Things Star Trek has taught me (Part 1)
Invariably during an episode of the original Star Trek series you’d hear the desperate pleading of the Chief Engineer, Montgomery “Scotty” Scott. Bordering on begging Captain Kirk (or Spock) not to challenge the odds on a risky maneuver that will kill them all.
To some he was probably seen as a hysteric, clinging too closely to laws of physics and what the manuals (Who reads manuals anyway?) claimed the upper limits stress the engines or structural integrity of the ship could take.
To me, however, Scotty was engaging in “underselling” the capabilities of the ship, in order to “over-deliver”. Many fictional years later, in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Relics”, Scotty admits he was trying to hold onto the myth that he was a miracle worker. Making farfetched ideas work.
Using the term “miracle worker” is a little glib self-assessment in a work environment, but Scotty is really saying, he may try to lower your expectations, but you can depend on him in a tight spot to come through for you. Because he always does. Obviously we all fail in making the magic appear sometimes despite our abilities and efforts. Fortunately most of us aren’t in a life or death situation so we can go back to square one with only an injured ego.
The nature of “underselling” comes from the reality that no matter how detailed the extent of your planning and experience in coming to a working solution, there’s always something that’s going to go wrong and throw your plan off. This is where the creative thinking in IT becomes a must, but also you must be aware the unknown can happen and add it into the equation and find a way to relay that in non-technical terms to management.
In general, management thinks when they are asking for a business solution that is simple and obvious. To themselves they think in practical terms that make sense. Without truly understanding the nature of computer technology and technology company goals.
Einstein is quoted as saying:
Computers are incredibly fast, accurate, and stupid. Human beings are incredibly slow, inaccurate, and brilliant. Together they are powerful beyond imagination.
Even though Einstein said this decades before we had personal computers in millions of homes and businesses. It’s no less true today.
Computers are still pretty dumb, for example, installing a printer on a computer can result in hours of frustration. It doesn’t matter that you have the correct drivers or followed the manufacturer’s instructions to the letter. Every printer has a potential for production flaws. Every software driver has the potential for unforeseen bugs that the software developer misses. The printer manufacturer can not reproduce every computer environment and build. Problems and mistakes happen and it’s essential to pre-figure these unknowns into every solution.
In this example if someone from management were to ask me to install a printer on their computer and want to know how long it’s going to take. It may take me 5 to 10 minutes, without incident (maybe less), but I’m not going to say that. I’m going to say it’s going to take me 2 hours. That way I’ve added in the unknown and if, as it would usually, take around 5 minutes, management is always pleasantly surprised. They just gained 1 hour and 55 minutes of computer time they thought they never get.
If I had said 10 minutes and it ended up taking 30, management is almost always a bit annoyed. I know the feeling. It’s like waiting in the Doctor’s office. Your appointment is at 12:30pm, but you’re lucky if you see the doctor by 1pm. That was overselling.
Overselling, the antithesis of “underselling”, is usually the domain of sales representatives, but also more then a few IT professionals, I’ve known. Sales representatives will often promise me a performance increase of 10x of what my company’s current configuration. Anyone who promises you the moon, you have to automatically take it for granted the moon will never be delivered. You’re bound to be let down by high expectations, so why not set the bar in a realistic place and come out looking great because you “over-delivered” or created a “miracle” on the solution.
In the end despite Scotty protestations to the contrary he was confident in his equipment and creative skill. He just kept it away from management.
There’s no doubt in my mind that Star Trek and Scotty are partly responsible for mine love of working with technology.
To be continued…
