There was an interesting article in the March 12, 2007 issue of Time magazine, The Oracle of Organization. It was interesting because it hits directly on an approach to “performance management” that isn’t often acknowledged or addressed in the methodologies that most performance management software packages are designed to address. It talks about the main task of each individuals daily corporate existence: Getting Things Done. In fact that is the title of the articles subject, David Allen’s, book “Getting Things Done”.
I liked the article because it ties into why Spider is in the business that we are in. On our website, it says “Spider Strategies is a software company” and “Everyone needs to know exactly how they’re performing and what areas need immediate attention. Spider Strategies is the first software company to address all of these needs with an easy to use, web-based software product.” I like the way that sounds, but it doesn’t really say why we are in a business to provide an “easy to use, web-based software product”. The reason is so that people can Get Things Done!
The vast majority of “performance management” software programs in the 90s and early 21st Century also came with daunting training programs. It wasn’t unusual for training to be 40% of the implementation costs of such programs. Worse yet, it wasn’t unusual for companies to spend more time figuring out WHAT they were trying to improve, than getting any improvement done.
We set out to write software that required minimal training because it worked like a) everyone’s browser and b) used the mouse like everyone’s desktop software. Our first attempt, a product called “Scoreboard”, was good but users had to learn not to use the browser back button and, like virtually all static html products, the right click button didn’t work. In other words, we were close but no golden ring.
Our latest product, The Corporate Management Suite, a direct upgrade from Scoreboard, nails the basic goal. The back button and other browser buttons work AND menus are accessed by right click just like desktop software. But does it help “Get Things Done”?
Ultimately, that question is going to be answered by our user community but the feedback has been good. The software doesn’t require the use of “scorecards” if all you need is a simple way for groups and teams to “make decisions about what needs to get done, and then fashion a plan for doing it”. On the other hand, the software does allow you to link to metrics that can be used to determine if you had an impact with what you got done.
The article also says “More than 60 software tools have been built specifically to supplement Allen’s system.” That is not a good thing. Just look at the number of software tools that have been built specifically for implementing “The Balanced Scorecard”. We also believe that when software is build “specifically to supplement” any single idea or methodology, it can get in the way of Getting Things Done because it may require people to get things done in a particular way.
That is why we have been so careful to make our software configurable so that the software can work the way the users normally work to get things done than making the users work the way the software needs them to. Today, our software is implemented for Balanced Scorecards, Management by Strategic Initiative, Process Management by Action Register, Management by Assessment, as well as classical KPI targeting. In other words, the software is configured so that people using those methodologies can more easily get things done the way those methodologies teach.
Finally, when we think about getting things done, we have to think about the time it takes to use tools. I did my first basement build out, framing up the walls with a hammer and nails and the job took a week. The last one I did, I rented a framing nailer and the job took a day.
Software tools need to have evolved and produce that same kind of efficiency. In our military work, we often hear a specification called “The Two Click Rule”: The user needs to be able to get from seeing a red flag condition to the data that explains the reason in no more than two clicks.
When you can get to the reason for the problem in two clicks and then create a corrective action with the third click, that is Getting Things Done. And that is why Spider got into the business that we are in.