How to Start to Solve Problems That Appear to Have No Solution

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This is the September 2024 Pragmatic Manager Newsletter, from Johanna Rothman. The Unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email.

After reading last month's newsletter about sneaky problems that reappear, a savvy project manager, Eric, sent me this question. “My problems don't reappear because I solved part of them. I can't solve anything at all.  We have the “too much WIP (Work in Progress)” problem. But I think that's because we have too few managers or titled leaders who can say ‘no.'”

Eric explained that his senior management wanted a “flat” hierarchy so they could avoid a too-typical matrix organization problem. That problem is when people feel as if they reported to two managers: a project manager and a people manager. (It's even worse if the product leader can also tell individual people—not a team—what to do.)

However, as a result of a very flat organization, Eric's senior management micromanaged almost everything and everyone. That micromanagement included:

  • Assigning specific people to specific projects, instead of creating and assigning teams to one project at a time. Or, they could have asked Eric to facilitate creating teams to deliver certain outcomes for specific customers.
  • Ranking certain user requirements/stories higher than Eric and the product leaders ranked them—without any explanations.
  • Telling Eric he was now responsible for “performance management” for the 45 people on his projects. That included writing performance reviews.

Eric said, “These demands are unreasonable for me. But I'm not the only one who's got unreasonable demands—everyone is overloaded here. I'm sure senior management also feels overloaded. But I have no idea what to do. My problems aren't sneaky and recurring. They're out in the open, and I have no idea how to start. I don't even see any possible solutions.”

I use two different starts for these problems with no apparent solutions: going meta, and visualizations that avoid blaming. I'll start with going meta.

Go “Meta” to Start Solving Problems

Going meta means to take a greater perspective on the problem. That's because, paraphrasing Einstein, we can't solve these problems by using the thinking that created them. Instead, we need to go “up/above” or “around/out” to gain perspective about the problem. Either way works, as long as we avoid focusing “in” and move to a greater perspective.

While there are several possible critical thinking tools, when I want to go meta, I often use a Force Field Analysis to describe what's going on.

Force Field Analysis

In this case, the desired change is “Stop micromanagement from upper leadership.” While that's a blaming name for the desired change, it will do for now. (More on that below.)

Now, Eric can start to add the Driving forces For his desired change. Those are on the left. They include:

  • Very few people, including Eric, can finish their work.
  • Way too much WIP, which creates other problems, such as less revenue and worsening morale.

While Eric could have added more metrics, he did not. Measures are not going to change his management's minds—but stories might.

The Restraining forces Against the change are on the right. Eric has one major restraining force: management's perceptions of what a flat organization is and why it's so valuable. Each manager has many stories they tell themselves about how they've been so successful in the past with this flat organization.

But no one needs a perfect Force Field Analysis to use it. Eric's isn't perfect, and he has one more change to make before he discusses this with his management. That's reframing the desired change to be a positive, not a negative statement.

Frame the Change as Positive

Eric cannot solve this problem alone, even if he goes meta about the problem. He must enlist the people who originate the problem, and those are his leaders. If he frames the problem as, “Stop micromanagement from upper leadership,” these same people will hear the problem as blaming. They are likely to ignore him. Blaming people tends to prevent people from working with us to solve problems.

Instead, Eric chose this as what he wanted for the desired outcome: Create a culture with more team-based autonomy. That would allow the teams to organize themselves, offer each other feedback and coaching, and—within reason—choose what to work on next.

He then explained that the results he expected. If management asked autonomous teams to collaborate on just one project at a time, the teams could decide how to reduce their cycle time and finish more features faster. With more autonomy, they could avoid the whole performance management theater and help themselves become better teammates and teams by offering each other feedback and coaching. And with more autonomy and collaboration with the product people, they could deliver what matters most to the customers.

Change Takes Time

Eric realizes he's asking his managers to change and those changes take time. However, in the past two weeks, his management has stopped asking him to do performance reviews. In addition, they think his ideas about assigning one team to a project for a month will work.

Eric has a little relief, but working through all their WIP will take time.

If you also appear to have problems with no visible solution, consider these two ideas:  going meta and visualizing the system so no one feels blame. They might not be perfect for your problems, but they will offer you a start.

This newsletter touches on topics in:

The Sneaky Problem Series:

This newsletter turned into a series. (Surprised me!)

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© 2024 Johanna Rothman

Pragmatic Manager: Vol 21, #9, ISSN: 2164-1196

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