Writing Skills

How To Write Right

by Gerard M Blair

Writing is an essential skill upon which all engineers and managers rely. This article outlines simple design principles for engineering's predominate product: paper.

"Sex, romance, thrills, burlesque, satire, bass ... most enjoyable".

"Here is everything one expects from this author but thricefold and three times as entertaining as anything he has written before".

"A wonderful tissue of outrageous coincidences and correspondences, teasing elevations of suspense and delayed climaxes".

(reviews of Small World by David Lodge)

This has nothing to do with engineering writing. No engineering report will ever get such reviews. The most significant point about engineering writing is that it is totally different from the writing most people were taught - and if you do not recognize and understand this difference, then your engineering writing will always miss the mark. However, this article outlines a methodical approach to writing which will enable anyone to produce great works of engineering literature.

Why Worry?

Writing is the major means of communication within an organisation; paper is thought to be the major product of professional engineers; some estimate that up to 30% of work-time is engaged in written communication. Thus it is absolutely vital for you as a Professional Engineer to actively develop the skill of writing; not only because of the time involved in writing, but also because your project's success may depend upon it. Indeed, since so much of the communication between you and more senior management occurs in writing, your whole career may depend upon its quality.

Two Roles

In an industrial context, writing has two major roles:

• it clarifies - for both writer and reader
• it conveys information

It is this deliberate, dual aim which should form the focus for all your writing activity.

There are many uses for paper within an organization; some are inefficient - but the power of paper must not be ignored because of that. In relation to a project, documentation provides a means to clarify and explain on-going development, and to plan the next stages. Memoranda are a simple mechanism for suggestions, instructions, and general organisation. The minutes of a meeting form a permanent and definitive record.

Writing is a central part of any design activity. Quality is improved since writing an explanation of the design, forces the designer to consider and explore it fully. For instance, the simple procedure of insisting upon written test-plans forces the designer to address the issue. Designs which work just "because they do" will fail later; designs whose operation is explained in writing may also fail, but the repair will be far quicker since the (documented) design is understood.

If you are having trouble expressing an idea, write it down; you (and possibly others) will then understand it. It may take you a long time to explain something "off the cuff", but if you have explained it first to yourself by writing it down - the reader can study your logic not just once but repeatedly, and the information is efficiently conveyed.

Forget the Past

Professional writing has very little to do with the composition and literature learnt at school: the objectives are different, the audience has different needs, and the rewards in engineering can be far greater. As engineers, we write for very distinct and restricted purposes, which are best achieved through simplicity.

English at school has two distinct foci: the analysis and appreciation of the great works of literature, and the display of knowledge. It is all a question of aim. A novel entertains. It forces the reader to want to know: what happens next. On the other hand, an engineering report is primarily designed to convey information. The engineer's job is helped if the report is interesting; but time is short and the sooner the meat of the document is reached, the better. The novel would start: "The dog grew ill from howling so ..."; the engineer's report would start (and probably end): "The butler killed Sir John with a twelve inch carving knife".

In school we are taught to display knowledge. The more information and argument, the more marks. In industry, it is totally different. Here the wise engineer must extract only the significant information and support it with only the minimum-necessary argument. The expertise is used to filter the information and so to remove inessential noise. The engineer as expert provides the answers to problems, not an exposition of past and present knowledge: we use our knowledge to focus upon the important points.

For the Future

When you approach any document, follow this simple procedure:

1. Establish the AIM
2. Consider the READER
3. Devise the STRUCTURE
4. DRAFT the text
5. EDIT and REVISE

That is it. For the rest of this article, we will expand upon these points and explain some techniques to make the document effective and efficient - but these five stages (all of them) are what you need to remember.

Aim

You start with your aim. Every document must have a single aim - a specific, specified reason for being written. If you can not think of one, do something useful instead; if you can not decide what the document should achieve, it will not achieve it.

Once you have established your aim, you must then decide what information is necessary in achieving that aim. The reader wants to find the outcome of your thoughts: apply your expertise to the available information, pick out the very-few facts which are relevant, and state them precisely and concisely.

The Reader

A document tells somebody something. As the writer, you have to decide what to tell and how best to tell it to the particular audience; you must consider the reader.

There are three considerations:

• What they already know affects what you can leave out.
• What they need to know determines what you include.
• Wha

t they want to know suggests the order and emphasis of your writing.

For instance, in a products proposal, marketing will want to see the products differentiation and niche in the market place; finance will be interested in projected development costs, profit margins and risk analysis; and R&D will want the technical details of the design. To be most effective, you may need to produce three different reports for the three different audiences.

The key point, however, is that writing is about conveying information - conveying; that means it has to get there. Your writing must be right for the reader, or it will lost on its journey; you must focus upon enabling the reader's access to the information.

Structure

Writing is very powerful - and for this reason, it can be exploited in engineering. The power comes from its potential as an efficient and effective means of communication; the power is derived from order and clarity. Structure is used to present the information so that it is more accessible to the reader.

In all comes down to the problem of the short attention span. You have to provide the information in small manageable chunks, and to use the structure of the document to maintain the context. As engineers, this is easy since we are used to performing hierarchical decomposition of designs - and the same procedure can be applied to writing a document.

While still considering the aim and the reader, the document is broken down into distinct sections which can be written (and read) separately. These sections are then each further decomposed into subsections (and sub-subsections) until you arrive at simple, small units of information - which are expressed as a paragraph, or a diagram.

Every paragraph in your document should justify itself; it should serve a purpose, or be removed. A paragraph should convey a single idea. There should be a statement of that key idea and (possibly) some of the following:

• a development of the idea
• an explanation or analogy
• an illustration
• support with evidence
• contextual links to reinforce the structure

As engineers, though, you are allowed to avoid words entirely in places; diagrams are often much better than written text. Whole reports can be written with them almost exclusively and you should always consider using one in preference to a paragraph. Not only do diagrams convey some information more effectively, but often they assist in the analysis and interpretation of the data. For instance, a pie chart gives a quicker comparison than a list of numbers; a simple bar chart is far more intelligible than the numbers it represents. The only problem with diagrams is the writer often places less effort in their design than their information-content merits - and so some is lost or obscure. They must be given due care: add informative labels and titles, highlight any key entries, remove unnecessary information.

Draft, Revise and Edit

When you have decided what to say, to whom you are saying it, and how to structure it; say it - and then check it for clarity and effectiveness. The time spent doing this will be far less than the time wasted by other people struggling with the document otherwise.

The following are a few points to consider as you wield the red pen over your newly created opus.

Layout

The main difference between written and verbal communication is that the reader can choose and re-read the various sections, whereas the listener receives information in the sequence determined by the speaker. Layout should be used to make the structure plain, and so more effective: it acts as a guide to the reader.

Suppose you have three main points to make; do not hide them within simple text - make them obvious. Make it so that the reader's eye jumps straight to them on the page. For instance, the key to effective layout is to use:

• informative titles
• white space
• variety

Another way to make a point obvious is to use a different font.

Style

People in business do not have the time to marvel at your florid turn off phrase or incessant illiteration. They want to know what the document is about and (possibly) what it says; there is no real interest in style, except for ease of access.

In some articles a summary can be obtained by reading the first sentence of each paragraph. The remainder of each paragraph is simply an expansion upon, or explanation of, the initial sentence. In other writing, the topic is given first in a summary form, and then successively repeated with greater detail each time. This is the pyramid structure favoured by newspapers.

A really short and simple document is bound to be read. This has lead to the "memo culture" in which every communication is condensed to one side of A4. Longer documents need to justify themselves to their readers' attention.

The Beginning

Let us imagine the reader. Let us call her Ms X.

Ms X has a lot to do today: she has a meeting tomorrow morning with the regional VP, a call to make to the German design office, several letters to dictate concerning safety regulations, and this months process-data has failed to reach her. She is busy and distracted. You have possibly 20 seconds for your document to justify itself to her. If by then it has not explained itself and convinced her that she needs to read it - Ms X will tackle something else. If Ms X is a good manager, she will insist on a rewrite; if not, the document may never be read. action).

Thus the beginning of your document is crucial. It must be obvious to the reader at once what the document is about, and why it should be read. You need to catch the readers attention but with greater subtlety than this article; few engineering reports can begin with the word sex.

Unlike a novel, the engineering document must not contain "teasing elevations of suspense". Take your "aim", and either state it or achieve it by the end of the first paragraph.

For instance, if you have been evaluating a new software package for possible purchase then your reports might begin: "Having evaluated the McBlair Design Suite, I recommend that ...".

Punctuation

Punctuation is used to clarify meaning and to highlight structure. It can also remove ambiguity: a cross section of customers can be rendered less frightening simply by adding a hyphen (a cross-section of customers).

Engineers tend not to punctuate - which deprives us of this simple tool. Despite what some remember from school, punctuation has simple rules which lead to elegance and easy interpretation. If you want a summary of punctuation, try The Concise Oxford Dictionary (1990); and if you want a full treatise, complete with worked examples (of varying degrees of skill), read You Have A Point There by Eric Partridge.

For now, let us look at two uses of two punctuation marks. If you do not habitually use these already, add them to your repertoire by deliberately looking for opportunities in your next piece of writing.

The two most common uses of the Colon are:

1) To introduce a list which explains, or provides the information promised in, the previous clause.

A manager needs two planning tools: prescience and a prayer.

2) To separate main clauses where the second is a step forward from the first: statement to example, statement to explanation, cause to effect, introduction to main point.

To err is human: we use computers.

The two most common uses of the Semicolon are:

1) to unite sentences that are closely associated, complementary or parallel:

Writing is a skill; one must practise to improve a skill.

Engineers engineer; accountants account for the cost.

2) to act as a stronger comma, either for emphasis or to establish a hierarchy

The report was a masterpiece; of deception and false promises.

The teams were Tom, Dick and Harry; and Mandy, Martha and Mary.

Spelling

For some, spelling is a constant problem. In the last analysis, incorrect speling distracts the reader and detracts from the authority of the author. Computer spell-checking programmes provide great assistance, especially when supported by a good dictionary. Chronic spellers should always maintain a (preferably alphabetical) list of corrected errors, and try to learn new rules (and exceptions!). For instance (in British English) advice-advise, device-devise, licence-license, practice-practise each follow the same pattern: the -ice is a noun, the -ise is a verb.

Simple Errors

For important documents, there is nothing better than a good, old-fashioned proof-read. As an example, the following comes from a national advertising campaign/quiz run by a famous maker of Champagne:

Question 3: Which Country has one the Triple Crown the most times?

Won understands the error, but is not impressed by the quality of that company's product.

Sentence Length

Avoid long sentences. We tend to associate "unit of information" with "a sentence". Consequently when reading, we process the information when we reach the full stop. If the sentence is too long, we lose the information either because of our limited attention span or because the information was poorly decomposed to start with and might, perhaps, have been broken up into smaller, or possibly better punctuated, sentences which would better have kept the attention of the reader and, by doing so, have reinforced the original message with greater clarity and simplicity.

Word Length

It is inappropriate to utilize verbose and bombastic terminology when a suitable alternative would be to: keep it simple. Often the long, complex word will not be understood. Further, if the reader is distracted by the word itself, then less attention is paid to the meaning or to the information you wished to convey.

Jargon

I believe that a digital human-computer-interface data-entry mechanism should be called a keyboard; I don't know why, but I do.

Wordiness

When one is trying hard to write an impressive document, it is easy to slip into grandiose formulae: words and phrases which sound significant but which convey nothing but noise.

You must exterminate. So: "for the reason that" becomes "because"; "with regards to" becomes "about"; "in view of the fact that" becomes "since"; "within a comparatively short period of time" becomes "soon".

Often you can make a sentence sound more like spoken English simply be changing the word order and adjusting the verb. So: "if the department experiences any difficulties in the near future regarding attendance of meetings" becomes "if staff cannnot attend the next few meetings". As a final check, read your document aloud; if it sounds stilted, change it.

Conclusion

Writing is a complex tool, you need to train yourself in its use or a large proportion of your activity will be grossly inefficient. You must reflect upon your writing lest it reflects badly upon you.

If you want one message to take from this article, take this: the writing of a professional engineer should be clear, complete and concise. If your document satisfies these three criteria, then it deserves to be read.

Gerard M Blair is a Senior Lecturer in VLSI Design at the Department of Electrical Engineering, The University of Edinburgh. His book Starting to Manage: the essential skills is published by Chartwell-Bratt (UK) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (USA). He welcomes feedback either by email (gerard@ee.ed.ac.uk) or by any other method found here

The Written Word ...

... according to Gerard M Blair

This page provides links to the chapter of my book Starting to Manage which deals with writing skills. The text is aimed at first-time managers but applies equally well to all forms of "Engineering" writing.

It comes in two forms:

a large version for reading at the screen

or a compressed version which prints as only four pages.

Students of Edinburgh University may also see an alternative document produced by Prof Alan Murray and a further document written specifically for third year labs.

..:. Back to Basic Management Skills

Quality in the Team

How to Build Quality into your Team

by Gerard M Blair

Quality is primarily viewed in terms of corporate culture, multi-departmental ad-hoc task forces and the salvation of entire companies. This article, instead, will view these ideas as they might be applied by a Team Leader with a small permanent staff.

Quality has become the philosophers' stone of management practice with consultants and gurus vying to charm lead-laden corporations into gold-winning champions. Stories abound of base companies with morose workers and mounting debts being transformed into happy teams and healthy profits; never a day goes by without a significant improvement, a pounds-saving suggestion or a quantum leap in efficiency. With this professed success of "Quality" programmes, there has evolved a proscriptive mythology of correct practise which has several draw backs:

• the edicts call for nothing less than a company wide, senior-management led programme
• the adherence to a single formula has a limited effect, precludes innovation outside these boundaries, and reduces the differentiation which such programmes profess to engender
• the emphasis on single-task, specially formed groups shifts the focus away from the ordinary, daily bread-and-butter

Of course, these criticisms do not invalidate the ideas of Quality but are simply to suggest that the principles might well be viewed from a new angle - and applied at a different level. This article attempts to provide a new perspective by re-examining some of the tenets of Quality in the context of a small, established team: simply, what could a Team Leader do with his/her staff.

What is "Quality"?

In current management writings "Quality" has come to refer to a whole gambit of practices which themselves have resulted in beneficial side-effects; as a Team Leader, you will want to take advantage of these benefits also.

The Customer

In simple terms, attaining Quality has something to do with satisfying the expectations of the customer. Concern for the wishes and needs of customers becomes the focus for every decision. What the customer wants, the company provides. This is not philanthropy, this is basic survival. Through careful education by competitors, the customer has begun to exercise spending power in favour of quality goods and services; and while quality is not the sole criterion in selecting a particular supplier, it has become an important differentiator.

If one ten-pence ball-point runs dry in one month and another ten-pence ball-point lasts for three then the second ball-point is the make which the customer will buy again and which he/she recommends to others - even if it costs a little more. The makers of the first ball-point may have higher profit margins, but eventually no sales; without quality in the product, a company sacrifices customers, revenue and ultimately its own existence. In practical terms, Quality is that something extra which will be perceived by the customer as a valid reason for either paying more or for buying again.

In the case where the product is a service, Quality is equated with how well the job is done and especially with whether the customer is made to feel good about the whole operation. In this respect Quality often does cost more, but the loss is recouped in the price customers are prepared to pay and in the increase of business.

Reliability

The clearest manifestation of Quality is in a product's reliability: that the product simply works. To prevent problems from arising after the product is shipped, the quality must be checked before-hand - and the best time to check quality is throughout the whole design and manufacturing cycle. The old method of quality control was to test the completed product and then to rework to remove the problems. Thus while the original production time was short, the rework time was long. The new approach to quality simply asserts that if testing becomes an integral part of each stage of production, the production time may increase but the rework time will disappear. Further, you will catch and solve many problems which the final "big-bang" quality-check would miss but which the customer will find on the first day.

To achieve this requires an environment where the identification of errors is considered to be "a good thing", where the only bad bugs are the ones which got away. One of the most hallowed doctrines of Quality is that of zero defects. "Zero defects" is a focus, it a glorious objective, it is the assertion that nothing less will suffice and that no matter how high the quality of a product, it can still be improved. It is a paradox in that it is an aim which is contrary to reason, and like the paradoxes of many other religions it holds an inner truth. This is why the advocates of Quality often seem a little crazy: they are zealots.

People as Resource

While Quality has its own reward in terms of increased long-term sales, the methods used to achieve this Quality also have other benefits. In seeking to improve the quality of the product, manufacturers have found that the people best placed to make substantial contributions are the workforce: people are the most valuable resource. It is this shift in perspective from the management to the workforce which is the most significant consequence of the search for quality. From it has arisen a new managerial philosophy aimed at the empowerment of the workforce, decision-making by the front line, active worker involvement in the company's advancement; and from this new perspective, new organizational structures have evolved, exemplified in "Quality Circles".

Without digressing too much, it is important to examine the benefits of this approach. For such delegation to be safely and effectively undertaken, the management has to train the workforce; not necessarily directly, and not all at once, but often within the Quality Circles themselves using a single "facilitator" or simply peer-coaching. The workforce had to learn how to hold meetings, how to analyse problems, how to take decisions, how to present solutions, how to implement and evaluate change. These traditionally high-level managerial prerogatives are devolved to the whole staff. Not only does this develop talent, it also stimulates interest. Staff begin to look not only for problems but also for solutions. Simple ideas become simply implemented: the secretary finally gets the filing cabinet moved closer to the desk, the sales meetings follow an agenda, the software division creates a new bulletin board for the sports club. The environment is created where people see problems and fix 'em.

Larger problems have more complex solutions. One outcome of the search for Quality in Japan is the system of Just-In-Time flow control. In this system, goods arrive at each stage of the manufacturing process just before they are needed and are not made until they are needed by the next stage. This reduces storage requirements and inventory costs of surplus stock. Another outcome has been the increased flexibility of the production line. Time to change from one product run to the next was identified as a major obstacle in providing the customer with the desired range of products and quantities, and so the whole workforce became engaged in changing existant practices and even in redesigning the machinery.

The Long Term

However, I believe that the most significant shift in perspective which accompanies the introduction of Quality is that long term success is given precedence over short term gains. The repeat-sale and recommendation are more important than this month's sales figures; staff training and development remain in place despite immediate schedule problems; the product's reliability is paramount even over time-to-market. Time is devoted today to saving time in the future and in making products which work first and every time.

Team Quality

While the salvation of an entire corporation may rest primarily with Senior Management, the fate of a team rests with the Team Leader. The Team Leader has the authority, the power to define the micro-culture of the work team. It is by the deliberate application of the principles of Quality that the Team Leader can gain for the team the same benefits which Quality can provide for a corporation.

The best ideas for any particular team are likely to come from them - the aim of the Team Leader must be to act as a catalyst through prompts and by example; the following are possible suggestions.

Getting Started

There will be no overnight success. To be lasting, Quality must become a habit and a habit is accustomed practise. This takes time and training - although not necessarily formal training but possibly the sort of reinforcement you might give to any aspect of good practise. To habituate your staff to Quality, you must first make it an issue. Here are two suggestions.

The first idea is to become enthusiastic about one aspect at a time, and initially look for a quick kill. Find a problem and start to talk about it with the whole team; do not delegate it to an individual but make it an issue for everybody. Choose some work-related problem like "how to get the right information in time" and solicit everybody's views and suggestions - and get the problem solved. Demand urgency against a clear target. There is no need to allocate large amounts of resource or time to this, simply raise the problem and make a fuss. When a solution comes, praise it by rewarding the whole team, and ensure that the aspects of increased efficiency/productivity/calm are highlighted since this will establish the criteria for "success". Next, find another problem and repeat.

The second idea is the regular weekly meeting to discuss Quality. Of course meetings can be complete time wasters, so this strategy requires care. The benefits are that regularity will lead to habit, the formality will provide a simple opportunity for the expression of ideas, and the inclusion of the whole group at the meeting will emphasize the collective responsibility. By using the regular meeting, you can establish the "ground rules" of accepted behaviour and at the same time train the team in effective techniques.

One problem is that the focus on any one particular issue may quickly loose its efficacy. A solution is to have frequent shifts in focus so that you maintain the freshness and enthusiasm (and the scope for innovative solutions). Further benefits are that continual shifts in emphasis will train your team to be flexible, and provide the opportunity for them to raise new issues. The sooner the team takes over the definition of the "next problem", the better.

Initial Phases

The initial phases are delicate. The team will be feeling greater responsibility without extra confidence. Thus you must concentrate on supporting their development. Essentially you will be their trainer in management skills. You could get outside help with this but by undertaking the job yourself, you retain control: you mould the team so that they will reflect your own approach and use your own criteria. Later they will develop themselves, but even then they will understand your thinking and so your decisions.

One trap to avoid is that the team may focus upon the wrong type of problem. You must make it clear any problem which they tackle should be:

• related to their own work or environment
• something which they can change

This precludes gripe sessions about wages and holidays.

As with all group work, the main problem is clarity. You should provide the team with a notice board and flip-charts specifically for Quality problems. These can then be left on display as a permanent record of what was agreed.

If you can, steer the group first to some problem which has a simple solution and with obvious (measurable) benefits. A quick, sharp success will motivate.

Team Building

To succeed, a Quality push must engage the enthusiasm of the entire team; as Team Leader, you must create the right atmosphere for this to happen. Many aspects of team building can be addressed while Quality remains the focus.

You must create the environment where each team member feels totally free to express an idea or concern and this can only be done if there is no stigma attached to being incorrect. No idea is wrong - merely non-optimal. In each suggestion there is at least a thread of gold and someone should point it out and, if possible, build upon it. Any behaviour which seeks laughter at the expense of others must be swiftly reprimanded.

One crude but effective method is to write down agreed ground rules and to display them as a constant reminder for everyone, something like:

• all criticism must be kind and constructive
• all our-problems are all-our problems
• BUGS WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE (but not for long)
• if it saves time later, do it now

Another method is to constantly talk about the group as the plural pronoun: "we decided", "we can do this", "we'll get back to you". This is especially effective if it is used in conversation with outsiders (especially management) within ear-shot of the team. Praise and reward the whole team; get the team wider fame by a success story in an internal newspaper.

Most importantly, you must enable failure. If the team is unable to try out ideas without rebuke for errors, then the scope of their solutions will be severely limited. Instead, a failure should be an opportunity to gain knowledge and to praise any safe-guards which were included in the plan.

Mutual Coaching

An important aspect of team interaction is the idea of mutual support. If you can instill the idea that all problems are owned by the entire team then each member will be able to seek help and advice when needed from every other team member. One promoter of this is to encourage mutual coaching. If one team member knows techniques or information which would be useful to the rest, then encourage him/her to share it. Specifically this will raise the profile, confidence and self-esteem of the instructor at the same time as benefiting the entire group. And if there is one member who might never have anything useful to impart - send him/her to a conference or training session to find something.

Statistics

One of the central tenets of Quality programmes is the idea of monitoring the problem being addressed: Statistical Quality Control. Quite simply, if you can't measure an improvement, it probably isn't there. Gathering statistics has several benefits in applying Quality:

• it identifies (the extent of) the problem
• it allows progress to be monitored
• it provides an objective criterion for the abandonment of an idea
• it can justify perceived expense in terms of observed savings/improvements
• it motivates staff by providing a display of achievement

and, of course, some problems simply disappear when you try to watch them.

The statistics must be gathered in an objective and empirical manner, the outcome should be a simple table or graph regularly updated to indicate progress, and these results must be displayed where all the team can watch. For example, if your team provides product support, then you might monitor and graph the number of repeat enquiries or the average response time. Or if you are in product development, you might want to monitor the number of bugs discovered (i.e. improvement opportunities).

In the long term, it may be suitable to implement the automatic gathering of statistics on a wide range of issues such as complaints, bug reports, machine down-time, etc. Eventually these may either provide early warning of unexpected problems, or comparative data for new quality improvement projects. It is vital, however, that they focus upon an agreed problem and not upon an individual's performance or else all the positive motivation of staff involvement will be lost.

Projects

Clarity of purpose - this is the key to success. You need a simple, stated objective which everybody understands and which everybody can see achieved.

Any plan to improve the quality or effectiveness of the group must contain:

• the objective
• the method
• the statistical display for monitoring the outcome
• the agreed criteria for completion or curtailment

By insisting on this format, you provide the plan-owners with a simple mechanism for peer recognition (through the displayed notice board) and yet enable them to manage their own failure with grace.

For a small established team, the "customer" includes any other part of the company with which the team interacts. Thus any themes regarding customer satisfaction can be developed with respect to these so called internal customers. In the end, the effectiveness of your team will be judged by the reports of how well they provide products for others.

A simple innovation might be for a member of your team to actually talk to someone from each of these internal customer groups and to ask about problems. The interfaces are usually the best place to look for simply solved problems. The immediate benefit may be to the customer, but in the long run better communications will lead to fewer misunderstandings and so less rework.

Building Quality

Quality costs less than its lack; look after the pennies and the profits will take care of themselves. To build a quality product, you must do two things:

• worry the design and the procedures
• include features to aid quality checking

It is a question of attitude. If one of the team spots a modification in the design or the procedures which will have a long term benefit, then that must be given priority over the immediate schedule. The design is never quite right; you should allocate time specifically to discussing improvement. In this you should not aim at actual enhancements in the sense of added features or faster performance, but towards simplicity or predicting problem areas. This is an adjunct to the normal design or production operations - the extra mile which lesser teams would not go.

Many products and services do not lend themselves to quality monitoring. These should be enhanced so that the quality becomes easily tracked. This may be a simple invitation for the "customer" to comment, or it could be a full design modification to provide self-checking or an easy testing routine. Any product whose quality can not be tracked should naturally become a source of deep anxiety to the whole team - until a mechanism is devised.

One of the least-used sources of quality in design and production in the engineering world is documentation. This is frequently seen as the final inconvenience at product release, sometimes even delegated to another (non-technical) group - yet the writing of such documentation can be used as an important vehicle for the clarification of ideas. It also protects the group from the loss of any single individual; the No.7 bus, or the head-hunter, could strike at any time.

In devising a mechanism for monitoring quality, many teams will produce a set of test procedures. As bugs emerge, new procedures should be added which specifically identify this problem and so check the solution. Even when the problem is solved the new procedures should remain in the test set; the problem may return (perhaps as a side effect of a subsequent modification) or the procedure may catch another. Essentially the test set should grow to cover all known possibilities of error and its application should, where possible, be automated.

Role Change

As your team develops, your role as leader changes subtly. You become a cross between a priest and a rugby captain, providing the vision and the values while shouting like crazy from the centre of the field. Although you retain the final say (that is your responsibility), the team begins to make decisions. The hardest part, as with all delegation, is in accepting the group decision even though you disagree. You must never countermand a marginal decision. If you have to over-rule the team, it is imperative that you explain your reasons very clearly so that they understand the criteria; this will both justify your intervention and couch the team in (hopefully) good decision-making practices.

Another role which you assume is that of both buffer and interface between the team and the rest of the company: a buffer in that you protect the team from the vagaries of less enlightened managers; an interface in that you keep the team informed about factors relevant to their decisions. Ultimately, the team will be delegating to you (!) tasks which only you, acting as manager, can perform on its behalf.

Quality for Profit

By applying the principles of Quality to an established team, the Team Leader can enjoy the benefits so actively sought by large corporations. The key is the attitude - and the insistence on the primacy of Quality. As a Team Leader, you have the power to define the ethos of your staff; by using Quality as the focus, you also can accrue its riches.

Gerard M Blair is a Senior Lecturer in VLSI Design at the Department of Electrical Engineering, The University of Edinburgh. His book Starting to Manage: the essential skills is published by Chartwell-Bratt (UK) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (USA). He welcomes feedback either by email (gerard@ee.ed.ac.uk) or by any other method found here

..:. Back to Basic Management Skills

Time Management

Personal Time Management for Busy Managers

by Gerard M Blair

Time passes, quickly. This article looks at the basics of Personal Time Management and describes how the Manager can assume control of this basic resource.

The "Eff" words

The three "Eff" words are [concise OED]:

• Effective - having a definite or desired effect
• Efficient - productive with minimum waste or effort
• Effortless -

seemingly without effort; natural, easy

Personal Time Management is about winning the "Eff" words: making them apply to you and your daily routines.

What is Personal Time Management?

Personal Time Management is about controlling the use of your most valuable (and undervalued) resource. Consider these two questions: what would happen if you spent company money with as few safeguards as you spend company time, when was the last time you scheduled a review of your time allocation?

The absence of Personal Time Management is characterized by last minute rushes to meet dead-lines, meetings which are either double booked or achieve nothing, days which seem somehow to slip unproductively by, crises which loom unexpected from nowhere. This sort of environment leads to inordinate stress and degradation of performance: it must be stopped.

Poor time management is often a symptom of over confidence: techniques which used to work with small projects and workloads are simply reused with large ones. But inefficiencies which were insignificant in the small role are ludicrous in the large. You can not drive a motor bike like a bicycle, nor can you manage a supermarket-chain like a market stall. The demands, the problems and the payoffs for increased efficiency are all larger as your responsibility grows; you must learn to apply proper techniques or be bettered by those who do. Possibly, the reason Time Management is poorly practised is that it so seldom forms a measured part of appraisal and performance review; what many fail to foresee, however, is how intimately it is connected to aspects which do.

Personal Time Management has many facets. Most managers recognize a few, but few recognize them all. There is the simple concept of keeping a well ordered diary and the related idea of planned activity. But beyond these, it is a tool for the systematic ordering of your influence on events, it underpins many other managerial skills such as Effective Delegation and Project Planning.

Personal Time Management is a set of tools which allow you to:

eliminate wastage

be prepared for meetings

refuse excessive workloads

monitor project progress

allocate resource (time) appropriate to a task's importance

ensure that long term projects are not neglected

plan each day efficiently

plan each week effectively

and to do so simply with a little self-discipline.

Since Personal Time Management is a management process just like any other, it must be planned, monitored and regularly reviewed. In the following sections, we will examine the basic methods and functions of Personal Time Management. Since true understanding depends upons experience, you will be asked to take part by looking at aspects of your own work. If you do not have time to this right now - ask yourself: why not?

Current Practice

What this article is advocating is the adoption of certain practices which will give you greater control over the use and allocation of your primary resource: time. Before we start on the future, it is worth considering the present. This involves the simplistic task of keeping a note of how you spend your time for a suitably long period of time (say a week). I say simplistic since all you have to do is create a simple table, photocopy half-a-dozen copies and carry it around with you filling in a row every time you change activity. After one week, allocate time (start as you mean to go on) to reviewing this log.

Waste Disposal

We are not looking here to create new categories of work to enhance efficiency (that comes later) but simply to eliminate wastage in your current practice. The average IEE Chartered Engineer earns about 27,000 pounds per annum: about 12.50 pounds per hour, say 1 pound every 5 minutes; for how many 5 minute sections of your activity would you have paid a pound? The first step is a critical appraisal of how you spend your time and to question some of your habits. In your time log, identify periods of time which might have been better used.

There are various sources of waste. The most common are social: telephone calls, friends dropping by, conversations around the coffee machine. It would be foolish to eliminate all non-work related activity (we all need a break) but if it's a choice between chatting to Harry in the afternoon and meeting the next pay-related deadline ... Your time log will show you if this is a problem and you might like to do something about it before your boss does.

In your time log, look at each work activity and decide objectively how much time each was worth to you, and compare that with the time you actually spent on it. An afternoon spent polishing an internal memo into a Pulitzer prize winning piece of provocative prose is waste; an hour spent debating the leaving present of a colleague is waste; a minute spent sorting out the paper-clips is waste (unless relaxation). This type of activity will be reduced naturally by managing your own time since you will not allocate time to the trivial. Specifically, if you have a task to do, decide before hand how long it should take and work to that deadline - then move on to the next task.

Another common source of waste stems from delaying work which is unpleasant by finding distractions which are less important or unproductive. Check your log to see if any tasks are being delayed simply because they are dull or difficult.

Time is often wasted in changing between activities. For this reason it is useful to group similar tasks together thus avoiding the start-up delay of each. The time log will show you where these savings can be made. You may want then to initiate a routine which deals with these on a fixed but regular basis.

Doing Subordinate's Work

Having considered what is complete waste, we now turn to what is merely inappropriate. Often it is simpler to do the job yourself. Using the stamp machine to frank your own letters ensures they leave by the next post; writing the missing summary in the latest progress report from your junior is more pleasant than sending it back (and it lets you choose the emphasis). Rubbish!

Large gains can be made by assigning secretarial duties to secretaries: they regularly catch the next post, they type a lot faster than you. Your subordinate should be told about the missing section and told how (and why) to slant it. If you have a task which could be done by a subordinate, use the next occasion to start training him/her to do it instead of doing it yourself - you will need to spend some time monitoring the task thereafter, but far less that in doing it yourself.

Doing the work of Others

A major impact upon your work can be the tendency to help others with their's. Now, in the spirit of an open and harmonious work environment it is obviously desirable that you should be willing to help out - but check your work log and decide how much time you spend on your own work and how much you spend on others'. For instance, if you spend a morning checking the grammar and spelling in the training material related to you last project, then that is waste. Publications should do the proof-reading, that is their job, they are better at it than you; you should deal at the technical level.

The remaining problem is your manager. Consider what periods in your work log were used to perform tasks that your manager either repeated or simply negated by ignoring it or redefining the task, too late. Making your manager efficient is a very difficult task, but where it impinges upon your work and performance you must take the bull by the horns (or whatever) and confront the issue.

Managing your manager may seem a long way from Time Management but no one impacts upon your use of time more than your immediate superior. If a task is ill defined - seek clarification (is that a one page summary or a ten page report?). If seemingly random alterations are asked in your deliverables, ask for the reasons and next time clarify these and similar points at the beginning. If the manager is difficult, try writing a small specification for each task before beginning it and have it agreed. While you can not tactfully hold your manager to this contract if he/she has a change of mind, it will at least cause him/her to consider the issues early on, before you waste your time on false assumptions.

External Appointments

The next stage of Personal Time Management is to start taking control of your time. The first problem is appointments. Start with a simple appointments diary. In this book you will have (or at least should have) a complete list of all your known appointments for the forseeable future. If you have omitted your regular ones (since you remember them anyway) add them now.

Your appointments constitute your interaction with other people; they are the agreed interface between your activities and those of others; they are determined by external obligation. They often fill the diary. Now, be ruthless and eliminate the unnecessary. There may be committees where you can not productively contribute or where a subordinate might be (better) able to participate. There may be long lunches which could be better run as short conference calls. There may be interviews which last three times as long as necessary because they are scheduled for a whole hour. Eliminate the wastage starting today.

The next stage is to add to your diary lists of other, personal activity which will enhance your use of the available time. Consider: what is the most important type of activity to add to your diary? No:- stop reading for a moment and really, consider.

The single most important type of activity is those which will save you time: allocate time to save time, a stitch in time saves days. And most importantly of all, always allocate time to time management: at least five minutes each and every day.

For each appointment left in the diary, consider what actions you might take to ensure that no time is wasted: plan to avoid work by being prepared. Thus, if you are going to a meeting where you will be asked to comment on some report, allocate time to read it so avoiding delays in the meeting and increasing your chances of making the right decision the first time. Consider what actions need to be done before AND what actions must be done to follow-up. Even if the latter is unclear before the event, you must still allocate time to review the outcome and to plan the resulting action. Simply mark in your diary the block of time necessary to do this and, when the time comes, do it.

Scheduling Projects

The most daunting external appointments are deadlines: often, the handover of deliverables. Do you leave the work too late? Is there commonly a final panic towards the end? Are the last few hectic hours often marred by errors? If so, use Personal Time Management.

The basic idea is that your management of personal deadlines should be achieved with exactly the same techniques you would use in a large project:

check the specification - are you sure that you agree on what is to be delivered

break the task down into small sections so that you can estimate the time needed for each, and monitor progress

schedule reviews of your progress (e.g. after each sub-task) so that you can respond quickly to difficulties

Like most management ideas, this is common sense. Some people, however, refute it because in practise they find that it merely shows the lack of time for a project which must be done anyway. This is simply daft! If simple project planning and time management show that the task can not be done, then it will not be done - but by knowing at the start, you have a chance to do something about it.

An impossible deadline affects not only your success but also that of others. Suppose a product is scheduled for release too soon because you agree to deliver too early. Marketing and Sales will prepare customers to expect the product showing why they really need it - but it will not arrive. The customers will be dissatisfied or even lost, the competition will have advanced warning, and all because you agreed to do the impossible.

You can avoid this type of problem. By practising time management, you will always have a clear understanding of how you spend your time and what time is unallocated. If a new task is thrust upon you, you can estimate whether it is practical. The project planning tells you how much time is needed and the time management tells you how much time is available.

There are four ways to deal with impossible deadlines:

Get the deadline extended

Scream for more resources

Get the Deliverable redefined to something practical

State the position clearly so that your boss (and his/her boss) have fair warning

If this simple approach seems unrealistic, consider the alternative. If you have an imposed, but unobtainable, deadline and you accept it; then the outcome is your assured failure. Of course, there is a fifth option: move to a company with realistic schedules.

One defence tactic is to present your superior with a current list of your obligations indicating what impact the new task will have on these, and ask him/her to assign the priorities: "I can't do them all, which should I slip?". Another tactic is to keep a data base of your time estimates and the actual time taken by each task. This will quickly develop into a source of valuable data and increase the accuracy of your planning predictions.

There is no reason why you should respond only to externally imposed deadlines. The slightly shoddy product which you hand-over after the last minute rush (and normally have returned for correction the following week) could easily have been polished if only an extra day had been available - so move your personal deadline forward and allow yourself the luxury of leisured review before the product is shipped.

Taking this a step further, the same sort of review might be applied to the product at each stage of its development so that errors and rework time are reduced. Thus by allocating time to quality review, you save time in rework; and this is all part of project planning supported and monitored by your time management.

Finally, for each activity you should estimate how much time it is worth and allocate only that amount. This critical appraisal may even suggest a different approach or method so that the time matches the task's importance. Beware of perfection, it takes too long - allocate time for "fitness for purpose", then stop.

Monitoring Staff

Your Personal Time Management also effects other people, particularly your subordinates. Planning projects means not only allocating your time but also the distribution of tasks; and this should be done in the same planned, monitored and reviewed manner as your own scheduling.

Any delegated task should be specified with an (agreed) end date. As a Manager, you are responsible for ensuring that the tasks allocated to your subordinates are completed successfully. Thus you should ensure that each task is concluded with a deliverable (for instance, a memo to confirm completion) - you make an entry in your diary to check that this has arrived. Thus, if you agree the task for Tuesday, Wednesday should have an entry in your diary to check the deliverable. This simple device allows you to monitor progress and to initiate action as necessary.

Long term Objectives

There are many long term objectives which the good Manager must achieve, particularly with regard to the development, support and motivation of his/her work-team. Long term objectives have the problem of being important but not urgent; they do not have deadlines, they are distant and remote. For this reason, it is all too easy to ignore them in favour of the urgent and immediate. Clearly a balance must be struck.

The beauty of Time Management is that the balance can be decided objectively (without influence from immediate deadlines) and self-imposed through the use of the diary. Simply, a manager might decide that one hour a week should be devoted to personnel issues and would then allocate a regular block of time to that activity. Of course if the factory is on fire, or World War III is declared, the manager may have to re-allocate this time in a particular week - but barring such crises, this time should then become sacrosanct and always applied to the same, designated purpose.

Similarly, time may be allocated to staff development and training. So if one afternoon a month is deemed to be a suitable allocation, then simply designate the second Thursday (say) of each month and delegate the choice of speakers. The actual time spent in managing this sort of long term objective is small, but without that deliberate planning it will not be achieved.

Once you have implemented Personal Time Management, it is worth using some of that control to augment your own career. Some quiet weekend, you should sketch out your own long term objectives and plan a route to them. As you would any long term objective, allocate time to the necessary sub-tasks and monitor your progress. If you do not plan where you want to go, you are unlikely to get there.

Concluding Remarks.

Personal Time Management is a systematic application of common sense strategies. It requires little effort, yet it promotes efficient work practices by highlighting wastage and it leads to effective use of time by focusing it on your chosen activities. Personal Time Management does not solve your problems; it reveals them, and provides a structure to implement and monitor solutions. It enables you to take control of your own time - how you use it is then up to you.

Gerard M Blair is a Senior Lecturer in VLSI Design at the Department of Electrical Engineering, The University of Edinburgh. His book Starting to Manage: the essential skills is published by Chartwell-Bratt (UK) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (USA). He welcomes feedback either by email (gerard@ee.ed.ac.uk) or by any other method found here

..:. Back to Basic Management Skills

Presentation Skills

Presentation Skills for Emergent Managers

by Gerard M Blair

Presentations are one of the first managerial skills which a junior engineer must acquire. This article looks at the basics of Presentation Skills as they might apply to an emergent manager.

Introduction

Management is the art of getting things done. A Presentation is a fast and potentially effective method of getting things done through other people. In managing any project, presentations are used as a formal method for bringing people together to plan, monitor and review its progress.

But let us look at this another way: what can a presentation do for you?

Firstly; it puts you on display. Your staff need to see evidence of decisive planning and leadership so that they are confident in your position as their manager. They need to be motivated and inspired to undertaking the tasks which you are presenting. Project leaders from other sections need to be persuaded of the merits of your project and to provide any necessary support. Senior management should be impressed by your skill and ability so that they provide the resources so that you and your team can get the job done.

Secondly; it allows you to ask questions and to initiate discussion. It may not be suitable within the presentation formats of your company to hold a discussion during the presentation itself but it does allow you to raise the issues, present the problems and at least to establish who amongst the audience could provide valuable input to your decision making.

Finally; presentations can be fun. They are your chance to speak your mind, to strut your stuff and to tell the people what the world is really like. While you hold the stage, the audience is bound by good manners to sit still and watch the performance.

The Objectives of Communication

The single most important observation is that the objective of communication is not the transimission but the reception. The whole preparation, presentation and content of a speech must therefore be geared not to the speaker but to the audience. The presentation of a perfect project plan is a failure if the audience do not understand or are not persuaded of its merits. A customers' tour is a waste of time if they leave without realising the full worth of your product. The objective of communication is to make your message understood and remembered.

The main problem with this objective is, of course, the people to whom you are talking. The average human being has a very short attention span and a million other things to think about. Your job in the presentation is to reach through this mental fog and to hold the attention long enough to make your point.

The Plan

It is difficult to over estimate the importance of careful preparation. Five minutes on the floor in front of senior management could decide the acceptance of a proposal of several months duration for the manager and the whole team. With so much potentially at stake, the presenter must concentrate not only upon the facts being presented but upon the style, pace, tone and ultimately tactics which should be used. As a rule of thumb for an average presentation, no less than 1 hour should be spent in preparation for 5 minutes of talking.

Suppose you have a talk to give, where do you start?

Formulate your Objectives

The starting point in planning any speech is to formulate a precise objective. This should take the form of a simple, concise statement of intent. For example, the purpose of your speech may be to obtain funds, to evaluate a proposal, or to motivate your team. No two objectives will be served equally well by the same presentation; and if you are not sure at the onset what you are trying to do, it is unlikely that your plan will achieve it.

One question is: how many different objectives can you achieve, in say, 30 minutes - and the answer: not many. In the end it is far more productive to achieve one goal than to blunder over several. The best approach is to isolate the essential objective and to list at most two others which can be addressed providing they do not distract from the main one. Focus is key. If you do not focus upon your objective, it is unlikely that the audience will.

Identify the Audience

The next task is to consider the audience to determine how best to achieve your objectives in the context of these people. Essentially this is done by identifying their aims and objectives while attending your presentation. If you can somehow convince them they are achieving those aims while at the same time achieving your own, you will find a helpful and receptive audience. For instance, if you are seeking approval for a new product plan from senior management it is useful to know and understand their main objectives. If they are currently worried that their product range is out of date and old fashioned, you would emphasise the innovative aspects of your new product; if they are fearful about product diversification you would then emphasise how well your new product fits within the existing catalogue.

This principal of matching the audience aims, however, goes beyond the simple salesmanship of an idea - it is the simplest and most effective manner of obtaining their attention at the beginning. If your opening remarks imply that you understand their problem and that you have a solution, then they will be flattered at your attention and attentive to your every word.

Structure

All speeches should have a definite structure or format; a talk without a structure is a woolly mess. If you do not order your thoughts into a structured manner, the audience will not be able to follow them. Having established the aim of your presentation you should choose the most appropriate structure to achieve it.

However, the structure must not get in the way of the main message. If it is too complex, too convoluted or simply too noticeable the audience will be distracted. If a section is unnecessary to the achievement of your fundamental objectives, pluck it out.

Sequential Argument

One of the simplest structures is that of sequential argument which consists of a series of linked statements ultimately leading to a conclusion. However, this simplicity can only be achieved by careful and deliberate delineation between each section. One technique is the use of frequent reminders to the audience of the main point which have proceeded and explicit explanation of how the next topic will lead on from this.

Hierarchical Decomposition

In hierarchical decomposition the main topic is broken down into sub-topics and each sub-topics into smaller topics until eventually everything is broken down into very small basic units. In written communication this is a very powerful technique because it allows the reader to re-order the presentation at will, and to return to omitted topics at a later date. In verbal communication the audience is restricted to the order of the presenter and the hierarchy should be kept simple reinforced. As with sequential argument it is useful to summarise each section at its conclusion and to introduce each major new section with a statement of how it lies in the hierarchical order.

Question Orientated

The aim of many presentations given by managers is to either explain a previous decision or to seek approval for a plan of action. In these cases, the format can be question orientated. The format is to introduce the problem and any relevant background, and then to outline the various solutions to that problem listing the advantages and disadvantages of each solution in turn. Finally, all possible options are summarised in terms of their pro's and con's, and either the preferred solution is presented for endorsement by the audience or a discussion is initiated leading to the decision. One trick for obtaining the desired outcome is to establish during the presentation the criteria by which the various options are to be judged; this alone should allow you to obtain your desired outcome.

Pyramid

In a newspaper, the story is introduced in its entirety in a catchy first paragraph. The next few paragraphs repeat the same information only giving further details to each point. The next section repeats the entire story again, but developing certain themes within each of the sub-points and again adding more information. This is repeated until the reporter runs out of story. The editor then simply decides upon the newsworthiness of the report and cuts from the bottom to the appropriate number of column inches.

There are two main advantages to this style for presentations. Firstly, it can increase the audiences receptiveness to the main ideas. Since at every stage of the pyramid they have all ready become familiar with the ideas and indeed know what to expect next. This sense of deja vu can falsely give the impression that what they are hearing are their own ideas. The second advantage is that the duration of the talk can be easily altered by cutting the talk in exactly the same way as the newspaper editor might have done to the news story. This degree of flexibility may be useful if the same presentation is to be used several times in different situations.

The Meaty Sandwich

The simplest and most direct format remains the meaty sandwich. This is the simple beginning-middle-end format in which the main meat of the exposition is contained in the middle and is proceeded by an introduction and followed by a summary and conclusion. This is really the appropriate format for all small sub-sections in all the previous structures. If the talk is short enough, or the topic simple enough, it can indeed form the entirity of the presentation.

The Beginning

It is imperative to plan your beginning carefully; there are five main elements:

Get their attention

Too often in a speech, the first few minutes of the presentation are lost while people adjust their coats, drift in with coffee and finish the conversation they were having with the person next to them. You only have a limited time and every minute is precious to you so, from the beginning, make sure they pay attention.

Establish a theme

Basically, you need to start the audience thinking about the subject matter of your presentation. This can be done by a statement of your main objective, unless for some reason you wish to keep it hidden. They will each have some experience or opinions on this and at the beginning you must make them bring that experience into their own minds.

Present a structure

If you explain briefly at the beginning of a talk how it is to proceed, then the audience will know what to expect. This can help to establish the theme and also provide something concrete to hold their attention. Ultimately, it provides a sense of security in the promise that this speech too will end.

Create a rapport

If you can win the audience over in the first minute, you will keep them for the remainder. You should plan exactly how you wish to appear to them and use the beginning to establish that relationship. You may be presenting yourself as their friend, as an expert, perhaps even as a judge, but whatever role you choose you must establish it at the very beginning.

Administration

When planning your speech you should make a note to find out if there are any administrative details which need to be announced at the beginning of your speech. This is not simply to make yourself popular with the people organising the session but also because if these details are over looked the audience may become distracted as they wonder what is going to happen next.

The Ending

The final impression you make on the audience is the one they will remember. Thus it is worth planning your last few sentences with extreme care.

As with the beginning, it is necessary first to get their attention, which will have wandered. This requires a change of pace, a new visual aid or perhaps the introduction of one final culminating idea. In some formats the ending will be a summary of the main points of the talk. One of the greatest mistakes is to tell the audience that this is going to be a summary because at that moment they simply switch off. Indeed it is best that the ending comes unexpectedly with that final vital phrase left hanging in the air and ringing round their memories. Alternatively the ending can be a flourish, with the pace and voice leading the audience through the final crescendo to the inevitable conclusion.

Visual Aids

Most people expect visual reinforcement for any verbal message being delivered. While it would be unfair to blame television entirely for this, it is useful to understand what the audience is accustomed to, for two reasons: firstly, you can meet their expectations using the overhead projector, a slide show, or even a video presentation; secondly, if you depart from the framework of a square picture flashed before their eyes, and use a different format, then that novelty will be most arresting. For instance, if you are describing the four functions of a project manager then display the four "hats" he/she must wear; if you are introducing the techniques of brainstorming then brandish a fishing rod to "fish for" ideas.

With traditional visual aids however, there are a few rules which should be followed to ensure they are used effectively. Most are common sense, and most are commonly ignored. As with all elements of a speech, each different viewfoil should have a distinct purpose - and if it has no purpose it should be removed. With that purpose firmly in mind you should design the viewfoil for that purpose. Some viewfoils are there to reinforce the verbal message and so to assist in recall; others are used to explain information which can be more easily displayed than discussed: and some viewfoils are designed simply for entertainment and thus to pace the presentation.

If your viewfoil is scruffy then your audience will notice that, and not what is written upon it. Do not clutter a viewfoil or it will confuse rather than assist. Do not simply photocopy information if there is more data on the page than you wish to present; in these cases, the data should be extracted before being displayed. Make sure that your writing can be read from the back of the room. Talk to the audience, not the visual aid.

The Delivery

"The human body is truly fascinating - there are some I could watch all day" - Anon

Whatever you say and whatever you show; it is you, yourself which will remain the focus of the audience's attention. If you but strut and fret your hour upon the stage and then are gone, no-one will remember what you said. The presenter has the power both to kill the message and to enhance it a hundred times beyond its worth. Your job as a manager is to use the potential of the presentation to ensure that the audience is motivated and inspired rather than disconcerted or distracted. There are five key facets of the human body which deserve attention in presentation skills: the eyes, the voice, the expression, the appearance, and how you stand.

The Eyes

The eyes are said to be the key to the soul and are therefore the first and most effective weapon in convincing the audience of your honesty, openness and confidence in the objectives of your presentation. This impression may of course be totally false, but here is how to convey it.

Even when in casual conversation, your feelings of friendship and intimacy can be evaluated by the intensity and duration of eye contact. During the presentation you should use this to enhance your rapport with the audience by establishing eye contact with each and every member of the audience as often as possible. For small groups this is clearly possible but it can also be achieved in large auditoriums since the further the audience is away from the presenter the harder it is to tell precisely where he or she is looking. Thus by simply staring at a group of people at the back of a lecture theatre it is possible to convince each of them individually that he or she is the object of your attention. During presentations, try to hold your gaze fixed in specific directions for five or six seconds at a time. Shortly after each change in position, a slight smile will convince each person in that direction that you have seen and acknowledged them.

The Voice

After the eyes comes the voice, and the two most important aspects of the voice for the public speaker are projection and variation. It is important to realise from the onset that few people can take their ordinary conversation voice and put it on stage. If you can, then perhaps you should move to Hollywood. The main difference comes in the degree of feedback which you can expect from the person to whom you are talking. In ordinary conversation you can see from the expression, perhaps a subtle movement of the eye, when a word or phrase has been missed or misunderstood. In front of an audience you have to make sure that this never happens. The simple advice is to slow down and to take your time. Remember the audience is constrained by good manners not to interrupt you so there is no need to maintain a constant flow of sound. A safe style is to be slightly louder and slightly slower than a fire-side chat with slightly deaf aunt. As you get used to the sound, you can adjust it by watching the audience.

A monotone speech is both boring and soporific, so it is important to try to vary the pitch and speed of your presentation. At the very least, each new sub-section should be proceeded by a pause and a change in tone to emphasise the delineation. If tonal variation does not come to you naturally try making use of rhetorical questions throughout your speech, since most British accents rise naturally at the end of a question.

Expression

The audience watch your face. If you are looking listless or distracted then they will be listless and distracted; if you are smiling, they will be wondering why and listen to find out. In normal conversation your meaning is enhanced by facial reinforcement. Thus in a speech you must compensate both for stage nerves and for the distance between yourself and the audience. The message is quite simply: make sure that your facial expressions are natural, only more so.

Appearance

There are many guides to management and presentation styles which lay heavy emphasis upon the way you dress and in the last analysis this is a matter of personal choice. That choice should however be deliberately made. When you are giving a presentation you must dress for the audience, not for yourself; if they think you look out of place, then you are.

As an aside, it is my personal opinion that there exists a code of conduct among engineers which emphasizes the scruffy look, and that in many organisations this tends to set the engineer apart, especially from management. It conveys the subliminal message that the engineer and the manager are not part of the same group and so hinders communication.

Stance

When an actor initially learns a new character part, he or she will instinctively adopt a distinct posture or stance to convey that character. It follows therefore that while you are on stage, your stance and posture will convey a great deal about you. The least you must do is make sure your stance does not convey boredom; at best, you can use your whole body as a dynamic tool to reinforce your rapport with the audience.

The perennial problem is what to do with your hands. These must not wave aimlessly through the air, or fiddle constantly with a pen, or (worst of all visually) juggle change in your trouser pockets. The key is to keep your hands still, except when used in unison with your speech. To train them initially, find a safe resting place which is comfortable for you, and aim to return them there when any gesture is completed.

The Techniques of Speech

Every speaker has a set of "tricks of the trade" which he or she holds dear - the following are a short selection of such advice taken from various sources.

Make an impression

The average audience is very busy: they have husbands and wives, schedules and slippages, cars and mortgages; and although they will be trying very hard to concentrate on your speech, their minds will inevitably stray. Your job is to do something, anything, which captures their attention and makes a lasting impression upon them. Once you have planned your speech and honed it down to its few salient points, isolate the most important and devise some method to make it stick.

Repeat, Repeat

The average audience is very busy: they have husbands or wives etc, etc - but repetition makes them hear. The average audience is easily distracted, and their attention will slip during the most important message of your speech - so repeat it. You don't necessarily have to use the resonant tonal sounds of the repeated phrase, but simply make the point again and again and again with different explanations and in different ways. The classic advice of the Sergeant Major is: "First you tell 'em what you are going to tell 'em, then you tell 'em, then you tell 'em what you told 'em!"

Draw a Sign

Research into teaching has yielded the following observation: "We found that students who failed to get the point did so because they were not looking for it". If the audience knows when to listen, they will. So tell them: the important point is ... .

Draw a Picture

The human brain is used to dealing with images, and this ability can be used to make the message more memorable. This means using metaphors or analogies to express your message. Thus a phrase like "we need to increase the market penetration before there will be sufficient profits for a pay related bonus" becomes "we need a bigger slice of the cake before the feast".

Jokes

The set piece joke can work very well, but it can also lead to disaster. You must choose a joke which is apt, and one which will not offend any member of the audience. This advice tends to rule out all racist, sexist or generally rude jokes. If this seems to rule out all the jokes you can think of, then you should avoid jokes in a speech.

Amusing asides are also useful in maintaining the attention of the audience, and for relieving the tension of the speech. If this comes naturally to you, then it is a useful tool for pacing your delivery to allow periods of relaxation in between your sign-posted major points.

Plain Speech

Yes!

Short and Sweet

One way to polish the presentation of the main point of your speech is to consider it thus. The day before your presentation, you are called to to the office of the divisional vice-president; there you are introduced to the managing director and a representative of the company's major share holder; "O.K." says the vice president "we hear you have got something to say, we'll give you 30 seconds, GO". Can you do it?

If you can crystallise your thoughts and combine your main message with some memorable phrase or imagery, and present them both in 30 seconds then you have either the perfect ending or the basis for a fine presentation.

The Narrative

Everyone loves a story and stories can both instruct and convey a message: Zen Philosophy is recorded in its stories, and Christianity was originally taught in parables. If you can weave your message into a story or a personal annocdote, then you can have them wanting to hear your every word - even if you have to make it up.

Rehearsal

There is no substitute for rehearsal. You can do it in front of a mirror, or to an empty theatre. In both cases, you should accentuate your gestures and vocal projection so that you get used to the sound and sight of yourself. Do not be put off by the mirror - remember: you see a lot less of yourself than your friends do.

Relaxation

If you get nervous just before the show, either concentrate on controlling your breathing or welcome the extra adrenaline. The good news is that the audience will never notice your nerves nearly as much as you think. Similarly, if you dry-up in the middle - smile, look at your notes, and take your time. The silence will seem long to you, but less so to the audience.

Conclusion

Once the speech is over and you have calmed down, you should try to honestly evaluate your performance. Either alone, or with the help of a friend in the audience, decide what was the least successful aspect of your presentation and resolve to concentrate on that point in the next talk you give. If it is a problem associated with the preparation, then deal with it there; if it is a problem with your delivery, write yourself a reminder note and put it in front of you at the next talk.

Practice is only productive when you make a positive effort to improve - try it.

Gerard M Blair is a Senior Lecturer in VLSI Design at the Department of Electrical Engineering, The University of Edinburgh. His book Starting to Manage: the essential skills is published by Chartwell-Bratt (UK) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (USA). He welcomes feedback either by email (gerard@ee.ed.ac.uk) or by any other method found here

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Teams and Groups

Groups that Work

by Gerard M Blair

Groups form a basic unit of work activity throughout engineering and yet the underlying process is poorly managed. This article looks at the basics of group work and suggests ways to accelerate development.

In the beginning, God made an individual - and then he made a pair. The pair formed a group, together they begat others and thus the group grew. Unfortunately, working in a group led to friction, the group disintegrated in conflict and Caian settled in the land of Nod - there has been trouble with groups ever since.

When people work in groups, there are two quite separate issues involved. The first is the task and the problems involved in getting the job done. Frequently this is the only issue which the group considers. The second is the process of the group work itself: the mechanisms by which the group acts as a unit and not as a loose rabble. However, without due attention to this process the value of the group can be diminished or even destroyed; yet with a little explicit management of the process, it can enhance the worth of the group to be many times the sum of the worth of its individuals. It is this synergy which makes group work attractive in corporate organization despite the possible problems (and time spent) in group formation.

This article examines the group process and how it can best be utilized. The key is that the group should be viewed as an important resource whose maintenance must be managed just like any other resource and that this management should be undertaken by the group itself so that it forms a normal part of the group's activities.

What is a Group?

A group of people working in the same room, or even on a common project, does not necessarily invoke the group process. If the group is managed in a totally autocratic manner, there may be little opportunity for interaction relating to the work; if there is factioning within the group, the process may never evolve. On the other hand, the group process may be utilized by normally distant individuals working on different projects; for instance, at IEE colloquia.

In simple terms, the group process leads to a spirit of cooperation, coordination and commonly understood procedures and mores. If this is present within a group of people, then their performance will be enhanced by their mutual support (both practical and moral). If you think this is a nebulous concept when applied to the world of industry, consider the opposite effect that a self-opinionated, cantankerous loud-mouth would have on your performance and then contrast that to working with a friendly, open, helpful associate.

Why a Group?

Groups are particularly good at combining talents and providing innovative solutions to possible unfamiliar problems; in cases where there is no well established approach/procedure, the wider skill and knowledge set of the group has a distinct advantage over that of the individual.

In general, however, there is an overriding advantage in a group-based work force which makes it attractive to Management: that it engenders a fuller utilization of the work force.

A group can be seen as a self managing unit. The range of skills provided by its members and the self monitoring which each group performs makes it a reasonably safe recipient for delegated responsibility. Even if a problem could be decided by a single person, there are two main benefits in involving the people who will carry out the decision. Firstly, the motivational aspect of participating in the decision will clearly enhance its implementation. Secondly, there may well be factors which the implementer understands better than the single person who could supposedly have decided alone.

More indirectly, if the lowest echelons of the workforce each become trained, through participation in group decision making, in an understanding of the companies objectives and work practices, then each will be better able to solve work-related problems in general. Further, they will also individually become a safe recipient for delegated authority which is exemplified in the celebrated right of Japanese car workers to halt the production line.

From the individual's point of view, there is the added incentive that through belonging to a group each can participate in achievements well beyond his/her own individual potential. Less idealistically, the group provides an environment where the individual's self-perceived level of responsibility and authority is enhanced, in an environment where accountability is shared: thus providing a perfect motivator through enhanced self-esteem coupled with low stress.

Finally, a word about the much vaunted "recognition of the worth of the individual" which is often given as the reason for delegating responsibility to groups of subordinates. While I agree with the sentiment, I am dubious that this is a prime motivator - the bottom line is that the individual's talents are better utilized in a group, not that they are wonderful human beings.

Group Development

It is common to view the development of a group as having four stages:

• Forming
• Storming
• Norming
• Performing

Forming is the stage when the group first comes together. Everybody is very polite and very dull. Conflict is seldom voiced directly, mainly personal and definitely destructive. Since the grouping is new, the individuals will be guarded in their own opinions and generally reserved. This is particularly so in terms of the more nervous and/or subordinate members who may never recover. The group tends to defer to a large extent to those who emerge as leaders (poor fools!).

Storming is the next stage, when all Hell breaks loose and the leaders are lynched. Factions form, personalities clash, no-one concedes a single point without first fighting tooth and nail. Most importantly, very little communication occurs since no one is listening and some are still unwilling to talk openly. True, this battle ground may seem a little extreme for the groups to which you belong - but if you look beneath the veil of civility at the seething sarcasm, invective and innuendo, perhaps the picture come more into focus.

Then comes the Norming. At this stage the sub-groups begin to recognize the merits of working together and the in-fighting subsides. Since a new spirit of co-operation is evident, every member begins to feel secure in expressing their own view points and these are discussed openly with the whole group. The most significant improvement is that people start to listen to each other. Work methods become established and recognized by the group as a whole.

And finally: Performing. This is the culmination, when the group has settled on a system which allows free and frank exchange of views and a high degree of support by the group for each other and its own decisions.

In terms of performance, the group starts at a level slightly below the sum of the individuals' levels and then drops abruptly to its nadir until it climbs during Norming to a new level of Performing which is (hopefully) well above the start. It is this elevated level of performance which is the main justification for using the group process rather than a simple group of staff.

Group Skills

The group process is a series of changes which occur as a group of individuals form into a cohesive and effective operating unit. If the process is understood, it can be accelerated.

There are two main sets of skills which a group must acquire:

• Managerial Skills
• Interpersonal Skills

and the acceleration of the group process is simply the accelerated acquisition of these.

As a self-managing unit, a group has to undertake most of the functions of a Group Leader - collectively. For instance, meetings must be organized, budgets decided, strategic planning undertaken, goals set, performance monitored, reviews scheduled, etc. It is increasingly recognized that it is a fallacy to expect an individual to suddenly assume managerial responsibility without assistance; in the group it is even more so. Even if there are practiced managers in the group, they must first agree on a method, and then convince and train the remainder of the group.

As a collection of people, a group needs to relearn some basic manners and people-management skills. Again, think of that self-opinionated, cantankerous loud-mouth; he/she should learn good manners, and the group must learn to enforce these manners without destructive confrontation.

Accelerating Development

It is common practice in accelerating group development to appoint, and if necessary train, a "group facilitator". The role of this person is to continually draw the groups' attention to the group process and to suggest structures and practices to support and enhance the group skills. This must be only a short-term training strategy, however, since the existence of a single facilitator may prevent the group from assuming collective responsibility for the group process. The aim of any group should be that facilitation is performed by every member equally and constantly. If this responsibility is recognised and undertaken from the beginning by all, then the Storming phase may be avoided and the group development passed straight into Norming.

The following is a set of suggestions which may help in group formation. They are offered as suggestions, no more; a group will work towards its own practices and norms.

Focus

The two basic foci should be the group and the task.

If something is to be decided, it is the group that decides it. If there is a problem, the group solves it. If a member is performing badly, it is the group who asks for change.

If individual conflicts arise, review them in terms of the task. If there is initially a lack of structure and purpose in the deliberations, impose both in terms of the task. If there are disputes between alternative courses of action, negotiate in terms of the task.

Clarification

In any project management, the clarity of the specification is of paramount importance - in group work it is exponentially so. Suppose that there is a 0.8 chance of an individual understanding the task correctly (which is very high). If there are 8 members in the group then the chance of the group all working towards that same task is 0.17. And the same reasoning hold for every decision and action taken throughout the life of the group.

It is the first responsibility of the group to clarify its own task, and to record this understanding so that it can be constantly seen. This mission statement may be revised or replaced, but it should always act as a focus for the groups deliberations and actions.

The mouse

In any group, there is always the quiet one in the corner who doesn't say much. That individual is the most under utilized resource in the whole group, and so represents the best return for minimal effort by the group as a whole. It is the responsibility of that individual to speak out and to contribute. It is the responsibility of the group to encourage and develop that person, to include him/her in the discussion and actions, and to provide positive reinforcement each time that happens.

The loud-mouth

In any group, there is always a dominant member whose opinions form a disproportionate share of the discussion. It is the responsibility of each individual to consider whether they are that person. It is the responsibility of the group to ask whether the loud-mouth might like to summarize briefly, and then ask for other views.

The written record

Often a decision which is not recorded will become clouded and have to be rediscused. This can be avoided simply by recording on a large display (where the group can clearly see) each decision as it is made. This has the further advantage that each decision must be expressed in a clear and concise form which ensures that it is clarified.

Feedback (negative)

All criticism must be neutral: focused on the task and not the personality. So rather than calling Johnie an innumerate moron, point out the error and offer him a calculator. It is wise to adopt the policy of giving feedback frequently, especially for small things - this can be couched as mutual coaching, and it reduces the destructive impact of criticism when things go badly wrong.

Every criticism must be accompanied by a positive suggestion for improvement.

Feedback (positive)

If anyone does something well, praise it. Not only does this reenforce commendable actions, but it also mollifies the negative feedback which may come later. Progress in the task should be emphasised.

Handling failure

The long term success of a group depends upon how it deals with failure. It is a very British tendency to brush off failure and to get on with the next stage with no more than a mention - it is a very foolish tendency. Any failure should be explored by the group. This is not to attribute blame (for that is shared by the whole group as an individual only acts with delegated responsibility), but rather to examine the causes and to devise a mechanism which either monitors against or prevents repetition. A mistake should only happen once if it is treated correctly.

One practise which is particularly useful is to delegate the agreed solution to the individual or sub-group who made the original error. This allows the group to demonstrate its continuing trust and the penitent to make amends.

Handling deadlock

If two opposing points of view are held in the group then some action must be taken. Several possibly strategies exist. Each sub-group could debate from the other sub-group's view-point in order to better understand it. Common ground could be emphasised, and the differences viewed for a possible middle or alternative strategy. Each could be debated in the light of the original task. But firstly the group should decide how much time the debate actually merits and then guillotine it after that time - then, if the issue is not critical, toss a coin.

Sign posting

As each small point is discussed, the larger picture can be obscured. Thus it is useful frequently to remind the group: this is where we came from, this is where we got to, this is where we should be going.

Avoid single solutions

First ideas are not always best. For any given problem, the group should generate alternatives, evaluate these in terms of the task, pick one and implement it. But most importantly, they must also monitor the outcome, schedule a review and be prepared to change the plan.

Active communication

Communication is the responsibility of both the speaker and the listener. The speaker must actively seek to express the ideas in a clear and concise manner - the listener must actively seek to understand what has been said and to ask for clarification if unsure. Finally, both parties must be sure that the ideas have been correctly communicated perhaps by the listener summarizing what was said in a different way.

Conclusion

Groups are like relationships - you have to work at them. In the work place, they constitute an important unit of activity but one whose support needs are only recently becoming understood. By making the group itself responsible for its own support, the responsibility becomes an accelerator for the group process. What is vital, is that these needs are recognized and explicitly dealt with by the group. Time and resources must be allocated to this by the group and by Management, and the group process must be planned, monitored and reviewed just like any other managed process.

Gerard M Blair is a Senior Lecturer in VLSI Design at the Department of Electrical Engineering, The University of Edinburgh. His book Starting to Manage: the essential skills is published by Chartwell-Bratt (UK) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (USA). He welcomes feedback either by email (gerard@ee.ed.ac.uk) or by any other method found here

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