ABOUT

 Now jumping back to the catalyst for seeking out Pragmatic Innovation. I've had the great fortune through my eclectic career to cross paths with some extremely gifted individuals whom provided me a clear view of my dismal lack of proficiency in their respective areas of expertise. Artisans ranging from veteran die-makers covered in grime, to PhD scientists in pristine white lab coats. When I opened my toolbox to work alongside these individuals I really only had two instruments at my disposal, a keen power of observation and generous supply of common sense. All I could do was step back and catalog every move they made and ask WHY they decided through deep analysis, intellectual intuition, or maybe divine providence to do things the way they do. My experience has been that a Maestro of any trade acts as an Ambassador for their field and will welcome sincere outside interest as a means of perpetually promoting growth in their area of passion. Like a 3yr old child I would continually ask WHY, WHY, WHY. After a painfully long inquisition process, it became a universal occurrence that eloquent patterns began to appear and the questions slowed then eventually stopped.  They stopped until the pattern was broken.  Then the 3yr old child does not ask "why did you do that?" but instead asks "why didn't you do it this way?". This question is either answered immediately "instinctively" and the understanding of the pattern is enhanced; or else there is a long pause of silence.....  If you have ever had a bona fide genius say to you, "that is brilliant!" it is an oddly conflicting experience. You are proud to feel an iota of commensurate rank, but at the same time confused by the relatively rudimentary quality of the observation and imminent solution. The student did not become the teacher; the student just made a comment because something broke a pattern. A simple, practical, PRAGMATIC comment.

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Knowing your place in this universe can offer a powerful advantage. Knowing that you are NOT the next Hank Aaron means that you forget about the home run record and try to hit a solid single to get on base and help the team win.  Knowing that you are NOT the next Stephen Hawking means that you forget about researching M theory and look up to people like Samuel B. Fay who first bent a piece of wire into a paper clip. With limited time on this planet and only the wisdom bestowed upon us available to exploit, I contend that it is just as important for people to focus their efforts towards making small advancements to benefit the world.  If you could deliver a device that helps save every individual in the world one minute a day by eliminating some mundane task, that simple offering could in turn allow the next Hank Aaron one more minute a day to practice and the next Stephen Hawking one more minute a day to research quantum physics.  Over a lifetime career that could add Weeks to Months worth of time so I ask, would you NOT be responsible for furthering advancements in those fields?  Why not?  What is more impactful is that you would simultaneously be responsible for furthering advancements in lifesaving medicine, fighting the global food crisis, developing new energy sources, and inventing new materials for space exploration all while providing time for one more game of "Candy Crush" on someone's state of the art cell phone which you helped bring to market a little bit sooner.  Sounds like a super hero to me!  With this simple and straight forward concept of continual improvement of the daily world around us in mind, I offer for your review in no particular order, the founding principles of NK Pragmatic Innovations LLC.

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Founding Principles:

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• Always ask "why am I doing this?"

If you read my introduction above this point will be pretty self-explanatory.  Even the greatest of minds are prone to falling into routines and forming habits. Often I come across situations where the answer to why it is done a certain way is, "because that is the way it has always been done." If it is truly a best practice then document it and ask yourself every time you do it if it is still the best way.

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• K.I.S.S.​

"Keep It Simple Stupid!"  I'm obviously not the originator of this phase but it bears repeating until everyone on the planet hears and adopts it. You are rarely a "one person band" so communication and understanding are key. Everything makes better sense in your own head and overestimating your teammate's ability to read your mind can have catastrophic results. Focus on communicating and accomplishing the fundamentals 100% correctly 100% of the time. If you feel the need to complicate your life, watch some reality TV episodes and then reenact them on your own time.

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• Change is continually approaching so continually seek it.

Some people pride themselves on their ability to roll with the punches. True, it is a good skill to possess when the ultimate curve ball is thrown at you or your company, but over the long haul forward looking companies whom have contingency plans in place to successfully identify and implement changes will be way too far ahead to notice your impressive acrobatic skills of dodging arrows while juggling with your pant leg on fire.

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• Scope must be defined before you begin.

It's painful that I feel the need to point this out and I sincerely wish I did not have hours of stories explaining why I felt the need. It is ABSOLUTELY IMPERATIVE to know what you are trying to accomplish before you attempt to accomplish it. When walking down a unknown path where creativity and risk are necessary, just keep it on a leash of defined length. Take one baby step, then rapidly find the place to take your next tiny step. If you are working as a team it is also ABSOLUTELY IMPERATIVE that everyone knows the same version of what you are trying to accomplish and maybe even post it on a 20 ft. tall lighted billboard outside the plant where everyone can see it when they walk in the door each morning.

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• You have to have a plan.

If my tirade above about understanding what it is you are trying to accomplish didn't ​convince you how much fun I am to have at a dinner party, guess what?  You also MUST have a plan in place for how you will accomplish it before you start trying to do it. When in uncharted waters, keep your plans agile, and plan to rapidly reevaluate after each tiny stage. Likewise, the billboard idea from above works just as well for this document.

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• Customers do not always know what they want.

The Customer is always right; right??? This is a bit of a touchy subject, but the above two instances about not knowing what you are trying to accomplish or how to accomplish it many times occurs with your Customers. The one thing that every Customer clearly understands is WHEN they want it and that sometimes drives other decisions. Unless you are prepared to eat the cost of scope creep that will likely occur in this situation it is just as important to make sure the Customer reviews and approves your scope definition as it is for the people that are tasked with accomplishing it. Try to keep the customer perpetually engaged in the process when the scope is not clearly defined.

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• Understand the difference between quality and grade.

If you ask a person in your organization what it means to have the highest quality product and their answer is: "Make the absolute BEST widget possible on the face of the planet!"​ you might have a problem. If that person is on your quality team then you might have a SERIOUS problem. Although I would slightly polish my answer for a person in control of my paycheck, my response would be: "Make the WORST widget possible that still meets all of the Customer requirements with a bit of margin to account for variability." Doing anything more means you are trying to create a higher grade product and unless you are in the business of charity you better put a sticker on it saying "Deluxe Edition" and charge your Customers accordingly. Gold plating is ALWAYS UNACCEPTABLE unless you are in the business of gold plating and then you better be checking the thickness!

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• Determine whether you need an iterative or incremental growth model.

This is a difficult decision to make, but choosing unwisely can result in the death of the product and maybe the organization. All resources are finite and every organization is working within its own unique set of constraints so you have to focus and deploy your bandwidth accordingly. Fundamentally this decision boils down to optimizing your position in the marketplace and understanding the Voice of your Customers.  Even if your product requires 100% maturity across the board prior to release; it is still critical to determine the best development approach to get there.

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Iterative Model Example: is it more advantageous to get to a first generation product with 100% of the bells and whistles but maybe only 80% reliability and support network in place? Immediately after the product launch you will go back to work on a second generation product that still has 100% of the bells and whistles with 90% reliability and support network.

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Incremental Model Example: is it more advantageous to get to a first generation product with only 80% of the bells and whistles but 100% reliability and support network in place? Immediately after the product launch you will go back to work on a second generation product that has 90% of the bells and whistles while maintaining 100% reliability and support network.

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• Meetings are one of the most rampant abuses of your personnel's time.

Ask any person in a business of any size if they enjoy meetings and the response will likely range somewhere between vulgar gestures to a throat punch. Every activity in a company must have a Return On Investment and meetings are not immune to that fact.  Internal status meetings are typically only necessary if you did not try more efficient means to collect and distribute data.  Planning meetings that take place in the middle of a project likely mean you failed to make an appropriate plan or else you would already know what you were supposed to be doing. Meetings are of course a necessary evil in certain circumstances for effective group communications, but make every attempt to minimize them.  The bulk of a meeting agenda should focus on discussing necessary changes to plans and reviewing future risks.

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• Assess, prioritize, attack, & repeat.

This is just a personal spin on Dr. W. Edwards Deming's widely accepted PDSA (Plan Do Study Act) cycle but I like the perceived sense of urgency associated with this version.  Don't make any mistake; this business journey you are on is a battle.  Show up in the morning, kick down the door, assess all the threats and then take down number one. Take a quick breath and then start over with the assessment because what used to be threat number two may now be hiding behind a new bigger risk that has jumped up to meet your challenge.

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I have pontificated long enough and I offer my genuine admiration for anyone who was able to make it to this point. My sincere hope through this entire endeavor is to adequately express my passion for continual innovation, growth, and improvement of the world around us all, and I humbly ask to be included to assist with your personal success story. CONTACT