What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20 by Tina Seelig Read Free Book Online Page A

allowed to do whatever he or she felt would work to reach it. Of course, there was oversight, but the interns were clearly empowered to make key decisions. For example, the goal might be to increase the number of Web sites that are Cooliris enabled. The interns weren’t told what to do, but each was encouraged to run with his or her project. In this way, they could easily see what each person could accomplish and reward those who did an outstanding job.
    But they didn’t stop there. They also figured out that the best way to identify those who were a good fit for the company is to see them in action. To do that, they brought in hundreds of students for user-testing of their product. This is, of course, standard practice to evaluate new project features. But Cooliris also used product testing as a recruiting tool. During the interaction with each tester, they could see how each person thought and how passionate he or she was about the product and, ultimately, whether he or she would be a good fit with the company. At the very least they got useful customer feedback and at best they found a new employee.
     

    You might think it’s easier to challenge conventions and break rules as an individual or a small start-up firm, but you can also break the rules that get in the way from within a large company. I learned about the launch of Zune at Microsoft from a former student, Tricia Lee. This product, designed to compete with the Apple iPod, was on a tight development schedule. About halfway through the project, it was clear they weren’t going to meet their aggressive goals. The software wasn’t close to halfway complete, and on the current course—with the usual checks and balances, feedback loops, and bureaucracy—it was going to take much longer than expected to complete. To address this problem, one of the subgroups on the project isolated themselves from the rest of the team and worked intensely. They completed an essential piece of the software code, which got the project back on track, boosted moral, and allowed the product to be completed on time.
    Companies such as Microsoft put processes in place that are scalable; that is, they have to work for large groups across a big organization. But sometimes scalable processes are not necessarily efficient. When there is a fire drill and things have to get done quickly, like with Tricia and the Zune team at Microsoft, companies need to break free of the bureaucracy. In fact, many companies decide to set up Skunk Works projects to do just this: they pull a team out of the normal workflow, giving them permission to break the rules, to free them to think and work differently.
     

    Rules are often meant to be broken. This idea is captured in the oft-used phrase “Don’t ask for permission, but beg for forgiveness.” Most rules are in place as the lowest common denominator, making sure that those who don’t have a clue what to do stay within the boundaries. If you ask someone how to go about making a movie, starting a company, getting into graduate school, or running for political office, you will usually get a long recipe that involves getting incrementally more support from those who are already in these fields. It involves agents and seed funding and exams and approvals. The majority of people choose to follow those rules…and others don’t. It is important to keep in mind that there are often creative ways to work around the rules, to jump over the traditional hurdles, and to get to your goal by taking a side route. Just as most people wait in a never-ending line of traffic on the main route to the highway, others who are more adventurous try to find a side road to get to their destination more quickly. Of course, some rules are in place to protect our safety, to keep order, and to create a process that works for a large number of people. But it is worth questioning rules along the way. Sometimes side roads around the rules can get you to your goal even when the