Tyranny of the Triads

You wish they taught you this. Before you mature, they kick you up the corporate ladder and you find yourself at the pearly gates of the first Iron Triangle (a.k.a Project Management Triangle). The triangle typically helps analyze project success, as your ability to deliver a required scope, at reasonable quality, within sanctioned budget and schedule. Most of us rush in, to balance the puzzle without a background. Looks very reasonable, until you realize the ‘trilemmas’ they entail.  A trilemma (like dilemma) can be expressed logically (1) as a choice among three unfavorable options, one of which must be chosen, or (2) as a choice among three favorable options, only two of which are possible at the same time – courtesy Wiki

Here, project control and success lies in finding that optimal point where competing priorities reasonably trades off. Maximizing quality and scope while minimizing cost and time has always been the Holy Grail. Like the enigmatic ‘Rule of Three’, these trilemmas have come to be dreaded as the ‘Tyranny of the Triads’!

Interestingly, solutions come in triads too. The Golden Triangle! Often, based on your natural inclination to problem solving (some of us are technically wired, some people-at-heart, others process oriented), you gravitate towards a favorite to solve the triad. Here again, only the right mix will get you home. The good part is, there are tools out there (like, PRINCE2 for Project Management etc) that help to a certain extend. However, I have often found Quality (being intangible and not measurable) to be the final casualty.

And then, as you climb the ladder further, intangibles grow and you start to confront more complex triangulation. The same tools no longer apply. I have seen several managers grapple with conflicting expectations from the new triad. The reason is perhaps, most of us lack objectivity early on and mentally identify yourself with one stakeholder and its perspective. Being an employee yourself, often your initial allegiance lies with your team (employee). But in the new role, as professional manager, it takes a while to realize there is no YOU (the employee) anymore. The engineering principles used to tackle logical problems do not help. We need to learn and re-base ourselves on professional work ethics and social skills to negotiate these grey conflicts. Part of the problem is perhaps the overbearing engineering mindset itself.

But as you mature, you figure out the realities that let you get along. For example, the three entities (customer, employer and employee) seldom come together. So, though they seem to represent contradicting perspectives, as a manager, you seldom need to manage all three in one setting. Of these, employer-employee interactions come up more often but there are functions (like HR) to cushion it for you. Employee-client and client-employer interactions are usually more discreet in nature. So therein lies the secret sauce. This should give you just enough leeway to align yourself (switch your lingo) as you deal with each, accommodating their interests and concerns. There is no contradiction (or a loss of integrity) in this, unless of course, you takes sides. If you do so, you have kind of lost it. Be reminded, this is a role that demands subtle discretion. Once that realization dawns, it is easier on the mind.

In fact, the apparent dichotomy does not exist after all. For example, being ‘employee friendly’ does not mean being against shareholder’s interest. Each represent different aspects of the central objective of creating value. However, you need to be aware, the language each speaks and expects are different. Another example, it is perfectly alright for a promoter to ask ROI on any passionate idea you suggest. It does not mean, he is not with you or does not appreciate your commitment. It is just a reminder to you, to have considered everything. Understanding this intent is very important. Similar is the intent of QA, HR or any functions, before whom you need to keep justifying your initiative. And, your efforts to push through great propositions (for your client or employee from your perspective) needs to be modulated for favorable consideration at each gate. Here, logical thinking or engineering mindset hardly help. Most engineer-turned-managers cave in (and as Franklin’s Gambit say, pick their own excuses based on their pre-wired notions,) switch off and wallow in defeat.

 The more you think of it, you tend to lose yourself in the koan. There seems no escape. Yet, the realization dawns when you look around and understand how the prime movers in any organization make things happen. All triads appear unsolvable only when you look through a managerial prism. The moment you view them from a leadership perspective – fired up by one’s own gumption and vision, full of motivation for everyone around you – they vanish! You only see win-win-win possibilities. For example, a leader motivates his team (employee) to a grander purpose (or a greater WHY) such that, he or she no longer thinks from 'employee' standpoint. Sacrifices from them naturally follow as they see a greater purpose and their leader's own resolve to make it happen. A leader’s vision and drive finds natural alignment with promoters, as success, growth and sustainable profits eventually come with such resolve. They find in him, a torchbearer of founder’s mentality. From customers' perspective too, a leader’s passion to create value for them builds trust and confidence. A leader seeks genuine value creation for every stakeholder including himself. In short, the paradigm shifts and the triad ceases to exist.

Pirsig puts it brilliantly in Lila “the electronic circuits and the programs existing in the same computer at the same time have nothing whatsoever to do with each other” Both the manager patterns that see only 'constraints' in a triad and the leader patterns that see only possibilities in the same triad, reside in us. If you haven’t noticed, the leader just elevated himself to a plane beyond the triad and showed the way!