HSSCM Update: Two Little Used Methods
October 9, 2018
In the wake of the sinking of Google Plus, I wanted to highlight two HSSCM methods. You may recall that I use the acronym to mean “High School Science Club Management” to refer to the type of decision making found in secondary school extra curricular programs for students who perceive themselves as being pretty darned smart. I even ran a snap of me in my high school science club. We were a stellar group. Some PhDs, some published authors, and some pretty weird, anti social type dudes if I say so myself.
The first item concerns the apple of Amazon’s eye: the JEDI project for the Department of Defense. I learned from a highly reliable purveyor of information of real news that “Google Drops Out of Pentagon’s $10 Billion Cloud Competition.” That will make the day for some of the folks who labor in the Google’s DC vineyards really happy. Think of the many opportunities to explain, apologize, and reposition. On the other hand, Amazon may try to hire a couple of these Googlers. Getting some types of US government work might be tough.
What’s the management method? Well, surprise for starters. Also, creating enmity among those engaged in the RFP and procurement process. Plus, a clear signal that Google can and will change its mind on what has been a multi year process. Definitely sends a message. Just like the science club president in my high school who said, “Who wants to go to the prom? I have to work at the observatory that night?”
The second item concerns the Google Plus arabesque. If you want to get my take on the non management aspects of that exciting development, navigate to the story at this link.
The management method I want to highlight is revealed in the real news source the Wall Street Journal. You will have to pay to view the write up “Google Exposed User Data, Feared Repercussions of Disclosing to Public.” The main idea is the failure to notify. In my high school science club, I recall the time we broadcast the tune “Great Balls of Fire over the public address system.” We did not tell anyone we did it. Unfortunately it was highly unlikely that members of the football team or the wrestling team pulled off the stunt. As far as I know, our science club had the future electrical engineers in our quasi elite outfit. Google, in its wisdom, figured that keeping quiet was a prudent move.
The HSSCM method is to use exceptional judgment, ignore the advice of those who might have a different viewpoint, and create an opportunity for Google executives to explain themselves in a number of high profile venues. Will this question come up in a Congressional session? Maybe?
Net net: MBA courses can include these HSSCM methods as part of their initiative to reverse sagging enrollments.
Stephen E Arnold, October 9, 2018
HSSCM: Updates from Facebook and Snapchat
October 5, 2018
High school science club management methods are flourishing.
I wanted to highlight two examples of interesting ways to operate publicly traded companies in the spotlight.
The first example of HSSCM comes from Facebook, truly a gold mine of examples. I learned that a Facebook executive sat in a photo op location during the Brett Kavanaugh hearing. My source was “Facebook’s Head of Public Policy Is Supporting the Kavanaugh Nomination, and Some Employees Are Livid.” A Facebook top dog named Joel Kaplan appeared, at least to the Verge, to endorse “his close friend.”
The result, according to the write up, “roiled the social network.” I like the word roiled. The real journalists at the Verge reported:
For Facebook, the controversy over Kaplan represents a new point of division at a company that is still grappling with the Instagram founders’ unexpected departure and the largest data breach in its history. Only when it comes to the Kaplan controversy, it’s not clear to me what the company’s next move should be. The C suite seems to have been annoyed by Kaplan’s attendance, but was initially dismissive of employees’ concerns. (How concerned are employees? My favorite detail in Isaac’s story is that they went into Kaplan’s calendar and learned that he had not in fact taken the 27th as a personal day, as Kaplan initially stated. The calendar was later updated to reflect that it was, indeed, a personal day.)
It appears in the canon of the HSSCM method that it is not necessary to know what senior executives are doing. Furthermore, revisionism in the form of modifying a digital calendar, is supported. I also enjoyed learning that in this particular HSSCM example, the concerns of the employees were not at the top of the to do list.
Implications? I suppose there is a possibility that some MBA might interpret the method as exemplary decision making regarding a chain of command, time allocation, and awareness of the senior staff activities.
The second example concerns Snapchat, a service which I admit I never understood and still do not.
I captured this HSSCM method in the write up “9 Highlights from Snapchat CEO’s 6000-Word Leaked Memo on Survival.” Like leaks at Google and Palantir, the fact that someone released an internal memo suggests that shared values about how to handle confidential information may be lacking. Science club members have to be loyal, right?
My first reaction to the write up was, “6,000 words is a lot of words for a memo.” If I worked at Snapchat, I am not sure I would read that document. Some employees obviously concluded that reading and leaking were proof of the HSSCM approach.
I found a couple of the management principles embedded in the memo semi-interesting.
Item One, I noted the admission that the company moved too quickly. Well, it did break things, including usage of the software. An added plus was social media visibility. Annoyed users expressed their displeasure with a Snapchat design tweak. HSSCM knows how to get publicity. That’s a plus.
Item Two, a service called Discover is good. But the service is a “mess.” Hey, that’s part of the break things. The fix? Make Discover a “lean back” experience. I love the word experience. HSSCM methods deliver experiences, just like Google ads’ redesign which features the word “experience” instead of “increasing revenues”. See the email sent by Google on October 4, 2018, with the friendly, warm experience of the mail address: ads-noreply@google.com.
To sum up, here are the HSSCM methods I extracted from these two case examples:
- It is not necessary to know what senior managers are doing during the day on prime time television for six or seven hours
- It is okay to make it easy to modify digital calendars which is a trendy approach to revisionism
- It is okay to make decision in a hurry, ignore feedback, and then apologize. That is a way to move fast and put broken things back together.
- It is okay to create services which appear to be a mess. Creative destruction, right?
No wonder sign ups for MBA degrees are sinking. Who needs to study management when HSSCM methods are within reach of anyone working at a tech centric company?
Stephen E Arnold, October 5, 2018
HSSCM Methods: Hey, Enough of This Already
September 22, 2018
I read an allegedly “real journalism” story called “Google Suppresses memo Revealing Plans to Closely Track Search Users in China.” I won’t call attention to the split infinitive, which is not popular among the sensitive set.
And now to the “real” story:
The write up reveals that allegedly Google’s high school science club management methods include forcing employees to “delete a confidential memo circulating insight the company.”
But here’s the juicy bit:
The memo, authored by a Google engineer who was asked to work on the project, disclosed that the search system, codenamed Dragonfly, would require users to log in to perform searches, track their location — and share the resulting history with a Chinese partner who would have “unilateral access” to the data.
Okay, now that’s management: Confidential material circulating. Info must be deleted. Data from the alleged memo gets leaked to a “real” news outfit.
The reaction is classic HSSCM: Anger, possible governance goofs, and saying one thing and maybe, just maybe, doing something else.
Well, the HSSCM method includes what the write up says is an interesting angle:
Google reportedly maintains an aggressive security and investigation team known as “stopleaks,” which is dedicated to preventing unauthorized disclosures. The team is also said to monitor internal discussions.
I particularly like the phrase “moral agency.”
Hey, hey, the HSSCM method means that the science club sets the rules. “Moral agency?” Can that be measured in mendacity?
Stephen E Arnold, September 22, 2018
High School Science Club Management Method: Protecting the In Crowd Culture
September 17, 2018
I read a quasi news / semi MBA write up with the clicky title “A Wave of News Leaks Is Triggering a Crackdown at Google and Causing Fears That the Culture Is Being Openly Destroyed.” You know my procedure. First, I check out the loaded words in a write up. Not too tough because “crackdown” and “fear” are front and center. But the keeper is “destroyed.” Not damaged. Destroyed. Yikes.
There is one word I hoped the write up would define. It is “culture.” This may be one of the “I will know it when I encounter it” terms. Here in Harrod’s Creek we have culture. When one wants to shoot a squirrel in a neighbor’s tree, one pulls the trigger. Squirrels are fair game no matter where they are. Neighbors? Hah. Should have spotted the critter first and nailed it.
I don’t think too many Googlers or Alphabeters think about squirrels. I assume that if a squirrel were to find itself in need at the Googleplex, a squad of high technology wizards with minors in animal husbandry would rush to aid the furry creature. Another group of Googlers with degrees in food science would debate the virtues of frying versus grilling the animal. A third group of Googlers might make signs and protest improper intervention into the life of the confused rat like creature.
Ah, Google.
The write up, however, does not address these issues, whether squirrely or not.
I learned:
The increasingly heated and contentious atmosphere within Google mirrors the highly politicized nature of the country. As on the political stage, behavior within Google that was once considered unthinkable is now occurring with increasing regularity.
Okay, no definition of culture. Not too much about the destroy and fear thing.
Maybe crackdown? I noted after a bit of chatter about employees who send Twitter messages during meetings:
“People who leak are hated” internally, one source said. “There’s a reasonably open culture that many feel is being openly destroyed…. “There’s a perception that if you leak you’re destroying communication,” the source said.”
None of that anonymous stuff. This is a “source.” Helpful.
There’s a new security measure too:
Google informed employees in a weekly email update that the TGIF meetings would no longer be available to be streamed on individual laptops. Instead, employees who were not at the main event at a cafe in Google’s Mountain View, Calif. campus, would need to show up at special designated locations within its satellite offices to watch a feed of the proceedings. Anyone working from home or wishing to tune in from their desk while working was now out of luck.
Okay, the high school science club management method of restricting meetings and keeping the non sciclub types out. Insiders only. But only insiders who are actually inside something.
So much for the legions of remote employees, those traveling, or the hapless consultants who are “sort of like” employees.
I will keep looking for more HSSCM methods. These are useful and informative. Almost as nifty as leaked videos and real time Twitter messages, the follow up real news stories, and the wild and crazy apologia which Silicon Valley pundits contribute to the Gray Lady.
And the squirrel? Not qualified to be a Google target yet. And what is “culture” anyway. If it is not defined, can it be destroyed?
Stephen E Arnold, September 17, 2018
Management Tips from a Tech Centric Outfit
September 10, 2018
I read “Focus on End User Technology, Retain Your Employees.” Darned amazing. The write up from the ever fascinating, real news outfit Computerworld asserts:
…over 70% said that U they strongly prefer fast in-office technology and, without it, 20% of millennials said they would actually quit.
I love that “actually quit.”
But Computerworld seems unaware that at several high profile high technology companies stuffed with youthful workers and those who are mentally young face employee push back.
If the argument in the Computerworld management essay were accurate, these are the companies which should have happy employees.
Yep, that timely device refresh will thwart protests, walk outs, and staff resignations due to company work for the US government.
Ah, management thinking in 2018. Refreshing, just like a new device.
Stephen E Arnold, September 10, 2018
From the Gloom, a Ray of Management Light
September 5, 2018
Forget the contentious Congressional hearings. Ignore the excitement of technology companies explaining. Forget the throttling of bandwidth.
Navigate to this management gem: “The #1 Office Perk? Natural Light.”
The Harvard Business Review, one of the fonts of management wisdom, explains:
… A new survey by my HR advisory firm Future Workplace called “The Employee Experience” reveals the reality is that employees crave something far more fundamental and essential to human needs. In a research poll of 1,614 North American employees, we found that access to natural light and views of the outdoors are the number one attribute of the workplace environment, outranking stalwarts like onsite cafeterias, fitness centers, and premium perks including on-site childcare…
Now I am not sure about the composition of the sample. For decades, I have worked in offices with zero natural light. If I had windows in my sometimes overly large offices, I blocked the natural sunlight. I put cardboard in the overhead fixtures. In short, I was happy as a clam in semi darkness. My monitors provided the light and warmth I needed.
But you, gentle reader, may be different. So take heed. Forget high school science club management methods and create natural light for your employees. If the building or loft or renovated warehouse lacks windows, do what the Romans did. Chop a hole in the room.
Don’t forget the impluvium, however. A happy company should not have workers in wet shoes.
Stephen E Arnold, September 5, 2018
High School Science Club Management: Volunteer Workers Point Out Flaws
September 4, 2018
I know that HSSCM methods is a fresh concept. I used the phrase in a few lectures years ago. I am delighted that “high school science club management methods” or HSSCM continues to be a useful concept.
One recent example is the information (which I assume to be spot on) from an online information service and a YouTube centric outfit. The source is “Unpaid and Abused: Moderators Speak Out Against Reddit.”
The point of the write up is that Reddit, itself an online social information service, reports:
Engadget and Point spoke to 10 Reddit moderators, and all of them complained that Reddit is systematically failing to tackle the abuse they suffer. Keeping the front page of the internet clean has become a thankless and abusive task, and yet Reddit’s administration has repeatedly neglected to respond to moderators who report offenses.
Reddit is owned by Advance Publications. Therefore, the write up is focusing on the management methods of a large corporation.
If the information in the write up is accurate, the large corporation has allowed HSSCM methods to help keep Reddit on track.
One example:
Subreddits can have their own bylaws, but racism, sexism and hate speech are targeted by moderators on pretty much any thread. The clear majority of abuse is in response to moderators calling users out when they break the rules.
The result? Death threats, burn out, and what seem to be a lack of management systems which can:
- Work constructively with volunteers who express concerns about their perceptions about death threats, stress, etc.
- Present a positive image of the management for the organization unit
- Make clear that innovative management methods are indeed having a positive effect on volunteers, employees, users, and stakeholders.
My view is that HSSCM methods continue to be the path of least resistance.
The problem is that those individuals who perceive the ineffectiveness of those HSSCM methods are beginning to speak up. Employee push back at a number of companies make it clear that traditional management methods are not a viable option for the owners of these outfits and that the HSSCM methods used because they are easy also lack suitable benefits.
In short, a crisis for MBA truisms and for the HSSCM approaches has arrived.
Of course, if the information in the Engadget article is not representative or not up to the accuracy standards I assume to be in play, MBA and HSSCM methods are working just fine.
Stephen E Arnold, September 4, 2018
High School Science Club Management Methods: August 30, 2018
August 30, 2018
Years ago, I learned that Google was worried about government regulation. President Trump seems to be making moves in that direction. But my topic today is high school science club management methods or HSSCMM.
The first example is news about a group of Facebook staff who are concerned about the intolerant liberal culture within Facebook. Okay, Facebook is about friends and people who share interests or likes. The notion of a political faction within an online company is one more example of a potential weakness in HSSCM. The idea that an employee worked for a company, had a job description, and received money strikes me as inoperative. The problem is that the needs of the Science Club are not the needs of the people on the football team or the field hockey team. Will the lunchroom have tables for the Science Club folks and other tables for the sports? In my high school, the Science Club was different from the band and the student council. Snort, snort, we said, when asked to coordinate with the booster club to celebrate a big win. Snort, snort.
The second example the story “14 Powerful Human-Rights Groups Write to Google Demanding It Kill Plans to Launch a China Search Engine.” The issue for Google and China is revenue. How will the HSSCM address a group of human rights organizations. I assume that these entities can issue news releases, pump out Twitter messages, and update their Facebook pages. If that sounds like the recipe for information warfare, I am not suggesting such an aggressive approach. What’s important to me is that Google will have to dip into its management methods to deal with this mini protest.
The question is, “Are high school science club management methods up to these two challenges?
My view is, “Sure, really smart people can find clever solutions.”
On the other hand, the very management methods which made Facebook and Google the business home runs each is will have to innovate. Business school curricula may not cover how to manage revolts from unexpected sources.
Stephen E Arnold, August 30, 2018
High School Science Club Management Methods: August 27, 2018
August 27, 2018
I think I have spotted another example of HSSCM in action. Navigate to “Tech Workers Say Poor Leadership Is Number One Cause for Burnout.” I noted from this headline that the peer pressure, meeting expectations of customers, and a desire to do a good job were not mentioned.
I learned these factors were in play:
Number one is “poor leadership and unclear directory.” That strikes me as low. Only about one fifth of those in the sample perceived the management team as lousy. But somewhere along the line, I learned at if 15 percent of a group is disgruntled, that group is well on its way to destabilizing a team and maybe the company itself.
I noted that toxic culture affected 17.5 percent of those in the pool were negatively affected by a toxic culture. In my high school science club, I recall one person asking my best friend who obtained a PhD from Cornell University, “Didn’t get the top score on this week’s test, did you?” Sensitive observation, eh.
The survey report presents additional findings. But I was not sure what the relationship between burnout and a list of big name companies was. Perhaps these are the outfits that those in the sample perceive as having poor leadership.
My conclusion is that HSSCM methods are indeed a “thing.” I will open a file. Who knows? Perhaps HSSCM is The Peter Principle for the mobile, distracted generation.
Stephen E Arnold, August 27, 2018
High School Science Club Management in Action, 8-25-18 Edition
August 25, 2018
I love it when high school science club management methods become news. Let me run down a handful of examples I noted on Saturday, August 25, 2018. Toss out those old MBA course notes. A new world has arrived:
Reflective decision making: Elon Musk no longer wants to take Tesla private. Agility is as important as self driving vehicles which work. Decision was announced via a Twitter message. Source: CTV News
Assessing obstacles: Google faces search and auto obstacles in China. Google’s 2010 China continue to ripple. Source: New York Times
Independent thinking: Reddit allegedly ignored disinformation alerts from Reddit employees. Source: NBC News and Facebook and Google follow suit. Source: Tom’s Hardware
Job satisfaction: Google wizard discovers that “happiness is within you.” Money, fancy cars, being smart will not deliver happiness. Age of the Google wizard: 51. Therefore, decisions made prior to realizing that happiness is within appear to have produced unhappiness. Deep thinking. Source: CNBC
Who will emerge as the Peter Drucker for the Silicon Valley era of management?
Stephen E Arnold, August 25, 2018
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