Engineering is the problem solver's career. Some solutions are great, some are adequate, and some really aren't solutions. What makes the difference in an engineer who produces amazing answers to the problems vs. one who flounders in frustration just to get started in the right direction? Certainly there isn't one answer to that question, but I won't succumb to the standard engineer answer of "it depends", at least not this time. Because there is one foundational behavior that makes the most difference. Engineers who take the time to understand and stay focused on the "Why" of their work are the most likely to produce amazingly good answers to the challenges they are handed; answers that meet the needs of those they serve. The "Why" keeps engineers from wandering off after shiny baubles, and locks them into a laser focus on success. The "Why" is the guiding light that illuminates decisions and eliminates wasteful process and features on the path to awesomeness.
Why am I bringing this up? It seems rather obvious that having our purpose and the "why" of solving a problem fixed squarely in our minds is important. But, we engineers don't usually get on a soap box about things we see everyone doing well, or even ourselves for that matter. The fact is, I see very few that do this consistently and well. The truth is that while we intuitively know the importance of purpose, we often get lost in the nuances of a new technology, an old and bureaucratic process, or our own opinions, likes and dislikes. We know the purpose is there, but we bring a frame of reference to the table that is predisposed to particular solutions in need of problems to solve. If we stepped back from every problem we solve, every task we were handed, every briefing we made, every whitepaper we wrote, and first asked "Why?", we would see a monumental leap in productivity, solution quality, and our own job satisfaction.
This concept really permeates all life. As human beings we need purpose and at least a chance at fulfilling it to be truly happy. I'm not saying everyone walks around thinking "what's my purpose today?" I'm saying if they did, and they worked toward it, they'd be happier. And we don't just need any old purpose, we do best with higher purposes. Before you throw up a wall as you sense an oncoming sermon, ask yourself how you'd feel if your management made it clear that your only value to them is how much money you bring in the door each year, as opposed to discussing the value of your skill set and insight that is so crucial to producing quality solutions. Which one do you prefer? Most engineers (and most people) would prefer the higher purpose.
Here's another example. In any given professional sport there always seems to be a few teams that perpetually stink and don't win much. The ownership nickels and dimes the players and the staff, does very little to recruit better talent, and generally seems to only care about raking in money as much as possible. Their purpose is to make money, winning is an after thought. On the other hand you have some teams that seriously dominate every year. They consistently recruit the best talent they can, even at significant expense. Their purpose is to produce a winning team. Interestingly, they also make money, and a lot more than the bad teams.
We see the same thing in the business world. Companies who have a higher purpose simply do better. I'm not talking about a mission statement that gets pulled out once a year for a refresh or whenever the CEO changes. I'm talking about a purpose that people really believe in and want to accomplish. Take Apple for example. They have their fans and their naysayers, but no one with an ounce of objectivity can argue that what they are doing isn't amazing. They consistently pursue higher purposes. They don't just want to make money, they want to make awesome products that delight their customers. They want to push the boundaries and do things that have never been done before. And they do it. Consequently they make a lot of money. Google is the same way. Any company that has "Don't be evil" as one of their core cultural imperatives adheres to higher purposes. Any they succeed massively.
How can that help you and me as engineers? Apply the "Why?" daily, to every task you do. You've been tasked with writing a requirements specification, your first step is to understand the purpose of the system you are spec'ing. How will you know you've written a good spec unless you know what the system is supposed to do, or why it is needed? If the reader of your spec doesn't know what the system does and why it exists after reading the requirements, you face planted that task. Just doing stuff isn't enough. The next time you are asked to make a brief, before you just whip out your Power Point ninja skills, stop and deliberately ask yourself why you are making the brief. This isn't to talk yourself out of it, it's to help you bring clarity to your message. People only remember one or two things they hear during a briefing. What do you want them to remember? What idea is in your head that you want in your audience's head by the time you sit down?
Sometimes you may ask "why am I doing this?" and the answer will be "I have no idea." Years ago my team was hot and heavy into a major redesign of the system we maintained. We were churning out documentation like champions until one day someone discovered that as much as our software team appeared to be cooperating with us (as shown by politely saying "thank you" when notified a drawing was done) they were utterly ignoring our documents. Why? The documents were not providing the information they needed to get their job done. We didn't understand the "Why?" of our job fully. We sat down and talked to them, found out what they really needed, proposed the change in process to management (who thankfully supported us), and began making new documents and incorporating feedback from the software team in iterative fashion to make sure that our purpose was being fulfilled. By focusing on the purpose, we began to produce far more useful design documentation that they actually used after saying thank you. This led to further success at our design reviews with our customer who reported that our documentation of the design was best they'd ever seen. That's the power of following the "Why?"
If you find yourself in an organization that is floundering, or if you are struggling, or simply seem to have hit a roadblock it's time to apply the "Why?" It will be very uncomfortable at first. Your tone will be important, both to your organization and yourself. I'm not suggesting using the "Why" to point out why everything the organization does is stupid or to vent your frustrations; this is meant to increase productivity and energy, not start a war. If you find that the purpose is not compelling, examine the real value of what you're doing and perhaps ask what would be more valuable to the end goal. Sometimes you need to re-align yourself with your personal purpose or your business higher purpose. If you own a business and you are fixated on making money, it's time to find or re-align with a higher purpose. Everyone wants to make money, that's pretty ordinary not very compelling. People are drawn to higher purposes. That's how you recruit talent, that's how you win. Money will come along for the ride.
Try out applying the "Why?" for the next week and see how things change. Let me know how it goes. If you already do this, I'd be interested to hear how it helps you succeed.
Beauty
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