Technology and Organizations

Some organizations get it, and some just don’t. ASTM International (previously known as American Society for Testing and Materials) is among the organizations that practice TOP Management as part of their DNA. ASTM supports the development and archiving of high-quality, market-relevant standards — beginning with a standard for railway steel in 1901. They understand how technology fits into both what they do (for example, the creation of new standards around new technologies) – and how they do it. You may recall that Earl Lawrence of EAA mentioned that the process of how Light Sport Aircraft standards came into being seemed to him to be an example of TOP Management. ASTM’s Dan Schultz was the staff manager for the LSA standards development process. I had the opportunity to talk with Dan a couple of weeks ago and I came a way with a new understanding of how TOP Management can be as much a part of the organization as is it a part of its peoples’ skills.

What does ASTM do? You know those standards you see quoted on airplane parts, Federal regulations, and baby strollers? Things like “meets ASTM standard….” I now have a better understanding of where standards come from and how they are used by industry and government. Key is that standards are not handed down from on high. Not at all. Standards, at least those developed via ASTM’s process, are a community effort created explicitly via a “balanced” process where all stakeholders are heard and decisions are made by a fair and transparent ballot process. In the case of the Light Sport Aircraft process, ASTM facilitated the creation of 30 standards in 30 months.

That statistic, 30 standards, 30 months (recall this is a voluntary process) and the resulting creation of an industry around this new form of recreational aircraft lead me to stamp the process with the TOP Management sticker of approval. The task itself focused on technical issues of aircraft design and manufacturing, organizational issues of certification, and the realities of the people involved in terms of weight and risk assessment. The process also involved TOP Management: on-line support of pre-meeting work, identification of stakeholders, and balloting; the ASTM organizational process of consensus and balance; and the ability to draw out perspectives from all stakeholders. Dan’s management of this process (and all the varied committees he supports) suggested a high level of personal systems savvy.

I asked Dan how he came to see the need for technology, organization, and people dimensions to be combined as part of his facilitation process. His background was engineering, yet given the quick overview he gave me of standards facilitation it was clear he has the people skills you’d expect from a psychologist.

His answer took me a bit by surprise. Systems savvy: That’s what ASTM is all about. He put the heavy lifting on the organization.

Walking into the mid-90s [growth of the Internet] with 90 years of experience, the organization knew exactly what it had to do…. In order to maintain commercial advantage, the standards development of tomorrow has to develop the most technically competent standard in shortest amount of time or industry won’t select you.

He said ASTM formally sketched out the digital path – cradle to grave standards development given new technologies. They made sure that their products, standards, could be created quickly and in a form that the customer wanted, and easily accessible. They made sure that their process was improved by use of electronic collaboration – they haven’t replaced face-to-face collaboration, but rather steamlined those face-to-face meetings by their new pre and post-meeting processes.

I generally talk about TOP Management being practiced by a person — and clearly Dan Schultz is a TOP Manager (managing technology, organizations, and people in an integrated way) — but the ASTM example highlights the value of embedding TOP Management into the organization itself. My colleagues and I have also talked about embedded TOP Management strategies into technologies, but I’ll save that discussion for another time.

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Wednesday I had the great pleasure of interviewing Earl Lawrence, VP of Industry & Regulatory Affairs for EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association).  I’d contacted Mr. Lawrence as part of an on-going project to create a measure of Systems Savvy. His background in government regulations, volunteer organization, aircraft construction, and piloting suggested the ability to weave together the technology, organizations, and people dimensions I focus on in this blog and in my formal research.

We had a wonderful discussion and I took away two key points:

• The design/decision process can play a strong role in the application of systems savvy
• Learning from a broad set of life experiences helps to give you the vision to see all of technology, organization, and people dimensions of a situation

The opening question of the interview was “It would help if you could tell me a story or relate to me an experience you have had in which you learned an important lesson about technology, organizations, and people.”  Earl mentioned that the discussion was bringing a smile to his face:

The smile that came to my face is that individuals somehow piece all that together. It wasn’t that I knew that I was doing that…. I grew up as a technology person, but recognized the need for relationships and the ability to deal with all different kinds of people and a process to bring those together.

LSA [the creation of the light sport aircraft regulations] is a great example.  We had a whole series of things — we had a vision — but you need to put all three mechanisms together in a way that we can get the technology and the soft[er side] people together.

Background: New aircraft regulation and pilot licensing is not a simple project. Besides the legal aspect, manufacturers have to design new models to meet the regulations, new training/testing must be prepared, and a new market created.  From the EAA site:

In 2004, the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] created sport pilot/light-sport aircraft (SP/LSA) regulations. The most significant change in FAA regulations in 50 years, it allows easier and lower-cost access for those wishing to participate in the joy of flight. For the past half century, EAA has been a leader in providing people with more opportunities to take to the sky, and for the past 10 years has worked with the FAA on the development of SP/LSA.

He noted that he didn’t set up the process on his own, but instead approached ASTM International (originally known as the American Society for Testing and Materials). He had observed that ASTM had a world class process for community decision making — consensus decision making that brings together key stakeholders (e.g., manufacturers, consumers, regulators, consumer membership organizations).  Earl gave great credit to the ASTM director who facilitated the process — this person seems to have a healthy serving of Systems Savvy (I’ll be trying to catch up with him for a future post).

Earl offered that the decision making process they used made sure that technology, organization, and people realities were each in play.  The manufacturers had clear perspectives on what was technically possible, the regulators brought the realities of safety standards, the consumers (pilots and operators) understood the performance characteristics and price points that would make sense, and Earl and the ASTM facilitator could help the group grow and and weave together the perspectives and needs.  Thus, the interweaving requires the right perspectives to be on the table and a process to bring them together.

But how do people obtain this weaving skill?  I asked Earl where he got his savvy.  Another great story.  Earl’s mom had a catering business that supported several wedding parties every weekend.  Earl worked these weekends starting at age 8 and continuing through college.  Interestingly, he didn’t appreciate this background to his engineering skills until much later when he was an aerospace manufacturing engineer.  Then the lightbulb went off.  At that point,

“I’m not fully the tech guy… not the guy running the machine… I’d go nuts designing a bracket all day long.  My job was to produce the product, keep everybody happy, and I had to work with a whole bunch of people.  Brought cookies.”  Looked out for them.  Kept their interests in mind.

It was then that he realized the perspective he gained from all those weekends with the crying brides [my description, not his].

Many of us have the capability to be savvy along one or two dimensions.  We can take the next step and manage technology, organization, and people dimensions — all three at the same time –  if we can find a process for keeping all three on the table and if we look to our broader experiences to help us see how the pieces might fit together. 

Comments appreciated on your own “broadening” experiences. 

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