Rummler – Brache and Visual Thinking

I am amazed that I missed reading the works on process and performance improvement during the 1980’s and 90’s. During that time I was interested in subjects like Alvin Toffler’s ‘Future Shock’. But I guess the popular phrase at that time is‘re-engineering’ or ‘comparative advantage’ which can be linked to process or performance improvement. I find interesting is the use of visual tools in the methodology. Of course, I was familiar with early visual tools such as flow charting used at that time which eventually evolved into ‘swim lanes’. I think the rise of visual thinking can also be traced to the rise of process improvement concepts led by Rummler andBrache.

But I think their methodology is well known by management specialists during the period as it’s theories are taught in business schools to high level leaders and officers. This was not well known to the public perhaps because the theory was just starting out. Now that visual tools have reached a level of popularity, for example mind mapping or Dan Roam’s visual methods in ‘Back of the Napkin’ have made the process improvement concepts now seem dated. But the process concept has triumphed and well accepted management methodology. It’s no longer the preserve of the business elite but of every knowledge workers such as business analysts and project managers. It has become so prevalent because of the rise of visual thinking tools as well.

Now that both trends are well accepted methods, namely, process improvement and visual thinking, Rummler-Brache has achieved a certain acceptance and near mythical status. Of course, they do not rank high in the ladder with people like Michael Porter or Mike Hammer but more in the modern day consultants, business analyst or project mangers that rely on their tools and techniques in their every day work. I think their work is indispensable in today knowledge culture and information age. It’s a new world out there with baby boomers growing old and so-called echo-boomers coming of age like my kids. I think they need to understand these tools to be successful in the modern work place. It increases understanding and solve problems faster and comprehensively.

I think the immediate skill that I will teach my kids is to be a blogger or at least to learn how to maintain a website. This is a foundation skill in the age of the Internet. I am finishing Richard Reich’s ‘The Future of Success’ and he talks about the lack of time for modern professionals. So a good business is to help the harassed modern person with things like a call center based concierge or butler. The company has a similar life service where we can call and ask about things like the location of the best Chinese restaurant, or the closest book store that carries a book I want to buy and all that, including legal and financial services. All these services are for free as the company is paying for it. Recently I attended a road show about such services and I attended free seminars like ‘Integrating Work and Home Life’, ‘Thinking Positively’ and ‘Treating Mental Illness’.

I guess this is the image of the future. In fact we are living in the future. It is no more the stuff of books or concepts or theories. It’s a world where everyone is adept at visual thinking, creating process and relationship diagrams, creating and maintaining blogs or other web sites, calling life service concierges to get information and assistance, using social networking to keep in touch and having a digital life to get connected and achieve meaning in life. It’s a world that allows everyone to be what ever he wants to be. I feel like I have achieved an epiphany of sorts of the future or the life that I am living right now. It’s a way of life that can only exist perhaps in this country. It’s fitting that I should have these thoughts today being just informed that my permanent resident application has been approved. It’s as if the foundation of modern life has been laid after years of learning and experience and now is the time to live one’s dreams.

Improving Performance

I am again bored at work with nothing to do but procrastinate. I attended a training session this morning on wireless communication. It was informative. The speaker is an interesting geek who uses Latin phrases as his password and watches ‘Dr. Who’ – the quirky science fiction television show from England. He was an interesting speaker who I often see around the hallways looking at me. I realized he seems to be a good technical guru who could speak well in front of audiences. Earlier in the morning I listened to the meeting on the project though I did not participate too much. I am focused on a certain aspect only and not involved in the other parts.

Yesterday we had a meeting on the deliverable to be submitted to a contributor. It was a good meeting that proved my point. I don’t know why meeting like these are still held which is a waste of time. I tried to explain that the process is already clearly defined but I guess people are entitled to their opinions. This seems to be a sacred rule that must be respected. So I respectfully attended, listening to the people discussing and explaining their points and occasionally I contributed my views. It was a good session where everyone could explain their points but a total waste of time because the answer is already known. The main opposition is coming from the contributor who is key person in the project.

I surprised that an external contributor could question the internal processes of the company. But I am somehow glad he did because it only proves my assertions. I hope that people would listen to me more now that I have been proven right a few times. I noticed that I talk excitedly and quietly that seems to reduce my integrity. I am easily excitable and sometimes I may seem to be emotional during discussions that people treat me as second stringer. I guess I should pause more and think deeply before speaking. But this is the test for new people like me. I guess I have to prepare and appear to be more knowledgeable. Most of the people don’t know much around here or don’t cultivate a learning and eager attitude. Most seem to be old and tired and just willing to procrastinate.

Our domain manager sent a note about reducing the fore casted completion time as the estimated time exceeded the budget by nearly 50%. I am surprised and my boss - the project manager is no help. He seems to be punch drunk a lot of times and I am surprised that he has lasted long here. His son is a rocket scientist and sometime everything seems to be rocket science over here. It’s a funny contradiction where everything seems to be clear and straight forward but at times it’s more confusing and messy in other times. The quality of thinking is sometimes poor I feel although there are a lot of training sessions. Perhaps there is a lack of reflections and introspection. One thing for sure is that the people here are practical and experienced with little tolerance for intellectuals.

The company was voted recently as one of the top 100 places to work in America for computer systems. It’s only the second company in the state to receive this honor. I think the main reason is due to the transformation program that took place. By applying best practices like process improvement via Rummler-Brache methods, Balanced Scorecard, Portfolio Management, Project Management, internal training and certification, increasing communication and heavy use of web-based tools like websites have made this company a great place to work. But nevertheless, there are still people like me who procrastinate and don’t have a clue at times on how and where to begin. I guess I have to perform my own performance improvement analysis by looking into my personal idiosyncrasies so I can tailor a more efficient working life.

I am listening to Robert Reich’s audio book ‘The Future of Success’. He divides the successful worker of tomorrow into the ‘geek’ – familiar with modern technology, and the ‘shrink’ – analyzer of current trends. An interesting book although I initially thought it was dated and obsolete. But I wanted to listen to the thoughts of Bill Clinton’s labor secretary on his take on the future. At least it’s coming from a professor who was a cabinet secretary to one of the best presidents America ever had in the greatest country on earth. Not a bad resume for a writer. One of his main points is the lack of time in the future due to the increasing information and I agree with his statement.

It’s the month of Nanowrimo and I wanted to use this opportunity to finish a first draft. But I find myself unprepared again. Maybe I will just ‘free write’ and see what will come out of it. I have downloaded a few writing tools and the tools out there are very sophisticated. I think I am getting to understand more the ‘craft’ of writing than just the act of writing itself. In some ways, it is managing one’s creative mind that is the challenge. Sometimes too much creativity and imagination results in self-abuse and distractions. For instance, I borrowed too many DVDs and books again and went on a road trip in the weekend to Chimney Rock and Lake Lurie instead of preparing for Nanowrimo.

Process Improvement

I have been pondering about the many changes happening in the company in recent years. I had always thought that the changes were influenced by recent trends in information technology. For example, the transformation of IBM from hardware company to a services company, outsourcing trend to India and so on. But after reading Rummler and Brache’s book ‘Improving Performance’, I understood what was going on (but proves their point also that the company is an adaptive organism). In fact, Rummler and Brache, I believed provided the intellectual foundation or framework to go about transforming the company. It was as if I have read the bible on this subject with the philosophical underpinnings of the massive changes being wrought.


The company in fact is moving towards a business process orientation. The main goal is to improve internal processes. The book is an eye opener into the trends sweeping the business world. I believe that Rummler and Brache’s books are indispensable in understanding today’s world. I witnessed first hand the revolution that their work has on today’s project managers. For instance, we are always requested to do process maps or the so-called swim lane diagrams. I have even created a few in the past months for my current projects. Little did I know that these are exactly the tools and the framework and the philosophy espoused by Rummler and Brache.


‘Improving Performance’ provides a comprehensive framework to analyze and improve any workplace. I have gone over a lot of process maps in our work and was astounded by the comprehensiveness of the effort. It was truly a transforming exercise and I am glad I am able to experience it first hand. But it was only now that I understood the concepts and theory behind it. I think this philosophy or concept is one of the most important tools that one should have handy when one changes jobs or moves to a different function or work atmosphere. I am only surprised that I missed their work and instead focused on the more popular ideas like ‘re-engineering’ or ‘comparative advantage’ by notables like Mike Hammer and Michael Porter.


Both these established writers are quite good but lack the nuts and bolts, down to earth quality of Rummler and Brache’s work. To sound good and intelligent, one should quote Hammer and Porter but to get things done one really needs Rummler and Brache. I think understanding their work as a tool box is a good addition to one’s resume in addition to having PMP and Toastmaster certifications. The course rounds up one’s knowledge and helps one be effective in the workplace. I guess my company utilized their concepts a lot and looking at their documentation is a testament to its effectiveness and usability. Experiencing the business transformation by attending the training, using the tools and working in the new environment convinced me that it works.

Visual tools play a big role in the new orientation. The book ‘Improving Performance’ has a lot of visual tools like process maps, ‘swim lane’ diagrams, relationship maps, matrices and so on. So one needs to develop a facility in visual thinking and the ability to draw and express oneself visually. Hence, all the trends seem to come together now with emphasis on process improvement, visual thinking, mind-mapping, project management and Toastmasters (i.e. using traditional modes of communicating). Some sites mention that visual thinking is a problem solving technique and used extensively in process improvement and re-engineering.

In my current work, I used a lot of ‘swim lane’ diagrams, visual maps and other such diagrams to get the message across and communicate to the many contributors engaged in the project. Without realizing it, the emphasis was on process improvement than in any other aspect. The fact that it was successful in moving the project forward is a testament that the process revolution is underway. The book was written in 1990 and it was only now, 19 years later that I got a chance to read it and understand the changes happening in my company. An indispensable work for any one who wishes to improve his work or life in today’s world. Or at least to make sense of the changes and its rationale and be sane.

Writing like Speaking

Last night I continued reading Nick Daws CD writing course. There where some interesting ideas. I think that I will not enroll in a formal writing course because there are a lot of low cost alternatives like this one. Beside there’s already a lot of free materials available in the Internet. I am astounded by the wealth of information out there. It’s getting to be a ‘silent’ and ethereal tower of Babel with all sorts of people writing and giving there 5 cents worth. One should distinguish the writings of quality from those that are just writing to earn a buck. In the latter, one could just say just about anything and reading these blogs wastes your time and confuses your mind.


Anyway the writing course had an interesting advice which is to write like you speak. From this perspective, Toastmaster is helping me be a better writer. I think this experience is helpful in structuring my thoughts and arranging them into a conversational manner. Clarity and structure and organization are important as well when making a speech. In fact I often write speech that does not ‘speak’ well when I make the speech. I come across as too formal. So I try to make it more informal. I guess that’s also my problem when I write. My thoughts often come tumbling out in a torrent that I appear disorganized and confused. Or it comes out as too formal that it’s boring and dead.


Achieving a balance between both extremes may not be the solution as well. The challenge is really to be authentic. The Toastmaster experience especially here in this country provides this opportunity. People speak from the heart and go directly to the essence. So it will help me to go directly to the point when writing or when expressing myself. I noticed this already when I write e-mails. I need to self-edit myself to get understood. Hence, speaking from the heart will also help one’s writing skills because one gets to develop his authentic ‘voice’. So writing like speaking becomes a reality.


So writing becomes a journey of self improvement. To be a good writer requires one to be a highly developed person in thoughts and in speech. For my specific situation, it requires slowing down my thought process and focusing on the flow of thoughts. I sometimes miss the flow of conversation with the folks here. I find that I am often slow in catching up or that folks here are slow witted. So it’s like our minds move back and forth until an understanding is reached. I guess that’s what it means to have a singular and original mind in a nation of individuals. Being understood requires a synchronicity of minds.

Listening to Jimmy Carter speak in his books reveals that he is a unique and singular person. So is Bill Clinton. I think people from the South retain their individuality that speaks of their authenticity. They just seem to be more humane and real. I think I learn more about the south by reading Jimmy Carter. Bill Clinton has that core but he is more sophisticated and I think he is worldly and seems like an Easterner. I guess it’s symbolic that he moved to New York from Arkansas. But both persons are good examples of people who write like they speak. I think they have found themselves that they are able to write. I am not sure if I have found myself yet to be able to write like I speak. I guess I have to speak properly first before I can write properly.

I think I started to write better before I could speak. But it became a technical task and lacked the authenticity that a voyage of discovery would reveal. One could be more worldly and experienced without achieving the unique voice that one should achieve. Internally the result is an internal tower of Babel with words becoming just words without meaning. The result is a lot of verbiage which rhymes with garbage.

The solution is to rise above the garbage, de-clutter and simplify. The result will be less thoughts and mental confusion. Strange that meditation now looks like a way to be a better writer as well. In summary, meditate, find your voice, de-clutter and simplify your life to be a good writer. Once equilibrium is reached that person has reached a state of development that is blissful in the Zen meditation point of reference.

Poet’s Home

Last weekend we went to Flat Rock, North Carolina. We visited Connemara – Carl Sandburg’s home in the last phase of his life. It’s a great place and looks like a poor man’s version of Vanderbilt’s Biltmore house. The essential design is the same – a house in a hill, with a lake or stream below, surrounded by hills and mountains and great views in the porch. The house leave no doubt that it belonged to a writer with the many books and magazines and shelves all strewn about. It looks like a wonderful place to write with a writer’s studio at the 2nd floor. The whole property is about 30 acres with the Glassy Mountain behind the house and lots of hiking trails. A nice place to walk in nature and contemplate – a real writer’s abode.



Ironically, the house used to belong to the Secretary of Treasury of the Confederate government during the Civil War. It was later sold to former confederate officers. The first owner used to live in Charleston, South Carolina. The property was meant to be a summer home. In later years, it became the home of Carl Sandburg - the author of a Pulitzer Prize winning biography of Abraham Lincoln. I have a small paper back book of this work which was the first volume of ‘The Prairie Years.’ The book belonged to my grandparents and it’s one of the books I brought with me from the Philippines, then to Singapore and now here in the USA. I had wanted to read this book mainly because it was written by Sandburg and because it was about Lincoln.


At Connemara, Carl Sandburg is referred to as America’s poet and his style is reminiscent of Walt Whitman. He bought the place basically for his wife so she can raise prize winning goats. Apparently, she is a world renowned authority on goats. Her interest in goats was due to its health benefit as she noticed that her family’s health started to improve after they started drinking goat’s milk. So it’s amusing to learn that the poet bought the former confederate’s house not to write books on Abraham Lincoln but to raise goats. Nevertheless, it is a spectacular place with the surrounding hills in autumn with the stunning colors of the fall leaves. I took several pictures and I am glad I brought my kids here. We watched a video about the poet and learned all about his life and works.

We had lunch at Burger King in Hendersonville. It was a different feeling driving down Main Street since our last visit as the road was closed during the Festival of Apples. The small town charm was apparent everywhere. I agree with my office mate that his is a nice place to live. We next went to nearby Sky Top - an apple orchard. We walked through the orchard trying to look for apples but the harvest season has passed. There were some old apples lying in the ground. But the view from the top was great as we could see the nearby hills in their spectacular autumn leaves – yellow, gold, red, green – covering the mountain slopes. It’s really the best time to come and see the trees. Before coming home we eat apples in caramel sauce and drank apple cider juice.

It's these small towns and places that are wonderful to visit. I have visited the homes of 2 famous writers so far in North Carolina. I guess it’s a place that attracts writers especially with its heritage of Irish, English and Scottish settlers. Next week we plan to drive to the Blue Ridge Parkway so we could see the last days of autumn in the surrounding mountains. I did not have time to do much writing during the weekend although I was able to read the Fortune magazine I need to return and movies that I need to watch.

Aside from my road trips down around the area, I am learning more about the South. I learned more about the way of life here listening to Jimmy Carter’s book about his boyhood in Plans, Georgia. It’s a great book and I am now reading his book about peace in the Middle East. He is the epitome a moral upstanding southern gentleman which represents the best of this side of America.

Information needs to be Free

I attended a meeting in the morning where we discussed highly technical stuff. It was a file mapping meeting and discussions where about things like canonical and concatenation and field length and business rules and so on. There were four of us in the meeting and I was the only one who was not from India. The team is exceptionally bright and technically proficient. But I am happy to say that I held my own. I guess it was my experience that kept me going. I guess this is the time when experience does matter although I think I gave out a few odd balls during the conversation. Nevertheless, I think I was distinguished being the odd person out.


Most of the people I work with here have been working together for quite some time. They know each other and are comfortable with each others skills. I guess I am the odd man out who needs to prove things. The only thing going my way is that I am an employee of the company while the other three are contractors. I am amazed that no other nationality seems to come close to the technical ability and skill coming from India. But I guess it is more a battle of quantity. There is no way any country can match the growing population, facility with English and technical heritage that India possess. Of course, the innovative and creative tradition of the United States is still unmatched anywhere in the world.


My supposed strength of input, learner and intellect is keeping me abreast of trends. But now there is really too much coming into my brain. Today I discovered a new mind mapping tool that will be used by the company. Now is the time where this type of tool will really come in handy. There is just too much free knowledge available. As someone said, knowledge wants to be free. Now that information is free, the next challenge is how to monetize knowledge. Figuring out this equation is what made Google a rich company. I guess determining the right knowledge and channeling to the proper audience who is willing to pay is the next step. There is just too much innovation going on that one is just to busy keeping up.

Perhaps a good example is Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. Carter is the pure stuff, the person who moves forward based on his inner core and conviction so sometimes he seems like an old fashion decent man. Comparing this analogy to a writer, he is the person who just writes without considering the various outlets of writing in the new digital world. On the other hand, Clinton is more aware of the latest trends and he is able to adapt to the new techniques. Not that he lacks substance, but able to combine the new tools into a dazzling combination with some content that changes the game. I guess he applies the adage that the ‘medium is the message.’ Hence, Clinton is the master of the medium while Carter is the master of the message.

I guess I am not making sense. But I have reached a point where my reading is not getting me anywhere. I have been attending a lot of free training but I am starting to forget. So I guess I should start using min maps to structure my knowledge in a way that make easy retrieval and association much easier. Now that the company has a standard mind mapping tool available I can formally use this tool to my advantage. It is the right time to start using this tool now that things are starting to get really complicated. This maybe a competitive advantage is used effectively.

History Books

What do you do if you have nothing to do? I stifled the urge to surf the Internet although I did surf for a few minutes. I try to limit myself to less than 5 minutes so I won’t leave a large footprint for any monitoring program. Last week, I shamelessly surfed the Internet and I felt guilty during the weekend. Thoughts of persecution filled my mind like being called to the security office and asked to explain. I remember my boss telling me during my early days here that an employee was fired because of surfing the Internet. So his comments remained in my mind although I think he was just trying to scare me for my own sake.


I am finishing David Halberstam’s ‘War in the Time of Peace’. I think it is a minor masterpiece which he is well known for creating. I think he is at a higher level than writers like Bob Woodward who focus on sort term news stories. For instance, Woodward’s book on Alan Greenspan, ’Maestro’ which adulates the Fed chief for his accomplishment but whose reputation is now shattered because of the financial crisis. I don’t think Halberstam will make this mistake because he takes the long view. He allows time to take it’s course before writing a book and he measure his words with the experience and wisdom he has accumulated.

Bob Woodward is more a reporter whose style is like combining a series of newspaper articles to make book. The intention is just to make money quickly by exploiting the current news. I guess Woodward’s books are good sources for deep penetrating works by more mature writers or thinkers like David Halberstam. I always like his books and have read ‘The Reckoning’, ‘The Powers That Be’, ’The Fifties’, ‘The Best and the Brightest’, ‘The Amateurs’ and ‘The Forgotten War.’ I think his books led me to discover the works of Theodore White. I read his book ‘In Search of History’ and ‘The Making of the President 1960’. I think I have also read his other Making of the President books which I all enjoyed. I think both these writers were pioneers in this genre and don’t have anyone around who can match their brilliance.


Another writer I liked it Barbara Tuchman. I enjoyed her books ‘The Guns of August’, ’The Proud Tower’, ‘March of Folly’, ‘General Stillwell in China’ and ‘The Zimmerman Telegram’. I read almost all of these books back in the Philippines when my mind did almost all the traveling. Now that I have traveled a fair bit, I have expanded the books and subjects that I have read. Most of the books that I liked where about American life and experience. The American history and adventure in foreign lands as well the famous people like its presidents. Now I am smacked right into the American way of life. I guess somewhere in my mind, I am trying to reconcile what I have read with what I see in front of me. I guess I have understood the idea and I am recapturing the joy of the American idea and experiment now that my son is studying American government.

I guess most of the stereotype in my mind was about the great Eastern cities like Boston or New York or even Chicago and the elites that live in these cities. Or the free-wheeling ways of California and the creative explosion of it’s movies and culture. I did not read a lot about the south and the old confederate states. The only thing of significance that I remember is reading Thomas Wolfe’s books. But I did not realize that he represented the south and only when I visited his home in Ashville, North Carolina that I realize what writer he was. My brief stay in Los Angeles in my youth plus my reading of American life has helped me adapt here easily and ease the transition for my family. I guess I was able to hit the ground running at work and enabled a smooth landing for my wife and kids.