You know how they say "the cobbler's children have no shoes", there seems to be way too much truth in it. I work for a large Information Technology company and was recently assigned to an internal project. I joined the project in flight and I am very scared. The project has high visibility and a very tight time frame. Worse, we have processes to manage projects and it seems the team is only vaguely aware of these. I have been working with the sales team for the past several years and we constantly are raving about our world class processes. It is very disappointing to find that these processes are ignored for an internal project. The even more disappointing thing is that the design for the solution seems to take a next generation tool and creates a legacy product. I feel really frustrated with the leadership team, as they don't seem to understand the situation. Since the project is replacing a legacy product, no one has taken the time to discuss next generation concepts with the business team who have provided the requirements. Since they so not know better they are creating legacy type requirements and the project team is unable to translate into something more.

The other frustration I have is with a diverse and disperse team. I understand the value of diversity, and I do believe with diversity you can get a "whole is greater than the sum if it parts" kind of thing going on. But it takes work to make it happen, just throwing diverse people together does not make synergy. It takes an understanding of the cultures and the ability to create a team culture that melds the individuals into a team. I have spent some time working with individuals from India, and it truly is a fascinating culture. Still, it can be very challenging in a team with Indian members. Indians have a different view on life and family that bleeds over into their work lives. I did not realize that very often there are multiple generations of a family living together with a patriarch who makes the important decisions. As Americans we are often pushed out of the family home early in life and forced to make decisions on our own, where many Indians are not. Quite the opposite, they have great respect for their elders and look to them for important decisions. In the workplace, they are often hierarchical and look to the leadership team to make the decisions. For the last ten years, we have been trying to empower the employee to make more decisions and to take ownership. This is still a new concept to the Indian worker. Perhaps some of this is leftover from the caste system, but until we acknowledge these differences and deal with them, diverse teams will not reach their potential.

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe