QR codes kill kittens.
Don’t take my word for it though. Take the word of the man who literally wrote the book on kitten-killing QR codes.
And yet, despite all of the evidence contained in the book about how QR codes are misused I continue to see them being misused. The other day a friend of mine told me about how her company was going to put a QR code on a billboard. She couldn’t believe they were going to do that, and neither could I.
How do things like this happen? Great question.
Here’s My Theory
My theory is simple: the people who know what to do are often not the same people that decide what to do. In fact, the number of people that get to do both is fairly small when compared to the overall number of folks working in IT:
As a result we find bad decisions are rampant. We all have moments where we stop to think “how did we get here?”
QR codes on billboards? On the back of a bus? Inside a subway? Towed on the back of an airplane? Or redirect to the wrong website?
Yeah, read that last one again and then convince me that the person who understands QR codes was the same person that decided to have that done.
Now that we know how things like this happen the next question I have is why?
Why does this happen? Another great question for which I offer a corollary to my theory.
Here’s the Corollary to My Theory
Beliefs trump facts.
Here is a well know fact about QR codes: The two worst things for QR codes are motion and distance.
Here is a belief about QR codes: We must use them in all our marketing efforts.
What I have observed, time and again, is the people will let their beliefs cloud their judgment. Even when presented with facts they will make decisions that run contrary. Sometimes this is referred to as a “gut feeling”.
Take a step back and think about the projects you have worked on. How many times have decisions been made that seem to run contrary to the facts? How many times have you presented data to management only to have them still make the wrong decision (and get burned by it later, too)?
Look deeper and I bet you will find examples for yourself where your beliefs have gotten in the way of facts. It clouds your judgment, just as it does to everyone else.
Another observation I have seen is that the further up the “decider” chain a person moves within a company, the less they “know”. Over time they lose touch with the details, and their practical experience gets stale. This is true for everyone, not just employees but consultants as well.
Everyone needs to actively keep their skills (and facts) up to date.
Three Ways To Bridge The Gap
OK, so we know that we have two groups of people that have trouble agreeing on things and we have observed that beliefs often trump facts. What can be done about this?
1. Cross-pollinate – A great way for teams to really understand the other point of view. Embedding members of each team to work with the other team helps foster increased communication. Part of my role at SolarWinds is to be a “customer Doppleganger”. My job is to make certain that we continue to build products that help give our customers longer weekends. I need facts to make that happen, and I can only get them by working with customers.
2. Make decisions based on facts – Even if they go against your beliefs. As much as you want to say that “your gut” tells you to do something despite all the evidence against it, you’ll find things are better in the long run when you let the facts help you make your decisions. If you can’t ignore your gut, then find some facts to back up your viewpoint, otherwise you’ll be seen as someone that doesn’t listen to others. That’s never a good thing.
3. Be open – If you are not open to the idea that it is possible you don’t know everything then don’t bother going through the façade of embedding team members and collecting facts. Learn to listen…really listen…to what others around you are saying. Don’t dismiss data and facts from someone based upon their status and role. Good ideas, and good data, can come from anywhere.
If you won’t do it for yourself, or for others, at least think of the kittens that will be saved.
My comment needs a QR code to explain it but I will try. I’ve worked at a place where QR codes saved us millions in expensive mistakes because they were properly implemented. I’ve worked at places where little thought had been put into something and we spent months fixing it. Decisions were made by self designated experts that were way off. Where has humility gone? Sigh…
Two things I’ve done at my job are, cross training with the operations team and internal team improvement meetings ( recently introduced a performance tuning battle biweekly meeting). They work wonders!
QR codes, when done correctly, can be wonderful. Unfortunately they are done incorrectly most of the time.
Improved communication is vital to helping everyone avoid costly mistakes.
Agreed. When I interview potential job candidates if they cannot communicate they won’t get an offer no matter how good the are technically. Communication is a top skill in today’s world.