However, there are several cases in which the employees cannot reasonably be expect to resolve the conflict on their own. These are cases in which the manager must take an active part in the solution.  This article discusses one such source of conflict and how it can be easily remedied and prevented.  The source of human conflict described here is due to process conflicts. It has many possible causal factors and many possible solutions. A problem map of these factors is shown below.

For those unfamiliar with such diagrams, see the original problem map which includes tips on how to read one:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-lAxnXkcf3o2YnSL-clXo6xBmSW4b7UY4KClxq-He-o/edit?usp=sharing

In the cases shown in the problem map, the manager is often required to provide training or process changes in order to create an environment in which workers can work with less conflict. Without manager intervention, the conflicts become frustrating for the workers and may recur again and again.  It is not uncommon for employees to make unfair assumptions and think their colleague just has a “bad attitude” when in fact, they are simply operating by another process and those processes are in tension.

Managers who understand these problems and apply the solutions can continually adjust the policies to reduce conflict and make ti easier for staff to work together.  Managers can go even further and teach these ideas to their staff so the staff can understand when a conflict is a process conflict. In such cases, they get less frustrated because they know that they can escalate the problem to their manager who will work with other managers to resolve the process tension.  Short-term solutions may be negotiating exceptions. Long-term solutions may involve  collaboration across departments. Such cross-departmental collaborations naturally require more effort and time than localized process changes that can be unilaterally decreed by a single manager.  In any case, it is unlikely that an organization will accidentally work in harmony without managers who continually and deliberately tune the processes for harmony.

And of course, there is a rich body of literature on how to manage conflict among people in the general case. That is the first node in the diagram and you can seek out those resources for those issues. This brief article simply clarifies when process is the problem, a manager can solve it.

Filed under: Management ]]> http://codecontracts.info/2013/05/11/process-conflict-a-managers-role-to-resolve/feed/ 5 David Allen Sources of interpersonal conflict at work http://codecontracts.info/2013/01/29/update-on-treadmill-desk-use/ http://codecontracts.info/2013/01/29/update-on-treadmill-desk-use/#comments Wed, 30 Jan 2013 01:34:42 +0000 David Allen http://codecontracts.info/?p=525 ]]> I have now been using my treadmill desks for over a year. I have continued to use it on and off throughout the year. I find that sometimes I’m in the mood for walking and sometimes I’m not. So I keep an ordinary desk next to the treadmill desk so I can sit down when I feel tired. It’s funny how you get used to something. I often have breakfast standing up and walking on the treadmill desk while I read the news. This is not as difficult as you would think since I’m normally going a half a mile an hour.

As usual, I’m dictating this post while I’m strolling on the treadmill. I seem to have adapted to the equipment totally. I can step on and off of it with comfort and confidence even while it is moving. I’m not recommending this. That’s a legal disclaimer so somebody does not sue me. I’m not responsible for any accidents you have because you may be uncoordinated.

At this point, I really don’t have anything dramatic or interesting to report. I use the treadmill desk sometimes. And sometimes I don’t. It works just fine. I hardly think about it anymore.

Just to set your expectations to a realistic level: I’ve not lost any weight since I bought the treadmill desk and started using it. However, if it really is bad for you to sit down for several hours every evening after sitting at a desk job most of the day, then this treadmill desk is a good thing for me. It allows me to read the news, check my email, and possibly read a book online or watch a movie while taking a stroll.

“It intelligently runs automated tests so that you don’t have to, and gives you a huge amount of useful information about your tested code, such as code coverage and performance metrics, inline in your IDE while you type.”

I am using Visual Studio 2012. And the unit testing experience, although slightly improved, is still pretty clumsy and slow. But now that I have NCrunch, I don’t mind. I know Microsoft worked hard and are proud of their improvements. But this takes it so much further than they dared to go, that I bet you their own people will soon be using this. It’s that good.

I am not even disappointed in Microsoft. Instead, I am pleased that their tool is so easily extend by so many partners. (“easily? easy for me to say. I don’t code these things).   This whole arrangement smells like a healthy IDE ecosystem. As long as the total package is good, I am cool. By the way, I am also using ReSharper at the same time without problems. I love that tool too.

The key is SPEED and immediate visual feedback. This tool allows you to configure how many CPU cores you can allocate to it in the background. And every time you change a line of code, it is running these background threads that test your code and show you code coverage.

I am telling you, it just FEELS right. I am doing TDD, getting this instant Red/Green feedback and instant Code coverage feedback. Using Visual studio by itself feels absolutely primitive.

Downsides? Brad tells me he had some slowdowns and hiccups. But I don’t know what hardware he used. I am using a plain old Dell desktop with 8 cores and 8 GB of RAM. It also runs fine on my virtual machines on my server. But that is cheating cause it’s a bit overpowered. I can see you might have slowdowns on a weak PC or a starved VM.

Go get it, now!

And tell me what you think.

http://click.email.microsoftemail.com/?qs=911fe2cf0cdd0379fcbee0758fdb18fae5013a82c4fce8e3a0b04c2eccaa91b2d47480ca725c81f1

It’s 12 easy pages.

I really like the Web performance testing tools built into Visual Studio 2012 Ultimate. These are tools you can use to create and execute automated tests of web applications for the purpose of measuring performance and load. These latest versions are much more polished, feature-rich, and easy to use than the versions that came in previous versions of Visual Studio. One of my favorite features is the ability to export load test results into an Excel workbook.

When you generate the Excel load test reports,  there are two different formats available. One is a side-by-side comparison of two different load test runs. The other is a trend analysis that can compare two or more test runs and show a graph of the trends of various performance measures.  When you press the button to export the test results, it does not merely dump the raw data into an Excel workbook, it uses Excel automation to generate a bunch of graphs that show the comparisons or trends in the various performance measures. It is the same kind of work that we used to have to do by hand. Only now, thanks to automation, we can see the results in a visual fashion much more quickly.The sample image shown above shows a trend report I ran.

I was testing the performance of a web application with various web garden settings. The first two runs, 44 and 45, were run with the worker process equal to one. Run 47 performs the load test with two worker processes, and run 48 is the performance of the web garden with four worker processes. From my experiment, I concluded that my current configuration would be able to deliver far more results with four worker processes. As an interesting side note, the IIS server that was hosting my web application had four CPUs.  So this is a reasonable result to expect. But there is something very satisfying about having actual performance tests data to verify your hypothesis.

If you are interested in learning more, this MSDN article is a good entry point Examining Web Performance Test Results Using the Web Performance Test Results Viewer.

What is even more remarkable is the fact that I can walk on my treadmill desk with the noise of my footsteps, and the fan from my air conditioner blowing in the background, and it doesn’t seem to interfere with the translation of all. I can remember the earlier versions were more sensitive to background noise. And still you should use it in a quiet environment.

If you have any questions about it feel free to ask. I think using this product is a great preventive measure for carpal tunnel syndrome.

Early report mentions agile. Budget is in the ballpark of $100 Million.

http://www.va.gov/recovery/Agency_Plans_and_Reports.asp

A VA press release from January 31, 2011 indicates the system was launched successfully thanks to agile methods

http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=2037

The Linked-In profile of a person working on the project indicates that there were 12 Scrum teams involved. I am not citing that out of respect for his privacy as I do not know him. Though you should be able to find it by searching linked in for terms ‘VBMS’ ‘agile’

Those of you who read my original diary  http://codecontracts.info/2012/01/16/diary-of-a-treadmill-desk-user/  will recall that I initially experienced some discomfort in my knees. That discomfort is a distant memory. I no longer have pain in my knees. However, I do get stiff after a while. I still think it is important to take a break from the computer periodically. My problem now is not that I’m sedentary. The problem is that walking on the treadmill is a somewhat unnatural motion. It is good to get off of it from time to time, stretch, and walk around in a normal way. Taking a break is also good for my arms, my back, and my eyes.

If you use the treadmill often during the day as I have recently, you may find yourself hopping on and off it several times – to get a drink of water, to grab a pen, or pick up your phone. During the brief interruptions, I just leave the belt running. I hop off of it while it is in motion, and I hop back onto it while it is in motion. If you hang out with the device long enough you get very comfortable with this.  But hopping on and off of a moving treadmill at different angles is a little bit like walking on a ship in the ocean. For the first several weeks of this behavior, I felt as if I was getting seasick.  I never experienced this if I just use it normally. It only happens if I play around like a kid and jump on and off and turnaround and move sideways etc. So just be warned, that after using it for a while you will get very comfortable with it and you may play around. I’m extremely sensitive to motion sickness and the fact that I can tolerate this playing around means that most of you probably won’t even notice what I’m talking about. If you are sensitive to motion as I am, simply get on and off it in a carefully controlled way and you should be fine.

When I started this experiment I had no idea what the outcome would be. But at this point, it feels very strange when I travel to a new city and I sit down for several hours to read a book. I feel as if I should be moving during that time. I miss the activity. Fortunately, when I go home to visit my mother, she happens to have a treadmill in the guest bedroom. Guess who walks on the treadmill while he reads his book? (grin)

If you have any specific questions about the experience, feel free to post them.

Jez Humble – His was a great and broad talk on continuous delivery. I think I picked up the term “incrementalism” from him. My favorite quote of his is the term “Risk Management Theater” in reference to people who go thru the motions of risk management and compliance activities without understanding or caring about really mitigating the risks. Instead, they want to be able to check off the boxes and say they did their part. This relieves them of blame with a minimal amount of effort. If they really cared about mitigating risks, they would be interested in replacing their outmoded ways of addressing those risks with the more effective and efficient approaches the agile movement has presented.

Michael Nygard – This talk was a narrower and more in-depth discussion of establishing relationships across functional lines, and how to work together to get things done. His specific example was around dev ops, but it is just as relevant for any other group of specialists. I am a big fan of this kind of cross functional collaboration. His talk was a good reminder of how valuable (and rare) people are who possess skills in multiple areas and can bridge the gap.  Hispanic votes were a good illustration of how real people build such relationships under stress.

John Phenix – Super Cool how Google (his employer) do continuous delivery like several times a day. I found it very motivating to hear what is possible in the extreme. His anecdotes about the pervasive culture of automated testing at Google  (testing on the toilet), combined with the small group exercise the David Hussman triggered, clarified for me why most companies do not do continuous delivery. Most companies are not doing aggressive automated testing. <sigh> Really? After all this time? We KNOW this works. So this is very sobering. Kent Beck described all this years ago and most people still won’t commit to doing this stuff.  I would like to do a survey of the state of software engineering practice in the Twin Cities. Who is doing automated Unit tests, AAT, TDD, CI, automated deployment, CD. From what I have seen, the maturity ratings would be dismal.

And finally, last, but not least, Dude himself:

David Hussman – His theme tied it all together for me.  He reminded us to stop selling tools and technology to our customers. We should be selling value. Each of our customers measures value in a different way.  If our goal is to deliver value, we have to tailor our solutions to the unique goals and problems of our customer.  And he also explained how continuous delivery contributes to value. It finally enables those of us who deliver software to do our job professionally and efficiently, which places the burden on our customer. Now the constraint in our system is the ability of our customer to discover what their customer needs. To accomplish this, our customers need to be able to conduct many small experiments, and learn what works and what does not work. Continuous delivery is our tool to enable rapid continuous learning of our business partners.

To answer his question, what am I going to do? I am going to help the people see the possibilities for improvement.  If they want help moving forward, I will help them.  After seeing this conference, I know what is possible.And I know the prerequisites we must acquire to reach the goal.

If you didn’t attend this conference, you really missed a great one.

Yesterday, the people from 2nd Wind Fitness delivered my new LifeSpan treadmill desk. This was my Christmas present to myself. I hope to keep a diary of the experience an share it with other people. What were my motivations? I’m a computer junkie. I work on the computer all day long. And then I come home and play on the computer all night long. I’m sure I’m just a freak of nature. I doubt any of you could possibly relate to such a bizarre lifestyle.

Anyway, there has been a lot of research in the news lately about how bad it is for us to sit down for long periods of time. It doesn’t matter whether you’re reading an exciting novel, or watching an entertaining television show, or playing on the computer, or playing a videogame. Apparently, sitting down for us is hazardous to our health. I already have a regular exercise routine. So I’ve made a lifelong commitment to my health and follow through pretty well. But apparently, that annoying research shows that even people who have a regular exercise program can suffer ill health effects if they are sedentary for long periods of the day. Therefore, I decided to do something about it. Give up programming or surfing for Internet news? You must be crazy! I was not about to actually stop being addicted to the computer. Instead, my desperate solution was to get a treadmill desk so I could stay on my beloved computer, source of all knowledge, fount of wisdom. But at least I would be moving.

My initial impressions were very favorable. First, at the kind of slow walking speeds I will be using while typing or reading, the treadmill is extremely quiet. And it does not hum or vibrate. One of the nice things about this particular model is that the pedestal desk is physically separated from the treadmill so that the vibrations of the treadmill are not transmitted to the desktop. The desk is also very wide and sturdy. It is about 4 feet wide and a little over 2 feet deep. It has more than enough space for my large 30 inch monitor, keyboard and mouse, mug filled with cool water, cell phone, a stack of paper to scribble on etc. A very modest control panel is attached to the edge of the desk nearest to the user. It can tell me how long I have been walking on the treadmill, how many steps I’ve taken, how many calories are burned, and the distance I have traveled as well as the speed. I must say that I love the minimalist design of the control panel. It has exactly the things I want and not a single thing more. It is extremely simple and easy to use. I wish car stereos were designed that way.

I spent a couple of hours on it on Saturday. But after a while my legs were sore.

Sunday, January 1, 2012.
This is my third day using the product, and I’m getting accustomed to it. I probably spent over four hours walking on the treadmill and messing around on the computer. At various intervals I would wash clothes, wash dishes, and do my ordinary weekend housecleaning. But I eventually noticed that my legs were sore again.

Monday, January 2, 2012
Man are my legs sore! There are several little areas around my knees that hurt. I’m beginning to think I made a big mistake buying this treadmill desk. It suddenly occurs to me that the purchase may have a positive unintended consequence. Instead of working on the computer for endless hours of my life, my sore legs may force me to limit my time on the computer (SHOCK and HORROR). Oh well, that wouldn’t be such a bad thing. So now I find that I’m a bit more deliberate about the time I spend at the computer in order to protect my legs.

Sunday, January 8, 2012
I still use the treadmill desk. Just like an alcoholic cannot set down the bottle, nor can the junkie put away the needle, neither can I stay away from my computer. Fortunately, my legs are starting to feel better. I went out to brunch with some friends of mine. My friend Bruce, who is a marathon runner around my age, told me that the pain will probably pass. He explained that my body was just adjusting to some unusual motions. I think he is right. I take a very small amount of ibuprofen and I do try (well, I sort of try) to be reasonable about the amount of time I spend on the treadmill desk (ok, I don’t make any effort to resist at all), and I can tell that my legs are getting better. It is clear that some of the muscles and connective tissue are being used in ways that are unfamiliar.
I am 52 years old, and that probably contributes. The body parts just don’t work quite like they used to. Oh, they still work, they just need a little more tender loving care to work properly.

Based on my experience so far, I would caution people who are extremely overweight or who have problems with their feet or legs or back. I’m not saying you shouldn’t get one. I’m just saying that you should give it some careful thought. Perhaps they will invent a recumbent bicycle desk (ooh, I need one of those too!)

It would be a little bit easier for a person who had a laptop computer. They could put it on the treadmill desk for 30 min. Then they could move the laptop to a desk where they could sit down and have a plate of chocolate chip cookies and milk while they play the latest computer games. (Just kidding).

If you do decide to get one of these, it would be good to limit your use on the device initially until your body can gradually become accustomed to the new motions.

Sunday, January 15, 2012
It has now been over two weeks since I started using the treadmill desk. I no longer have any problems with my knees. So my friend Bruce appears to have been correct that it was just a matter of my muscles and joints getting accustomed to the new exercise. I had a brief period this week during which I had to work sitting down. At first I thought it was a tremendous luxury to be able to work at the computer while sitting quietly. But I find I miss using the treadmill desk, so I have moved my monitor back to the treadmill desk. I’m writing this posting while walking on the treadmill.

I get a lot of questions from people about whether you can type, use a mouse, write with a pen, or read while walking on the treadmill. The answer to all of these is “yes”. And I do all of these during the day. My handwriting suffers a little. However, I want to point out that many of my more lengthy posts or e-mails are created using dictation software. I use a program called Dragon dictate software. I purchased it with the Bluetooth headset that is used to translate my voice into text. I have been using it for several years very successfully. The dictation system is sensitive to extraneous noise. So one of my big concerns was whether I would be able to continue to use the dictation system while walking on the treadmill. I am relieved to be able to tell you that all of these posts have been produced using the DragonDictate system while walking on the LifeSpan treadmill. This is a big deal for me because years ago I discovered I was experiencing pain in my wrists and hands due to overuse. Imagine that! I spend 8 to 12 hours a day behind the computer typing and mousing and my hands hurt? Anyway, enough sarcasm. The dictation system has been really valuable or reducing the amount of time I am typing. So I’m extremely pleased that it works. If you use a dictation system, it is important to get a treadmill desk that is quiet during normal operation. Normally I’m walking .5 to.9 miles/hr. The treadmill begins to get slightly noisier at higher speeds. I wonder whether the dictation system still works well with these higher speeds? In fact, I will do a little experiment for you right now.

This sentence is dictated while I am walking at .5 mi./h.
This sentence was dictated while walking at .9 mi./h.
This sentence was dictated while walking at 1.5 mi./h.
This sentence was dictated while walking 2 mi./h.
This sentence was dictated by walking 2.5 mi./h.
This sentence was dictated while walking 3 mi./h.
This sentence was dictated while walking 3.5 mi./h.
This sentence was dictated while walking 4.0 mi./h.
I think that is enough. I have no intention of dictating while walking at 4 mi./h.

In summary, I really like the treadmill desk. I use it for a few hours every evening after I get home from work and sometimes several hours on a weekend depending on what activities are going on. I don’t have experience with what it would be like in a workplace setting, being used up to eight or nine hours a day. If any of you have that experience, let me know.

For now, I’m done with my treadmill desk diary. If anyone has questions, I will be glad to respond. Otherwise,perhaps I will post again in the future.