Who's the ultimate stakeholder?
When collaborators disagree, the right answer is often to look up and look around.
I am responsible for a service organization (IT) within a service organization (distributor) who serves a service industry (healthcare). Our work lives are service inception. I am not naturally gifted at service, but I have learned the discipline as a professional necessity.
Former IBM CEO Ginni Rommety spoke about her value pillar of “In Service Of” in an interview with Lex Fridman last year. The concept is expanded in her biography and the phrasing has really stuck with me.
It was recalled to mind when I recently facilitated a workshop of department leaders. One of the goals for this workshop was to realign our shared understanding of our technology work justification model (“Why we choose to invest in X, Y, or Z”) and with that, refresh our roadmap for the next several months.
We can do anything, but not everything. So, what’s the best use of our time and investment?
A simple model of our dependancies this might look like concentric rings:
They are your customer, and you are my customer.
I serve your needs to position you to serve theirs
Their success is your success, and your success is our success.
Their standards are your standards are my standards…. and then some. Because, these things can be exponential.
What we choose to do should be in service of real Customer needs.
Service professionals — including myself — can get caught up with the concerns of their specific ring, their link in the supply chain. It’s understandable. Every one of these stakeholders has their stakes — ideas, experience, direction, opinions and perspective on what and how to best do the work. Life is tradeoffs and there is no one way.
When collaborators disagree, the right answer is often to look up and look around.
Not often enough do we review the ultimate benefactor of our work. Not often enough do we ask who is this actually for? Who is our work in service of?
The Patient, in surgery, waiting for an implant.
attended by Nurses
directed by Doctors
supplied by Stockroom Managers
sourced by Purchasing Agents
enabled by Contracting Officers
educated by Sales Reps
delivered by Truck Drivers
scheduled by Third Party Shippers
coordinated by Fulfillment Specialists
directed by Operations Engineers
informed by Account Managers
helped by Help Desk Operators
supported by Systems Administrators
enabled by Software Products
designed by UX Designers
managed by Site Reliability Engineers
protected by Information Security Analysts
…and so it goes.
Why should we care about our link in the chain? Because it will affect the patient.
As Tom Loosemore, one of the key architects of the U.K.'s Government Digital Services, says in this elite presentation on service:
“It’s not complicated, just hard”.
In a way, all work is service. We can choose to be mindful of it, or not.