins. “If you ‘Move all your constraints to meatspace’ you will do your best to use that constraint in the way which makes you the most money. You will minimize your meetings, you will all speak faster. You will only discuss in meetings things which help you make money and where the use of meatspace is the only way of getting the work done.”

I guess you can easily see why I say in the New World you must stop communicating.

The Global Communicator seems to find hes tongue. “You cannot be serious. You cannot be suggesting that we stop communicating to our people. How will they learn about what the organization is trying to achieve?”

“Great question. We try to help people to learn by talking or writing at them. Or at best by talking and writing to them, and yet we know that most people learn best by doing. So why don’t we communicate through the actual actions? Why don’t we simply present the problem vaguely and allow people to get to work in delivering the results. Is it really true that people in an organization are completely paralyzed, immobile and un-moveable until they have had a mission statement communicated to them? A mission statement which covers all the organizations aspirations? Or perhaps there is another way. Identify the stakeholders, give them little information, enough though to get started on actions and then and only then communicate with them at the right level of detail, at the right time using a medium which echoes the message you are trying to get across.” He pauses waiting for comments. There is an eerie silence. He waits another moment and then presses on. “If you really need to move information around think about,...” He draws up on the flip chart.

Think about two things the emotional content and the need to interactively communicate to deliver the result. Now think about where this is best tackled, in touchspace or in cyberspace?





And now think about the best method. Don’t forget, you must constantly strive to ‘Move all constraints into meatspace.’ This means that you must make sure that all your interactions in cyberspace work 100%. You may need to invest resources and time to make sure that this happens.


“I’d suggest five minutes, over coffee, no lets say fifteen minutes, for you to review how you personally and then your organization makes use of cyberspace to support meatspace.”