You Don't Know What You Don't Know.

So, I was wrong. I sat down and interviewed the President and Vice-President of The Shelly Company Northwest Division, and I left the interview changed. I had this very limited view on what it meant to be in the field with these guys. Here is the bottom line: You don't know what you don't know.

Our industry is a landscape of technology extremes. On the archaic end, we have guys wielding shovels and rakes, smoothing out asphalt by hand. But, on the other end, the machine that just laid that asphalt is the latest GPS, geothermal, nuclear-powered technology you can find. My conversation with the executives of the company was extremely enlightening.

The Vice President asked me what I knew about laying asphalt...my response sounded something like this,

 "uhhhhh..."

He proceeded to tell me this. "You don't know what you don't know. You will never understand what it means to actually get out with a stake to measure asphalt along the road. Just like my kid got annoyed with me last week while planning my trip to visit him in Colorado, and I didn't know about Uber, so he downloaded the app and showed me how to use it. I had no idea this kind of technology even existed. But you and I need to understand there is not a lot of common ground for us when it comes to technology. I don't know what you know, and you will never know what I know."

Whoa.

So how does this relate to what I think about MIS in this industry. It is everything. I am beginning to understand that we (millennials) are like a bull in a china cabinet at times. We come in with our big technology ideas and we shove the "old guys" out of the way. But what happens when that technology has an interruption? becomes outdated? doesn't provide the solution we were expecting?

We tend to offer solutions without understanding the problem. I see this same shortcoming from the "upstairs." The corporate big shots who come in with their solutions without understanding the problem from the little man view.

The President, myself and the Vice President all agreed on one aspect of the human factor to MIS: COMMUNICATION IS OVERLOOKED. I keep envisioning the flow of information in this system as a road. A vertical, up and down 2-lane road. But it needs to be a circle. Free-flowing. An ocean of ideas, brainstorming and opinions. We need to be brave enough to listen to each other, regardless of position. We need to hear the project manager who has an idea for trucking, the operator with thoughts on scheduling, the scale clerk who needs a better system, the IT drowning in internet outages, etc.

Why?

Well the upstairs is working on these projects. You know what they're worried about right now? Selling it. The President explained it like this," You go to a manufacturer with an idea to integrate robotics into the assembly line, you do not start with the people on the line. You are there to replace them. They are not going to buy-in. You go upstairs and someone there buys in, and pulls the plug. This industry is different. Our technology does not replace people. It is supposed to make their job easier. So we have to start with the guys in the field and sell it."

But, we fall short on that aspect more often than not. We tend to sell the idea to the people upstairs and they pull the plug with zero support. Our communication to these roll outs needs to start before, collaboration needs to start at the beginning. We will get it right. Recognizing it ensures that.

Because you don't know what you don't know. Time for all of us to learn together.

The president also gave me an article from Harvard Business Review magazine about technology environment, and you know the two companies he mentioned right away? Blockbuster and Uber. I would be lying if I said I wasn't impressed. My next post will look into what I learned from the article and how that plays into strategic plans businesses analyze before making any changes. I am beginning to appreciate more and more what my company does.