Do you also feel like a slave to your agenda?
Date: 2024-05-10 16:19
From Monday morning to Friday afternoon
Monday morning. I am a little later at the office than I had planned. In five minutes my first meeting starts, which I am allowed to chair. Fortunately, I prepared well on Friday afternoon when the office was already emptying. Discussions with the sales and innovation team always go smoothly; we share interests and speak the same language. That morning I move from meeting to meeting, until lunch.
My diary states that I have a meeting at four o'clock with a manager who announced a week earlier, during an employee session, that data management will be "set up" in the coming months. My goal is clear: convince him that an additional role is needed. We need a canonical API data model for exchanging messages with customers. And most importantly: someone who manages, monitors and publishes this model. That morning I promised the innovation team that I would arrange this.
We actually start at 4.10 pm; he also has a packed agenda. He brought the reporting manager with him — great, I have attention. I explain why this new role is essential. Across the table I mainly see misunderstanding. I feel like I have to explain that the earth is round and not flat. But I soon noticed: if you have to start at that level, you won't get any further.
A new start
A year later I started working for a new client. The problems and challenges in this environment are similar; here too the challenge of realizing APIs on a monolithic system and a few services. And here too all different data models for the messages. One thing is significantly different. My agenda is almost empty. Fortunately, I can discuss the problem I see at the coffee machine. This time I'm taking a different approach. I study the patterns, I watch how others define the problem and explain the solution. I then create presentations that are easy to understand. I can regularly work on this for a long time undisturbed. Three months later the architects agreed to my proposal. Another two weeks later, I present our ideas to the entire department in a large room. The role that I believe is so necessary will be a fact from then on.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="473"] The Earth is round [/caption]
Management vs leadership
What is your relationship like? Your agenda provides a good indication.
sources:
Seth Godin – Leadership vs. Management - What it means to make a difference
The Geography of Transport Systems
Enterprise Integration Patterns, Canonical Data Model
also interesting: