Full Transcript for 0306. When Your Systems Don't Match How Work Happens

of such technologies is going to be managing projects, right? 00:06:05.149 --> 00:06:10.990 Let's just talk about, let's just go into you know why people uh love or hate Smartsheet. 00:06:11.069 --> 00:06:15.949 I think there's a whole community around you're either one or the other. 00:06:16.029 --> 00:06:18.029 I don't think people are usually like on the fence about it. 00:06:18.110 --> 00:06:19.550 They either hate it or they love it. 00:06:19.790 --> 00:06:36.829 And I I think from my experience, I think the people that love it understand the capabilities of the tool, and so they really have a good support system around not only using the tool, but also making the changes that they need so that people can work better together. 00:06:36.990 --> 00:07:02.110 And I think the other side of the fence is when you have a very weak support system where nobody knows who's in charge of configuring the tool, and then you have people leave, they come in and out, and then nobody owns the sheets, and it becomes a a giant uh ball of yarn at some point because there's there's not enough thought that goes into design and and maintenance of the actual system. 00:07:02.269 --> 00:07:06.189 So yeah, we we can we can you know which adventure do we want to go on? 00:07:06.269 --> 00:07:09.310 Is is one of the you want the good news first or the bad news first? 00:07:09.389 --> 00:07:13.310 Is right, you know, I want this to go. 00:07:13.870 --> 00:07:15.629 I love that you pulled that out. 00:07:15.709 --> 00:07:20.029 You know, uh as many of our listeners know, we've been using Smartsheet internally. 00:07:20.189 --> 00:07:30.349 Personally, I've been using Smartsheet for over 10 years, and they're you know, aside from that adoption curve that you find in technology, you're pointing out some things. 00:07:30.430 --> 00:07:34.750 I I think the support system is such a huge component of it. 00:07:34.909 --> 00:07:44.430 I'm in a situation now where the IT does not claim ownership of the system in any way. 00:07:44.589 --> 00:07:49.230 However, they are listed as owners across the entire uh space. 00:07:49.469 --> 00:07:54.589 So if the enterprise business calls anybody, it's gonna be IT. 00:07:54.750 --> 00:08:00.349 However, they don't have the skill set to really understand the software. 00:08:00.909 --> 00:08:07.149 They're unwilling to relinquish ownership to the function, they want to maintain that. 00:08:07.469 --> 00:08:29.389 And what that's doing is it's also causing a number of bottlenecks related to access as well, because there are access to specific documents within the system, but then there are also seats, and these seats allow you to have free collaborators or people that are uh license holders that can do very specific work. 00:08:29.550 --> 00:08:32.430 And so you're starting you're starting to now get into this. 00:08:32.830 --> 00:08:49.550 If this is going to be our issue, well, the issue is not the software, the issue is the internal, you know, decision making, the internal ownership, the internal support, as you said, that's sort of creating this roadblock in order to become more efficient. 00:08:49.710 --> 00:08:54.750 So you're finding, you know, what happens in here is you're finding that the teams are blaming the tools. 00:08:54.990 --> 00:08:59.230 They're not blaming the support of it, they're not blaming the design of it, it's the tool itself. 00:08:59.470 --> 00:09:00.269 So what happens? 00:09:00.350 --> 00:09:11.230 We start to bypass these systems and start to look for solutions outside of that very system that has the capabilities. 00:09:11.470 --> 00:09:21.149 And I like that you talked about the capabilities because I think there's some distinction to the features. 00:09:21.310 --> 00:09:25.070 You know, oftentimes we get drawn in with the features. 00:09:25.149 --> 00:09:30.509 Uh you can uh, you know, click this button and it'll do a whole AI thing. 00:09:30.830 --> 00:09:36.590 You can type in what you need here and it'll organize it for you, you know. 00:09:36.830 --> 00:09:43.790 But the capabilities are, you know, the transparency, the you know, ability for widespread adoption. 00:09:43.870 --> 00:09:46.110 It's an enterprise uh piece. 00:09:46.270 --> 00:09:54.190 The flexibility is a capability because you're not so stuck on how that product was designed. 00:09:54.350 --> 00:10:00.990 Because the reality of it is we all have our own in any organization, we're gonna have our own signature, right? 00:10:01.070 --> 00:10:03.470 We're gonna have our own feel for how we work. 00:10:03.710 --> 00:10:13.070 Maybe we only do one meeting a month and everything else is done through uh you know virtual updates with reports and a video or something. 00:10:13.550 --> 00:10:20.990 You know, I think that is a blessing and a curse because you can look at that and say, wow, there's some flexibility here. 00:10:21.070 --> 00:10:25.070 And then on the other end, you might have folks that say, there's too much flexibility here. 00:10:25.870 --> 00:10:51.230 So when we're you know put up against these sort of roadblocks, especially in support of a system, what have you seen work to sort of bring back some of that report, some of that support in a way that allows really a marriage of the systems that are being brought in and the way that you do the day-to-day work? 00:10:51.470 --> 00:10:52.830 What do you find? 00:10:53.150 --> 00:10:55.150 What's been your experience with that? 00:10:55.550 --> 00:11:08.750 Yeah, I think for the average user of the the tool, it's so if if you're really good at using the tool, obviously you you use less of the support and and you kind of know what you're doing. 00:11:08.830 --> 00:11:16.030 But I think for a lot of people that are new to maybe using a tool, it's very helpful, obviously, to have instructions and and have training on it. 00:11:16.190 --> 00:11:21.150 But you need a you need a human, you need somebody that like to that you can go

and talk to. 00:11:21.230 --> 00:11:23.150 Uh you know, having a champion. 00:11:23.390 --> 00:11:24.510 A champion, right? 00:11:24.670 --> 00:11:41.070 Having at least some sort of like super user or some what we would call like a community of practice, especially for people that are using the system across the company, to be able to consult and even ask questions on like how do I do this or how do I set that up, just so that you're not reinventing the wheel every single time. 00:11:41.230 --> 00:11:50.510 And I think aside from having that community of practice and and the training and stuff, is the the management and leadership of the company has to be behind the actual tool itself, right? 00:11:50.750 --> 00:13:03.300 I think it you're sending a really bad message if you're requiring people to use this system, but you don't respect it or prioritize it enough to commit resources and time for that support structure to work, right? 00:13:03.540 --> 00:13:10.500 I think what you'll see is a lot of management and and leadership go, hey, I need you know, A, B, and C to make a decision on X. 00:13:10.740 --> 00:13:16.180 And that that information is within the system that they're supposed to be using. 00:13:16.660 --> 00:13:22.340 And a lot of times they'll ask, hey, like I I want to see you know these reports and then where are they? 00:13:22.420 --> 00:13:28.340 And but nobody asks the question, well, well, how do we how do how do we even like get that information to you? 00:13:28.500 --> 00:13:30.580 Like what exactly, like where is it? 00:13:30.740 --> 00:13:47.380 And you know, it's only something being asked when they need it, but not from the beginning, where okay, we use this system because we track these numbers or whatever data, and so that data becomes useful for this decision that management uses. 00:13:47.540 --> 00:13:49.220 I don't think that conversation usually happens. 00:13:49.300 --> 00:14:03.540 It's usually like, oh, we put all our information in here, and uh yeah, this is how we do things, and then you'll have that monthly steering committee where somebody goes, Hey, I need the numbers for this, and everybody looks around and says, uh, what did we do last month for this? 00:14:04.420 --> 00:14:05.220 Since when? 00:14:05.460 --> 00:14:06.260 Right, right. 00:14:06.580 --> 00:14:27.860 You know, I think what we're seeing or what we do see in these spaces is sort of this level of assumption that comes from leaderships that not necessarily having all of the details for the ground level is sort of more of this, like, you know, wishful ask, because the assumption is that this group has the data. 00:14:28.180 --> 00:14:34.260 And as folks that are receiving those requests, it's our duty to dig into that a little bit. 00:14:34.420 --> 00:14:42.100 And I've done that with you know clients in the past very often, where I want a dashboard, I want a report, I want this. 00:14:42.580 --> 00:14:44.820 Okay, well, what are you actually looking for? 00:14:44.980 --> 00:14:51.220 Well, I talked to that person and they didn't tell me what I was, you know, they didn't tell me what I was looking for. 00:14:51.380 --> 00:14:58.180 Well, that sounds like more of a communication problem, as opposed to like now being a system issue that has to go to a different function. 00:14:58.420 --> 00:15:04.260 So that's a different kind of problem to fix than we need this level of, we need this specific dashboard. 00:15:04.420 --> 00:15:10.420 In some cases, all you need is just a report that gets sent to your email every, you know, once every two or three weeks. 00:15:10.660 --> 00:15:30.420 But I think what happens is when we are looking at data and we're trying to make sense and understand whether it's scientific data, data on our facilities, on and sort of how our equipment is running, data on our programs or projects or research, you know, we're as humans, we're trying to make sense of it, right? 00:15:30.580 --> 00:15:38.260 So when we don't see something that we wish we could have had, the request goes, this data looks like in that area. 00:15:38.420 --> 00:15:44.500 So we should be able to get that information without really understanding like, do they even collect that type of data? 00:15:44.660 --> 00:15:47.300 Is that something that is even possible? 00:15:47.540 --> 00:16:02.100 It becomes sort of a mandate, and then you sort of leave your team, you know, scrambling to try to resolve that and pull up old PowerPoint slides to let's find the data so that we can support our message that goes out back to leadership. 00:16:02.260 --> 00:16:07.060 And they might only give it about five minutes of a look, and it took you a week to put together. 00:16:07.380 --> 00:16:22.180 So, you know, I think we're in an age where technology is moving so fast, and the human ability to adapt to changing systems is so much slower, right? 00:16:22.420 --> 00:16:23.940 Because we have to understand it. 00:16:24.100 --> 00:16:28.500 It's very hard for us to do, you know, like we're working on an assembly line. 00:16:28.660 --> 00:16:30.020 I just click this button. 00:16:30.180 --> 00:16:36.100 You typically in in industries like biopharma, things are more complex than that, right? 00:16:36.260 --> 00:16:41.780 You have relationships, you have partnerships, you have cross-functional collaborations that have to happen. 00:16:41.940 --> 00:16:43.860 So there's a lot of things that you need to consider. 00:16:43.940 --> 00:16:49.860 And our role is not so much, you know, that the that role is not so much going to be just pressing a button when things happen. 00:16:49.940 --> 00:17:02.020 So the the speed to provide a lot of these things, I think, is directly related to whether or not your technology is matching your workflow, is matching the work that you're doing. 00:17:02.260 --> 00:17:13.620 And then on the other side of that, is there something that the technology is showing you that might cause you to adjust

the way you do things day to day? 00:17:13.860 --> 00:17:21.700 Because if we're talking about improvement, if we talk about reducing risk, the only thing any of these things happen is through change. 00:17:22.420 --> 00:17:53.220 Change of our resources, our capabilities, our technology, change of our mindset and being more collaborative, being more transparent, leading with sort of forward thinking, you know, and it causes, and and in a in a sense, I made that comment earlier about um these things not being a behavior problem, but we do have to adjust our day-to-day behavior, how we are coming in to work every day. 00:17:53.380 --> 00:17:59.059 Now we may not be creating Word documentation, saving as PDFs, circulating. 00:17:59.220 --> 00:18:06.579 We might be doing something that's fully digital that once we get to the end of that workflow, all of those things become automated. 00:18:06.740 --> 00:18:17.299 So now your time is free to go and and, you know, honestly, probably make another PowerPoint slide, but hopefully have time to think and reflect on what's happening. 00:18:17.379 --> 00:18:35.460 You know, so there's, I think there's a lot of things to consider here, you know, going all the way back to the design of our workflows and sort of what are we, what are we at the end of the day saying that we are owning as a function, as a group, as an individual contributor? 00:18:35.619 --> 00:18:51.939 And then what are those resources that we have that perhaps we haven't yet leveraged, that we know have these capabilities, that we know once we learn those capabilities, and here's the thing, we have to learn these things before we can apply them consistently. 00:18:52.259 --> 00:19:07.779 If we're just we'll do them as a one-off and we don't create any kind of documentation, we don't hold any training, and you become the system expert, we're gonna find ourselves in a place where we're reworking and doing things, and it becomes harder. 00:19:07.859 --> 00:19:10.179 And like you said, what did we do last time? 00:19:10.339 --> 00:19:12.019 I don't remember what we did last time. 00:19:12.259 --> 00:19:19.539 Because now you start having these ad hoc requests that are almost like indoctrinated requirements, right? 00:19:19.779 --> 00:19:22.659 Now we are required to provide these things. 00:19:22.819 --> 00:19:28.979 Well, it's gonna be a lot easier if you can create that level of consistency and leverage the technology. 00:19:29.139 --> 00:19:32.179 The technology should not be a source of friction. 00:19:32.659 --> 00:19:46.499 But especially in the beginning, if you're not bringing people along the way, if you're not reconciling your workflows with what the technology is capable of, and understanding at what points. 00:19:46.659 --> 00:19:47.939 Very similar to AI. 00:19:48.099 --> 00:19:54.099 There's uh an article that um was just written by Smartsheets uh chief technology officer. 00:19:54.259 --> 00:20:01.299 And she talks about the challenges with AI are not based on policy, it's based on workflow design. 00:20:01.539 --> 00:20:05.939 You know, where are you putting in this tool and where are you putting in a person? 00:20:06.339 --> 00:20:07.619 Somebody has to be there. 00:20:07.779 --> 00:20:10.899 Somebody in the team has to be a part of this workflow. 00:20:11.139 --> 00:20:20.339 Now, how do you integrate the tool so that that happens consistently and fluidly across that group and then eventually across the organization? 00:20:20.579 --> 00:20:25.699 Yeah, and then back to the the point you made about the just change management in general. 00:20:25.779 --> 00:20:41.059 I think, you know, I think the majority of people are in a situation where you might have some sort of committee or group that meets routinely that maybe you go over some of these requests that people submit to update the system, depending on how they're working. 00:20:41.219 --> 00:20:49.539 And then it's up to management, your your IT business partner, and and probably the end users to be able to justify, like, hey, this is important. 00:20:49.619 --> 00:20:50.899 I think we should make the change. 00:20:51.059 --> 00:20:59.459 But evaluating that change and actually implementing that change, that takes time and it takes money, and you know, there's a whole bunch of other things that go into it, right? 00:20:59.859 --> 00:21:19.219 I think a lot of times what's missing is like you said, you have the and and I'm not trying to bash the IT uh people here, but they're more concerned about the cost, right, of using such an application, and also on the cybersecurity side, making sure that you're in compliance with these these regulations that we have. 00:21:19.299 --> 00:21:28.019 And but you're you're really missing the the that that architecture of how the design of the workflow is supposed to be, right? 00:21:28.099 --> 00:21:40.339 So if you're gonna implement these changes, you need to understand the underlying relationships that exist already and whether or not these change, like you may change one thing, but you have to consider, okay, well, does this change all the other things that it's connected to? 00:21:40.499 --> 00:21:42.179 And I think a lot of times that's missing. 00:21:42.339 --> 00:21:49.299 And when you when you don't involve that particular person or that team in the conversation, then the design starts to collapse. 00:21:49.379 --> 00:21:53.459 And then now the more changes you make, you're like, why is it getting worse, right? 00:21:53.699 --> 00:21:59.779 And then from that end, people will stop suggesting things because they're like, this is making it worse. 00:21:59.859 --> 00:22:11.059 And yep, and it becomes this circle of uh every time you submit a ticket, things get fixed, and then you submit another ticket to address something else, and it becomes a circle of never-ending changes. 00:22:11.379 --> 00:22:24.659 I think you're you're you're hitting on that other topic that we

almost talked about today, which is sort of when you're fixing localized problems, when you're fixing issues within your function, um, you know, what have we seen? 00:22:24.819 --> 00:22:35.539 Usually there's not this global, hey guys, we're going to take ideas across the organization, prioritize which changes or which fixes we want to make. 00:22:35.779 --> 00:22:38.419 You may find, hey, we want to speed this up. 00:22:38.739 --> 00:22:44.419 So every department, every function, you guys need to find a way to integrate AI. 00:22:44.579 --> 00:22:47.699 You need to find a way to show me efficiencies. 00:22:47.859 --> 00:22:52.179 You need to find a way to lower your operational risk, get better. 00:22:52.579 --> 00:22:58.899 Essentially, they're asking you find a way to do your job better than what you're doing today. 00:22:59.139 --> 00:23:06.659 And what happens when we take these requests or these goals and we sort of internalize them in our own space? 00:23:06.819 --> 00:23:12.339 Well, the most efficient groups are gonna be just that, their own group. 00:23:12.579 --> 00:23:12.899 Why? 00:23:13.059 --> 00:23:16.579 They talk to each other a lot more, they could have a lot more communication. 00:23:16.659 --> 00:23:20.339 And we know that change, communication is a big part of change. 00:23:20.579 --> 00:23:24.019 They're uh sharing practices with each other. 00:23:24.259 --> 00:23:37.459 These are things, these are relationships that happen within your department that do not necessarily translate or or go across borders into another function or department. 00:23:37.699 --> 00:23:51.299 Unless in the rare space you have, you know, a best you know, friend, a chum that is over there in this group, uh, that you've been sharing some tips and tricks because they're interested in the things that you're doing, or vice versa. 00:23:51.459 --> 00:23:56.899 You know, you're starting to see this, and and what we're doing is sort of we're actually Fortifying silos. 00:23:57.299 --> 00:24:15.219 When we are working really complex projects that involve multiple stakeholders with multiple levels of technology experience, scientific experience, you know, these are very technical people that need to be brought to the table. 00:24:15.619 --> 00:24:23.059 When we're sort of ignoring that and looking at, well, how can I create this as fast as possible? 00:24:23.299 --> 00:24:34.979 We're sort of changing the caboose in the middle of the train and optimizing it from one that used to haul coal to one that's now a dining cart. 00:24:35.299 --> 00:24:49.219 But now the end parts of it, and this is my parenting advice here: when you buy toys like Picasso tiles and magnet tiles and all of these tiles that magnet together, they are not all the same. 00:24:49.379 --> 00:24:52.739 They do not all stick together, and they're not all the same size. 00:24:53.059 --> 00:24:59.459 So you end up getting gifts across birthdays and things like that, and you try to build structures that just completely crumble. 00:24:59.699 --> 00:25:07.299 And that's a little bit of what happens here when you're sort of trying to create this Frankenstein approach. 00:25:07.459 --> 00:25:18.499 You start to come up with new ways to go around the problem as opposed to creating a solution through and through, using your software or changing. 00:25:18.659 --> 00:25:19.859 Sometimes we have to change. 00:25:19.939 --> 00:25:37.219 I think the hardest thing in this industry, I mean, you know, we've talked about it before, how difficult it is to stay really consistent in dropping projects or or initiatives that are not yielding things by the time you thought they were going to. 00:25:37.379 --> 00:25:42.099 A lot of, you know, often we think, well, uh, we've already put the money into it, we should keep going. 00:25:42.339 --> 00:25:45.139 This is a cost of the work that we're doing, that's a sunk cost. 00:25:45.299 --> 00:25:54.659 If it hit here, if it got to this point and it's not getting to those requirements you said, you need to sunset that project and put your resources into something else. 00:25:54.819 --> 00:26:06.099 You know, if if we're working on a tool, or if we're working on a new, you know, methods of working internally, new systems, look at what your old ones are doing. 00:26:06.339 --> 00:26:17.539 If you're, you know, using products that come on every computer that are not really built for cross-collaboration or collaborative initiatives. 00:26:18.019 --> 00:26:19.859 It's time to adopt. 00:26:20.019 --> 00:26:23.379 It's time to adjust the way that you're doing your work. 00:26:23.539 --> 00:26:25.779 It's time to adjust the software that we're using. 00:26:25.939 --> 00:26:26.819 And guess what? 00:26:26.979 --> 00:26:29.299 You might have to do that again in five years. 00:26:29.539 --> 00:26:30.099 Why? 00:26:30.259 --> 00:26:33.699 I don't think this industry is going to look the same in five years. 00:26:33.859 --> 00:26:35.939 You know, we're not building straws here. 00:26:36.099 --> 00:26:40.899 Yeah, the straw has looked the same for hundreds of years or however long a straw has been available. 00:26:40.979 --> 00:26:44.819 But when you're talking about research, I mean, look at the shifts that have happened. 00:26:44.899 --> 00:26:46.259 And we talked about it before. 00:26:46.419 --> 00:26:56.819 Our conversations used to be all about, you know, the platforms and CRISPR Cas9 and just like how all of the, you know, we had a client that was building a facility for that. 00:26:56.979 --> 00:27:01.379 And now folks are not placing bets on these long runways. 00:27:01.539 --> 00:27:09.139 They're trying to place bets on sure things because of a patent cliff that's about to happen across multiple large pharma. 00:27:09.459 --> 00:27:12.339 And now they're trying to pull in phase two, phase three. 00:27:12.499 --> 00:27:29.699 You know, there's a lot of things here for us to consider, especially when we're

looking to uh combine our systems and really leverage those systems rather than introducing them and allowing them to become a source of friction. 00:27:29.939 --> 00:27:30.179 Yeah. 00:27:30.419 --> 00:27:49.059 And I think, you know, to your point, the this comes down to making sure the not only the workflow is aligned with both the people and the the obviously the system that you're using, but you've you've brought up a lot of questions that you need to be able to answer for each of those different uh stakeholders. 00:27:49.299 --> 00:27:51.379 And you have to be asking the same. 00:27:51.699 --> 00:27:58.659 Um maybe it's not the same question to evaluate some of these changes that you would need to make so that it's more aligned. 00:27:59.219 --> 00:28:01.539 But at least having the conversation, right? 00:28:01.779 --> 00:28:16.579 I think there are many organizations and teams that, like you said, they they have these workarounds and they do these things, but there isn't an effort put in to make sure that, okay, if we're gonna make an adjustment, like what are the questions that we need to answer? 00:28:16.739 --> 00:28:23.859 What are the things that we need to address so that if we're gonna modify the train in the middle, everything else is going to be okay, right? 00:28:24.019 --> 00:28:33.139 And and I think this we're kind of leading into the assessment, which is the the operational workflow alignment uh assessment that you that you've put together. 00:28:33.219 --> 00:28:38.579 And the assessment itself is is built around several different risk factors, right? 00:28:38.819 --> 00:28:48.819 Being the handoffs between different teams, whether or not you're duplicating effort across these teams, you're looking at how clear your your actual process is. 00:28:49.299 --> 00:28:53.939 There might be issues with like tool fragmentation that you need to consider as well. 00:28:54.099 --> 00:28:59.779 And then obviously the the last point with with which is what management and leadership care about is milestone visibility, right? 00:28:59.939 --> 00:29:10.019 So if you're not able to track progress on things that you're doing, then what are we like, what is the point of using the system if it's not going to help us make these decisions going forward? 00:29:10.339 --> 00:29:23.779 So, yeah, let's let's dive a little bit into like how organizations would be able to use that sort of practice of making sure their workflows are aligned and what that process typically looks like. 00:29:24.019 --> 00:29:28.579 You know, I think in the you mentioned something earlier that I think is super critical in the beginning. 00:29:28.819 --> 00:29:39.139 That relationship, whether IT is doing the hunting for you, or you as a function are doing the hunting for the next technology to answer and respond to leadership questions. 00:29:39.379 --> 00:29:50.579 I will tell you right now, you should never look for a piece of technology that is specifically answering the question that leadership brought to you for a few reasons. 00:29:50.819 --> 00:29:55.619 Number one, it might not have been a good question. 00:29:56.259 --> 00:30:11.699 These sort of requests that come from leadership, I find, happen to be filtered or modified views of something that already exists or something that we're exposed to. 00:30:12.019 --> 00:30:21.779 So as soon as we look at something, a slide deck or a visual or a dashboard, we're gonna assess what's in there and then ask questions. 00:30:21.939 --> 00:30:31.139 And when we cannot answer those questions through the view that we're looking at, the go-to is we need a new dashboard, we need a new report, we need new data. 00:30:31.299 --> 00:30:34.739 And it might only be just to answer a hunch. 00:30:34.899 --> 00:30:37.059 Does that need to be repeatable? 00:30:37.299 --> 00:30:38.339 Probably not. 00:30:38.659 --> 00:30:43.779 But these are sort of opportunities to expand that questioning. 00:30:43.939 --> 00:30:45.699 What else do you think is missing here? 00:30:45.859 --> 00:30:46.339 What else? 00:30:46.419 --> 00:30:51.619 What information could we provide that would make you feel more secure about the message that we're delivering you? 00:30:51.859 --> 00:30:55.779 And what that actually does is change your workflow. 00:30:55.939 --> 00:31:00.579 Because now, whether it's new leadership, whether it's we just got funding. 00:31:00.659 --> 00:31:09.299 So now these are the things that we care about, whatever the situation is, it's really important to understand first, what do you have access to? 00:31:09.459 --> 00:31:14.819 I've had many people ask me, hey, can we get these reports to show here and to show here? 00:31:14.979 --> 00:31:16.019 That'd be great. 00:31:16.259 --> 00:31:18.339 That data is not managed by this group. 00:31:18.499 --> 00:31:26.179 That data is managed by the group over there that is short, three staff people, and don't have any money for additional resources or technology. 00:31:26.499 --> 00:31:39.539 So perhaps at that point, you might want to, you know, adjust some of your efforts in in a certain direction to either support that or maybe find that that data point is not as, you know, is not as important as you need. 00:31:39.699 --> 00:31:50.259 You know, what we're what you should always be considering when you take a look at your workflow and you say, okay, we need some technology. 00:31:50.499 --> 00:31:59.939 What we're doing, maybe we're doing things through Excel, it's becoming too slow, or you have documents that are in SharePoint and somebody checked it out and I can't update it. 00:32:00.019 --> 00:32:13.779 You need something that's cloud-based so that multiple people can work, whatever your situation is, you need to ask yourself, how easily is this workflow going to break down under pressure through change, through the complexity? 00:32:13.939 --> 00:32:16.579 If somebody's out on vacation, does this completely die? 00:32:16.819 -->

00:32:17.459 Visibility. 00:32:17.699 --> 00:32:22.099 How easy is it for people to understand what this workflow is? 00:32:22.419 --> 00:32:27.299 Who are in that blast radius, who are going to be on the receiving end, right? 00:32:27.459 --> 00:32:35.779 Because they should also be involved, as you mentioned before, they should also be involved in the discussions related to the software. 00:32:36.099 --> 00:32:43.619 Now, there's and there's a few other items in here, such as stakeholder load and resilience. 00:32:43.699 --> 00:32:48.019 Like how strong is your workflow in times of change? 00:32:48.179 --> 00:32:50.579 And you know, and how quickly does it recover? 00:32:50.819 --> 00:32:53.779 Leadership changes, you lose a couple members of the team. 00:32:53.939 --> 00:32:55.619 How easily can those things recover? 00:32:55.779 --> 00:33:05.219 So you have to think about each of those pieces and you know, question whether or not you need to adjust your workflow before you start looking for technology. 00:33:05.539 --> 00:33:19.219 A risk that I see out there and is often being sort of perpetuated is folks will look at the technology and try to create their process so that it fits in the technology. 00:33:20.099 --> 00:33:27.379 And I can't disagree with that enough because you are going to find so many restrictions. 00:33:27.539 --> 00:33:28.979 But we we do that, right? 00:33:29.299 --> 00:33:36.499 We go after the software that promises the world, but we're just getting a list of features. 00:33:36.979 --> 00:33:40.099 And the features are not how you perform your job. 00:33:40.259 --> 00:33:44.099 So we have to be really critical about what is it that we're trying to do? 00:33:44.339 --> 00:33:46.499 What's the value to outside people? 00:33:46.659 --> 00:33:56.499 Who are these stakeholders in this radius that if we change the way we're doing things, do we bring them on board early, or do we just tell them at the end and say, hey, this is what we're doing now? 00:33:56.819 --> 00:33:58.179 It's going to be the former. 00:33:58.339 --> 00:34:02.499 You should be bringing them in early on to have those discussions. 00:34:02.739 --> 00:34:13.380 And hopefully, at the same time, you have leadership support, a VP or a C-level executive that is supporting this move because they can also see the future vision. 00:34:13.699 --> 00:34:26.340 What I want to really caution our listeners and and everyone that's that's sort of going through this, don't just pick a piece of technology because it answers one question. 00:34:26.659 --> 00:34:31.940 You need to consider what is going to happen to the future of the business. 00:34:32.179 --> 00:34:41.699 Yes, you will more than likely need to adjust whatever technology you're using if the that technology is not releasing updates at a regular cadence. 00:34:41.860 --> 00:34:48.019 If they have a small support staff, which means any change that you need is going to take a week to implement. 00:34:48.739 -->

00:34:53.699 These, and I find these most often happening in very customized solutions. 00:34:53.940 --> 00:35:03.620 So you find yourself uh in a situation where you're sort of beholden to that program that you've decided two years ago that that was the one that we were gonna do. 00:35:03.780 --> 00:35:18.740 But now we've now we've grown from you know a hundred to you know eight hundred people, and that one software that we bet all of our money on or you know, took it to the bank, doesn't really work for the way that we're doing it, doesn't really scale. 00:35:18.900 --> 00:35:22.820 It's too difficult to make adjustments as our portfolio is growing. 00:35:23.060 --> 00:35:26.820 So these are things that you have to be very weary of and cautious of. 00:35:26.980 --> 00:35:33.140 And I think that there's some you know systems out there, again, I you know, there are pros and cons to everything, even Smartsheet. 00:35:33.300 --> 00:35:36.980 I'm I'm a big advocate of what it does, but there's also pros and cons. 00:35:37.060 --> 00:35:41.140 And it's not for everyone, it's not for every type of work. 00:35:41.540 --> 00:35:50.100 And we have to also understand that if your work entails a piece of technology, that might be the majority of the things that you do. 00:35:50.260 --> 00:35:56.500 But there's other space in there too, for how you're you know, recording documentation. 00:35:56.660 --> 00:36:07.140 Maybe you have to record video or sound or you know, some other type of medium to carry the knowledge, to make sure that you're able to convey messaging. 00:36:07.700 --> 00:36:11.860 Reporting to leadership is is obviously, you know, is kind of like the number one. 00:36:12.020 --> 00:36:27.620 You want to be able to distill all of these, you know, folks that are working and doing the day-to-day and distill that into here's you know, the 30,000-foot view that can help us start asking real questions on our strategy, on our approach. 00:36:27.780 --> 00:36:31.140 And then sometimes uh, you know, on our on our spending. 00:36:31.300 --> 00:36:32.820 Are we are we bleeding money? 00:36:32.980 --> 00:36:34.900 Are timelines getting busted? 00:36:35.060 --> 00:36:51.380 You know, and so our assessments, especially this one uh in particular, you know, looks at those unique factors within the operational workflow and aligning that with your organization through the lens of how fragile is it? 00:36:51.700 --> 00:36:54.020 How visible is that information? 00:36:54.660 --> 00:37:01.460 Does this rely on a small number of people, a large number of people, people in your group, people outside your group? 00:37:01.620 --> 00:37:02.740 And is it resilient? 00:37:02.900 --> 00:37:07.460 If things start to move or start to waffle, is this going to be really difficult? 00:37:07.620 --> 00:37:15.220 Because you can build out a system that any update requires individual updates across portfolios. 00:37:15.460 --> 00:37:23.780 That can be very tedious, very time consuming, and a sure way that you can expect there to be errors across your system. 00:37:24.260 --> 00:37:26.340 But you're right, there needs to be some support. 00:37:26.500 --> 00:37:39.540 There needs to be a champion in your organization that is that expert, that is that go-to person, in order to really fulfill the ROI that you intend with this technology. 00:37:39.780 --> 00:37:53.620 Yeah, I was I was thinking about, I guess, within an organization, who do you think would be the most appropriate person to sponsor the workflow alignment activities, right? 00:37:53.860 --> 00:37:56.820 And I I think but before I let you answer, I'm gonna give you my opinion on this. 00:37:56.980 --> 00:38:09.220 And I I think it's and I and I don't know if if uh the majority of companies have this, even though they should, uh, depending on how large or small you are, is there should be a team focused on digital strategy, right? 00:38:09.300 --> 00:38:24.580 So digital strategy kind of having some connection with obviously your IT business partners who are more in charge of information technology applications, but then the digital strategy person or team is connected to the business and how they're using the application. 00:38:24.820 --> 00:38:40.580 And so to your point about selecting the right technologies, whether or not this one is right for the organization, I think that is a is a key role in all this in understanding whether or not we need to make adjustments or we keep this or we move on. 00:38:40.660 --> 00:38:51.220 But I I think they they would be probably one of the stronger use cases, I think, for using such an uh an assessment. 00:38:51.300 --> 00:38:58.260 And it's because it's got to be someone who can take a look at the bigger picture, not just from one lens of IT or one lens from operations. 00:38:58.420 --> 00:39:00.420 It's usually a mixture of of the two. 00:39:00.740 --> 00:39:01.380 That's a great point. 00:39:01.540 --> 00:39:02.180 That's a great point. 00:39:02.340 --> 00:39:09.140 I think what what I'm confronted with most often is that there isn't or there aren't folks in that role. 00:39:09.220 --> 00:39:22.340 And if they are in that role, there's this sort of like hand extension in terms of helping support with with you know selecting uh a software or tool. 00:39:23.060 --> 00:39:30.980 But it's just like anything else, it's just like creating a timeline, it's just like creating a budget, it's just like creating a plan. 00:39:31.540 --> 00:39:35.140 All the work feels like it's in the beginning. 00:39:35.300 --> 00:39:43.940 And the work is really throughout the use, the maintenance, the you know, the practice of the work that you're doing. 00:39:44.260 --> 00:39:51.540 Because what we find often, or what I'm finding often, is that we sort of, you know, it's the shiny object in the beginning. 00:39:51.700 --> 00:39:52.740 We're all working towards it. 00:39:52.820 --> 00:39:55.620 We do a couple trainings, and then they move

on. 00:39:55.780 --> 00:39:57.620 There's no training to the new people. 00:39:57.860 --> 00:40:00.100 Just go to this space and start clicking around. 00:40:00.260 --> 00:40:05.780 There's no curated systems or role-based training in a lot of cases. 00:40:06.020 --> 00:40:19.220 And it blows my mind because the single most powerful thing that you can do as a leader, as an organization, to someone who just came into your organization is to train the heck out of them. 00:40:19.540 --> 00:40:28.820 Because then in three months, you can have a rock star that gets it, that knows the system, that knows the people, that knows how these things are all put together. 00:40:29.060 --> 00:40:31.780 But when do we hire reactively? 00:40:32.020 --> 00:40:33.380 We hire reactively. 00:40:33.540 --> 00:40:37.060 We hire to get them to start working right away. 00:40:37.460 --> 00:40:46.660 So that learning ends up being very focused on the things that are right now because they're happening right now. 00:40:46.820 --> 00:41:00.740 I'm not saying you stop learning from there, but there's just a complete dismissal of the core things that need to be established so that you have smooth operations that workflows go from one end to the other. 00:41:00.900 --> 00:41:12.660 So I often see if it's not someone in the IT space, it is someone within a given function that had a couple phone calls with the enterprise and are gonna bring it in. 00:41:12.900 --> 00:41:15.540 And what happens is they become the owner. 00:41:15.780 --> 00:41:18.980 I don't know that they're always ready to do that, right? 00:41:19.140 --> 00:41:25.940 They may not know the questions to answer, they may just accept everything as like, hey, this is the this is the way that we're going. 00:41:26.100 --> 00:41:29.300 And, you know, where I started like that. 00:41:29.460 --> 00:41:34.420 I didn't know what to answer, I didn't know what to say, um, uh or what to question. 00:41:34.660 --> 00:41:38.180 I just, you know, little by little, I kept saying, How can I do this? 00:41:38.340 --> 00:41:39.140 Can we do this? 00:41:39.300 --> 00:41:40.740 And what if this is the problem? 00:41:40.900 --> 00:41:58.900 And I had to continue to learn and and doing it on my own, doing it on my own, working in a system when it wasn't work, when I wasn't actually like manipulating data, moving it around, working and trying new things to see how things broke was was really my goal of how quickly I learned. 00:41:58.980 --> 00:42:06.740 I would try combinations of things that were capabilities of a software, and then go, oh, you know what, that doesn't work, or that works pretty well. 00:42:06.900 --> 00:42:09.940 Let me see if I can you know scale this a little bit. 00:42:10.180 --> 00:42:16.340 So we're often missing people in those roles to really carry this out. 00:42:16.500 --> 00:42:32.420 So I think what if if you are a leader, if you are working in a small mid-space, even if you're working in a large biofarm and you have a fleet of people, you lack visibility, everyone seems to be working, but the progress feels very slow. 00:42:32.580 --> 00:42:36.100 It's our responsibility, it's your responsibility to look at the system. 00:42:36.420 --> 00:42:38.180 Do we have the things we need? 00:42:38.580 --> 00:42:52.900 You know, if I asked you, Lawrence, to paint me a mural, and the tools I gave you are those little paint brushes that are like this thin that come inside of a kit for you to paint a small mushroom. 00:42:53.060 --> 00:42:57.540 And I'm using this example because my wife gets those all the times for the kits. 00:42:57.700 --> 00:43:03.140 They're usually painted in one color, just aggressively painted one color. 00:43:04.260 --> 00:43:07.940 But how long is it gonna take you to paint the mural if I give you a paintbrush like that? 00:43:08.100 --> 00:43:16.820 We have to look at our resources, we have to understand our tools to a level that allows us to expand our way of thinking in terms of what are we doing? 00:43:16.980 --> 00:43:17.940 How do we do this? 00:43:18.180 --> 00:43:20.340 What is the it's not gonna look the same. 00:43:20.500 --> 00:43:24.900 We're not gonna have Word documents to do meeting minutes. 00:43:24.980 --> 00:43:30.260 We're gonna put something in the cloud that allows us callback whenever we need to, as quick as possible. 00:43:30.420 --> 00:43:35.060 It organizes when actions and sends us alerts and things like that. 00:43:35.380 --> 00:43:42.820 So we have to be the shepherds, leaders have to be the shepherds to say, guys, I want us to go in this direction. 00:43:42.980 --> 00:43:47.940 And there has to be someone on the team brave enough to take that on. 00:43:48.740 --> 00:43:50.180 Why do I say brave enough? 00:43:50.900 --> 00:43:57.300 You won't be everybody's friend right away because this is a new system and people feel uncomfortable and there's new technology. 00:43:57.380 --> 00:43:59.140 And I just like the way I do things. 00:43:59.300 --> 00:44:00.580 I like my way. 00:44:01.060 --> 00:44:02.500 Why do I have to do this? 00:44:03.620 --> 00:44:06.580 Because you don't work in a company of you. 00:44:07.620 --> 00:44:21.140 You work as part of a team, and that team is a cog amongst all these other cogs that make this business run, that develop medicines for patients. 00:44:21.300 --> 00:44:24.340 The organization itself is a system. 00:44:24.820 --> 00:44:25.860 We've talked about that. 00:44:26.340 --> 00:44:33.700 The people, the process, the technology, the culture, the guidances, all of that. 00:44:34.340 --> 00:44:37.300 Your space, all of that is part of your system. 00:44:37.940 --> 00:44:39.540 So you have to approach it as such. 00:44:39.940 --> 00:44:43.220 And it's not just as simple as let's change out a cog. 00:44:43.460 --> 00:44:45.300 Now the cogs don't even reach each other. 00:44:45.620 --> 00:44:53.380 So while it goes all the way up here, and it's and and your cog is still moving,

you have a big gap between this, between you and the next group. 00:44:54.340 --> 00:44:54.980 Nice work. 00:44:55.140 --> 00:45:05.460 And I see that often when new technologies pop up and zero consultation across the organization, just specifically for them. 00:45:06.100 --> 00:45:07.140 What does that do? 00:45:07.540 --> 00:45:10.020 That builds an efficiency in one group. 00:45:10.340 --> 00:45:14.180 However, the role is cross-functional. 00:45:15.140 --> 00:45:29.940 So now everyone is scrambling to adopt or to adapt, excuse me, to adapt to some new technology that is not collaborative in nature, that doesn't have the visibility, that now you don't have access to. 00:45:37.140 --> 00:45:44.180 Obviously, people go into work not hoping to do a bad job and wanting to do well at their role. 00:45:44.500 --> 00:45:46.180 Um, but you're you're right. 00:45:46.340 --> 00:45:54.820 There there are some things that maybe are indirectly outside of your role, but this could benefit and make other your co workers like. 00:45:55.220 --> 00:45:56.340 Lives a lot easier. 00:45:56.580 --> 00:46:06.900 I think that that's very important too, is you know, to your point about you know, these companies are are uh working on these life-changing medicines for patients. 00:46:07.060 --> 00:46:11.780 It's it's also you're you're there to make work enjoyable for other people as well. 00:46:12.020 --> 00:46:31.300 Like we spend so much time, we spend so much time at work, and when I see people miserable, I used to I've been at work before in a professional setting, and it was not uncommon to hear loud voices, to see people rushing out of the office in tears. 00:46:31.460 --> 00:46:37.780 The most just why why why does it have to go to that level? 00:46:37.940 --> 00:46:39.700 We should be working, you know. 00:46:39.780 --> 00:46:47.540 When I hear I've heard before in my past when I first started, you know, doing this this type of work, why should I make things easier for other people? 00:46:47.700 --> 00:46:48.980 That's how you feel. 00:46:49.300 --> 00:46:52.660 You're not part of a team, you're in a team of you. 00:46:53.140 --> 00:46:57.700 That's a very selfish, a very fixed mindset. 00:46:58.740 --> 00:47:03.380 If I can make my work easier, I'll give you one even better. 00:47:03.700 --> 00:47:15.780 If my work becomes marginally more work to take on, however, the downstream impact is measurable, is repeatable, you become a hero. 00:47:16.420 --> 00:47:20.900 You took on this little bit, and now you enabled a fleet of people. 00:47:21.060 --> 00:47:22.420 That's also improvement. 00:47:22.660 --> 00:47:28.660 Your work changed a little bit, but all you had to do is instead of doing this format, you do that format. 00:47:28.820 --> 00:47:42.500 And because you do that format, we bypass two days of escalation to adjust something from a PDF to an Excel file or what have you. 00:47:42.580 --> 00:47:53.620 And now they can just drop it in and their system takes it away, and they've cut out now four hours of manipulation because you've decided to do those things uh upstream, right? 00:47:53.780 --> 00:48:02.980 So, you know, I challenge folks if you're if you're in a place that you're you want to make things better, you see where folks are bringing things down. 00:48:03.140 --> 00:48:05.300 I mean, honestly, have that conversation. 00:48:05.620 --> 00:48:07.620 Hey, we're here trying to do the same thing. 00:48:07.780 --> 00:48:14.740 I don't want to come to work and be grunting and moaning, and I don't want you to have to do that either. 00:48:15.220 --> 00:48:16.580 How can we work together? 00:48:16.740 --> 00:48:25.620 How can we build something cohesively that we're both proud of that gets us out of our, I have to do it this way. 00:48:25.780 --> 00:48:28.020 I don't like that because it's just confusing to me. 00:48:28.180 --> 00:48:29.060 You know what that tells me? 00:48:29.220 --> 00:48:30.100 You don't understand it. 00:48:30.180 --> 00:48:31.460 That's not a growth mindset. 00:48:31.540 --> 00:48:32.820 That's a that's a very fixed. 00:48:33.220 --> 00:48:38.740 I just started listening again to a book to Mindset by Carol Dweck on uh Audible. 00:48:38.820 --> 00:48:40.820 So it's very fresh right now. 00:48:42.100 --> 00:48:53.060 But and I think, you know, for those that don't really know how to pinpoint it, our assessment looks across a number of risk factors. 00:48:53.380 --> 00:48:56.820 This particular assessment in operational workflow alignment. 00:48:57.540 --> 00:49:03.060 And those risk factors help us understand are these internal challenges within your function? 00:49:03.220 --> 00:49:08.820 Are they the cross-functional handoff that is being sort of stunted? 00:49:09.060 --> 00:49:10.660 Is your process clear? 00:49:10.980 --> 00:49:14.740 Do you have really great tools, but nothing talks to each other? 00:49:14.900 --> 00:49:23.940 So although you might be producing a lot of work, the next step is very, very slow because the translation is painful. 00:49:24.100 --> 00:49:32.180 And this is, you know, this is a great, it's a great example of sort of being so good at your role and then just having a stack sitting for the next person. 00:49:33.140 --> 00:49:34.900 Oh, I'm a great team worker. 00:49:35.060 --> 00:49:36.500 That's not working like a team. 00:49:36.580 --> 00:49:38.500 That's worrying about yourself. 00:49:38.740 --> 00:49:43.460 That's seeing, I'm gonna do as much as I can and leave it here because that's not my problem. 00:49:44.180 --> 00:49:45.780 The project is your problem. 00:49:46.020 --> 00:49:47.460 They're on your project. 00:49:47.620 --> 00:49:51.460 You better work with them to figure out how they can have a quicker output. 00:49:51.620 --> 00:50:01.380 Because if your throughput is through the roof and you're not the end of the process, you're in the middle, you're just now creating a new bottleneck. 00:50:01.540 --> 00:50:05.140 You hand it off the bottleneck from you to the next person. 00:50:05.300 --> 00:50:07.540 I've seen this with high throughput screening. 00:50:08.020 --> 00:50:09.380 We have one analyst. 00:50:09.700 --> 00:50:11.060 Oh, it takes a couple of hours. 00:50:11.140 --> 00:50:14.580 So the high throughput is in processing it. 00:50:14.900 --> 00:50:25.300 I'm sorry, the high throughput is in running the experimentation, but then when you go to process and analyze it, weeks, months, how relevant does that become now? 00:50:26.420 --> 00:50:29.380 Oh, these are experiments that we did two months ago. 00:50:29.540 --> 00:50:30.420 Awesome. 00:50:30.660 --> 00:50:31.940 Not relevant anymore. 00:50:32.100 --> 00:50:38.660 So if today resonated with you and you want to go deeper, the book is where this all started. 00:50:38.820 --> 00:50:40.820 So we're gonna put the link in the show notes. 00:50:40.980 --> 00:50:43.460 Uh, predictably broken is out. 00:50:43.700 --> 00:50:50.100 We have an audio book that is in planning stages that will be out hopefully uh by the end of August. 00:50:50.260 --> 00:50:51.460 That's our that's our goal. 00:50:51.620 --> 00:51:03.060 And if you're if you're in your organization, you're hearing what we are described in this organization, one of these operational assessments is a great natural next step. 00:51:03.220 --> 00:51:04.980 You can reach out to us directly. 00:51:05.140 --> 00:51:24.740 We'll have information in the show notes, but it's a really good way to sort of unload all of these things that have been weighing on your shoulders in terms of working faster, working more diligently, being more responsible, accountability, you know, understanding where these gaps really lie, and then pulling out those top three exposures. 00:51:25.140 --> 00:51:29.460 Because I'll be the first one to tell you, and Lawrence will be right behind me. 00:51:29.700 --> 00:51:33.380 It's not just one thing, it's a combination of things. 00:51:33.620 --> 00:51:35.940 So you need to address them together. 00:51:36.580 --> 00:51:41.540 And if you're already past that point and you just want to talk it out, feel free to reach out to us. 00:51:41.700 --> 00:51:51.860 Our information is in the show notes, and we'll be more than happy to discuss these challenges with you and what they might mean for you in your organization, in your context, in your culture. 00:51:52.020 --> 00:51:52.740 Thank you, Lawrence. 00:51:52.820 --> 00:51:54.980 Until next time, we will talk to you all later. 00:51:55.300 --> 00:51:55.540 Bye.