In some of my posts, I've described myself as a "corporate cartoonist" or
a visualizer for system and organizational change. The task of helping
people "see what they are saying" has had me building all kinds of
pictures of both a formal and informal (or cartoony) type.
A few years ago I was part of a computing architecture group that built
system designs by employing "Cross Functional Teams" of subject matter
experts, we found that after a short time these teams would come up with
design ideas-but would have a lot of trouble discussing the details.
One day, Lou Domingo, one of the analysts asked me to make a "concept
cartoon" for the project. It was kind of a conceptual over-view of the
design, as it stood at the time...
Well, the drawing started a huge argument. "That's not what I meant when I
said that" was a statement most often heard. It was then that we began to
realize that even though these people were college educated and fluent in
the english language, they occupied separate technical disciplines, using
different jargon, and ways of doing the same thing. They would describe
something in terms they all seemed to understand, and even agree to, but
those words meant different things to them..
I've been creating concept cartoons ever since, and even though they will
invariably start an arguement, they clear the air and get every one on the
same wavelength because it "shows" what is meant by what is "said". (And I
think I've helped saved a few million dollars in software development
costs that would have been needed to re-write code after it was discovered
it was wrong-3 or four months down the road when it's much more
expensive).
A week or so ago, Rick Karash invited me to submit a couple of cartoons to
the LO discussion, and after a few technical bugs were worked out, we
succeeded in placing them up on the web. One is a concept illustration
(done in my more "formal" style) that illustrates how we tend to focus on
the task at hand, or list of rules, and neglect to look beneath the
surface at what makes it "go".
The other drawing is in my "really cartoony" style-and it's the joke
about people knowing things but not applying them.
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If you're reading this on email now, you can find this cartoon later with a
web browser pointed at
http://world.std.com/~lo/Erickson/ice-berg.gif
--and--
http://world.std.com/~lo/Erickson/dog-trix.gif
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While some people are insulted by cartoons ("we're not a cartoony
company") I'm finding cartoon art is one of the quickest ways to clearly
discuss any given subject. Cartoons allow one to emphasize specific
ideas, and get right to the point, hopefully in terms that most can
understand, and without getting personal about it. Notice how much
communication is done in the office with Dilbert cartoon.
I'm hoping my pictures can help some of the LO concepts come to life a
little more in all of our minds, and to stimulate the discussion in some
new way. I think a library of imagery is needed to help people see what
we have been saying. I am currently collecting ideas for my own private
"art stash" (or toolkit), and I'd like to encourage the rest of you to do
the same.
If drawing isn't your thing, I'm open to ideas-and can put some of them
"to ink" (provided you are willing to share them with the world).
Visualization is just another medium of communication. Since the LO
concepts are sometimes a little harder to "get", let's tell the story, and
show it.
Any comments?
later...
--Michael Erickson sysengr@atc.boeing.com
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>
