Musing on Management by Objectives

Last Edit March 5, 1999

Management by objectives has a new meaning these days.
Management by objectives is how I survived 35 years as a female engineer.
It's how I successfully ran a MarCom department for 3 1/2 years.
It's how I ran a customer education department for 4 years. And another one for 11.
It's how I ran a microcode development team for 2 years.
It's how I survived as a working mother, raise two boys, be a cub scout then a boy scout leader and still managed to draft 6 novels, create websites and occasionally teach at the local university and be successful at all that.
I am all that.
I was taught the trick - taught it so well I even hired the man I learned from to come teach an entire company when I was director of engineering.
The stuff works.
It's basic.
Each day, pick the 3-5 most important (priority) items and work on them. If something comes up that is more important than what you selected for the list, put it on the list and TAKE SOMETHING ELSE OFF.
Period.
It's called focus.
It's called don't fracture your creative energy.
It's called responsive.
It's called flexible.
It's called management. Of life. Of work. Of family. Of self.
It's called success.
There was another trick that goes with this.
You will be as good as those around you.
I learned this so well I divorced two husbands.
Well, I took the class twice.
Seriously, it's called association. Associate with the not-quite-successful, and that's what you will be. Associate with the achievers and so shall you.
You rise to the level of your environment.
It's why bright kids develop senior-itis.
It's time for them to move higher.
You get it in high school You get it in college.
And the third trick.
Have a problem? Tell everyone. You never know who has the solution.
This actually works.
The basic theory - you cannot do everything yourself.
Learn this and be happy.
Find that other person who can contribute to the solution.
These tenets work for me.
They have worked for decades.
They are the secret of my success.
It's why my house is never fully clean.
I do dishes when they won't fit in the sink. Or I run out of spoons.
I do laundry when my son runs out of socks. Or pants.
I shop when we run out of food.
I focus on the important stuff. Watching a movie with my son. Camping in the snow, rain, sleet or flash flood. Or 107 degree heat. Stolling with him in the mall - where he has become an efficient radar location beacon. Need new walking shoes? Go where he sends me. Presto. Done. He keeps track of where I parked the car. I keep track of my wallet.
My house will be clean when no more children live with me.
Or be at least as clean as it gets when I live alone. With a cat. And a dog. And chinchillas.
It's also why my office is a mess. I clean it up between projects.
I get asked if I've resigned everytime I clean my desk. My desk clean disturbs people. Interesting.
So now I have a different situation.
Now MBO means you have a salary - but you won't get all of it right away because 20-30% of you salary is on "MBO Bonus".
Interesting idea.
Forces you to not mentally spend all that you might earn.
Provides lump sum payments.
The tax man gets a big hit every 12 weeks - so it means I get a refund. Can't re-adjust with-holding because you can't be sure you'll get it or what you'll get. Depends on someone else's mood or mindset.
Every quarter you get a list of "objectives".
If you manage to do all of them, you get the rest of your "salary" distributed quarterly.
If you don't, you won't get all of it.
What happens to the high achiever?
What happens if you do more?
Can you get more than 100%?
If you do, somebody else you work with will lose because management budgets 100% flat.
Bummer. You could end up hated if you try too hard. So you don't.
Let's think about this a moment.
I am used to hitting the ground in a new job and laying there awhile to get my bearings then exploding into the directions that I see need exploding into. Sort of evaluate and attack the problems. Be creative. Be responsive. Go above and beyond what's normal and do what you feel is needed for the good of the company. Not for the good of your bonus. My bonus, if any, used to be tied to the success of the company. Everybody wins.
This new approach is a different way for me to think.
What happens when I see that something needs to be done, I want to do it, I can do it, but it isn't on my list of the moment? Instead of just putting it on my mental list, will I remember to re-negotiate my MBO list so it is appropriate for me to work on it?
Or will I spontaneously just do it? I have been doing exactly that. I'd better stop.
What if I really, really want to work on it and they say no?
Will I feel stifled? Probably.
So I'll find something new to learn. Quietly. And try hard to ignore the need I saw. Make my own needs more important.
Will I feel a failure because I didn't sell it? Or realize they just didn't buy it and it's not my problem? Or is it still my problem because I didn't sell it? I've been told I don't market myself well - I market everything else just fine. Must be my problem. Still.
Or will I learn to check their list and blindly perform? I am slowing beginning to do just that. I need my "salary". College looms.
Will I curb my enthusiasm so that I carefully only do 100% and no more, no less?
I am trying.
Is this a good thing? For me? For the company?
I don't know if it's good for me. I can't say if it's good for the company. It must achieve what they want because they're still doing it.
Will I learn to slow down? To fit in? Perhaps. Maybe being older helps. You get tired easier. You say "To hell with it" easier.
Will it change me?
Or will I learn to focus the excess energy on outside activities and put my creative energy there? As the last child prepares to roll out of high school, there is a gap.
Who knows what will fill it?
It may be too late to teach an old dog many new tricks.
Especially when the old ones worked.
I'll have to put learning this new one on my MBO list.
The old one.