Standards

An idea of one of my favourite authors, David Allen, that really resonates with me is that you often only become aware of your standards or principles when they are violated.

His example is that of dirty mugs around the house. Some people cannot stand to have even one dirty mug lying around while others would not even notice it until they no longer have a clean mug to drink out off. Where it becomes interesting of course is when these two types of people start living together…

Recently, I have become more and more aware of how standards also strongly impact the performance and cohesiveness of a team. Personally, I take a a lot of pride in building great teams and frankly I think I often succeed but there were also the occasional teams that – although not necessarily under-performing – never really felt like they clicked.

Analysing this a bit closer, when I felt that a team really clicked, it was often due to the fact that we were aligned on these standards or the team had higher standards than I had. For example, as a PM, I feel strongly about shipping often and early, be always ready well in time for deadlines if time allows, bring a sense of urgency to project execution, avoid victim mentality, ship things that make an impact for the user (please fill out other clichees). In parallel, when a team did not click, it was often due to the fact that these standards were not shared. Team members may have felt more comfortable with shipping at the last minute or not care so much about making an impact to the user rather than doing something that is interesting or fun.

Now an interesting question is: should you demand your team to live up to your standards?

You could argue that as long as they provide acceptable performance to the business there is no need to force your team to adopt your standards.

I myself had a case where IMHO my manager has impossibly high standards and I certainly felt uncomfortable being dragged there as I could not see the point of them.

On the flip side, I have had managers that have changed my standards and they have proven me a great service. As we all know, a small change in standards (be it extra effort, or networking) can be the difference between good work & great work, and between decent ROI and splendid ROI. And I am forever grateful to them for pushing me there (although, at first, often begrudgingly so).

I guess the key is just to be more very self-aware and analytical of your standards: are these standards clearly linked to success and will I do my team a service by pushing them there or are they just personal preference? Or, alternatively, do I want to be part of a team that do not share my standards?

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