{"id":4477,"date":"2010-06-07T17:38:29","date_gmt":"2010-06-08T01:38:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.horace.org\/blog\/?p=4477"},"modified":"2010-06-07T17:39:51","modified_gmt":"2010-06-08T01:39:51","slug":"the-machiavellian-engineer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horace.org\/blog\/2010\/06\/07\/the-machiavellian-engineer\/","title":{"rendered":"The Machiavellian Engineer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nThis is something they never teach in engineering school. I wonder do they teach that in business school? I wonder is there any school actually gives systemic training on the art of Machiavellian.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

By Carl Selinger, June 2010, IEEE Spectrum
\nSometimes it takes more than technical prowess to get the job done<\/p>\n

I set up the meeting in order to set up Ron.<\/p>\n

It was a rare time in my career when I intentionally used power and politics to solve a problem\u2014a Machiavellian approach I didn\u2019t learn in engineering school. Ron, my coproject manager, was jeopardizing the project. He was uninterested, his time was divided among the other things on his plate, he wasn\u2019t getting his tasks done. He had to go.<\/p>\n

The project involved showing information and entertainment on TV monitors viewed by passengers awaiting departures at New York and New Jersey airports. As a business concession, it proved very popular, like airport stores and food services. The team assigned to the project was responsible for installing TV monitors in the terminals, overseeing the programming, and accounting for advertising revenues from the three busy airports in our domain.<\/p>\n

In my role in the business development area, I initiated and launched the project as part of a larger network of airports around the United States, and I was ready to lead the operation. However, our customer services division naturally wanted one of its managers to play an equal role. To avoid a turf battle over boundaries and credit, the heads of our departments decided to have Ron and I be comanagers for the first year.<\/p>\n

Over the course of that first year, I produced monthly reports with grudging input from Ron. I would itemize the growing number of installations and the revenues received. Time and again, Ron\u2019s deliverables, such as current passenger levels and other information specific to our airports, were delayed. These delays were noted to management, to the point where Ron wanted to stop doing reports on a monthly basis.<\/p>\n

As we neared the one-year mark, I told my manager we needed to address this problem in the working relationship. I was willing to run the entire program\u2014which was the original intent\u2014but Ron was not agreeable, and my manager didn\u2019t want to confront the problem directly: \u201dCan\u2019t you just get along?\u201d So I took matters into my own hands.<\/p>\n

Step one: I asked Ron\u2019s manager, Joan, if she\u2019d like a briefing on first-year operations. She welcomed this, so I set up a meeting for just the three of us, to minimize the number of people who had to learn of Ron\u2019s shortcomings.<\/p>\n

Step two: I prepared a simple agenda that Ron approved. I would go first, presenting my areas\u2014the overall administration of the business agreement and installation of the TV monitors, both of which were going well. Then Ron would discuss his areas. The last item on the agenda was to identify any issues that needed to be resolved.<\/p>\n

Step three: We held the informal meeting in Joan\u2019s office. I gave my briefing and answered her several questions. Then it was Ron\u2019s turn. Despite the passage of a year, several key items he was responsible for were still delayed. Not all the delays were his fault, but they seemed to surprise Joan\u2014and managers don\u2019t like surprises. She asked Ron increasingly pointed questions: \u201dWhy was this being delayed?\u201d Why didn\u2019t you tell me there was a problem?\u201d She was not happy with his excuses. I sat quietly. Joan finally turned to me and said, \u201dCarl, I think Ron and I need to talk about this, so if you\u2019ll excuse us, I\u2019ll get back to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The very next day my manager and I got a short e-mail from Joan asking me to take over the project with their continued support. Ron stayed involved and was more effective in his limited support role.<\/p>\n

Projects usually run better that way. Sometimes it makes sense for two people to share leadership\u2014if the responsibilities neatly divide into two areas that don\u2019t overlap, for example, or if neither person has the time or resources to take full charge. But often it doesn\u2019t work\u2014especially, as in this case, when a bureaucracy simply wants to protect or extend its turf. At times like that, it takes politics and power, as well as technical expertise, to get things done. Do what you have to do. To paraphrase Machiavelli, you don\u2019t avoid such a war; you merely postpone it to your own disadvantage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is something they never teach in engineering school. I wonder do they teach that in business school? I wonder is there any school actually gives systemic training on the art of Machiavellian.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"lc_iscn_info":[],"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15],"tags":[326,421],"class_list":["post-4477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-_newsclips","tag-ieee-spectrum","tag-career"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Machiavellian Engineer - \u54f2\u5b50\u6232 Philosophist\u2019s Camp<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This is something they never teach in engineering school. 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They should do a follow up research and survey a large sample of engineering girls, see how many of them had a boyfriend in high school.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News Clips"","block_context":{"text":"News Clips","link":"https:\/\/www.horace.org\/blog\/category\/_reference\/_newsclips\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6279,"url":"https:\/\/www.horace.org\/blog\/2012\/03\/11\/is-math-still-relevant\/","url_meta":{"origin":4477,"position":1},"title":"Is Math Still Relevant?","author":"hevangel","date":"March 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Is math still relevant? That depends on your metaphysical view of the world. If the reality is indeed appearance of mathematics as some metaphysics theories suggest and we are living in endless possibility of equations, then maths is the only way to understand the Truth. By Robert W. Lucky, IEEE\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News Clips"","block_context":{"text":"News Clips","link":"https:\/\/www.horace.org\/blog\/category\/_reference\/_newsclips\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3311,"url":"https:\/\/www.horace.org\/blog\/2009\/08\/06\/robots-the-expensive-way-to-prepare-cheap-food\/","url_meta":{"origin":4477,"position":2},"title":"Robots: The Expensive Way to Prepare Cheap Food","author":"hevangel","date":"August 6, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Watch out! Minimum wage unskilled workers, there robots out there to get your low paid jobs! I wonder what will the supporters of the minimum wage say; Be a Luddite and ban robots from fast food to protect the livelihood of unskilled workers? 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