Killing innovation with mediocrity

How I feel almost every day now...

Recently I spoke with a fellow junior officer about changing the setup we have for distributing some of our reports. Currently we email them out, and although we serialize them, we don't have a way of saving them where others can search for them. One of our subordinate fleets saves their reports to a blog, which I thought was a great idea. I played around a bit with the WordPress blog that Intelink uses and setup a sample blog.

Unfortunately, we can't just register people for blog updates. We would have to have them subscribe on their own, since the WordPress widget for subscribing someone isn't on Intelink. Apparently that's a big deal, because it has literally held us up for over a month now.

Seriously. Because we might have people too lazy to click a "subscribe to RSS" link, we will continue to use email to distribute our reports.

The Purpose of Officers

Officer cover, from the Marlow White catalog

If you haven't read the recent Task and Purpose article on abolishing the officer/enlisted divide...you haven't missed much.  William Treseder attempts to present the point that the division between officers and enlisted needs to go in order to enhance the military.  He argues that officers are a construct of the British system, harking to days gone by of nobility that doesn't have a place in rebellious America.  He also makes the point that because there are so many people knocking down the doors to the military academies it actually drives away people from enlisting.

It's in short, completely absurd.  I read it hoping for more, but it's actually sad enough that it merits an in-depth response. 

The only privilege

This weekend I stood watch with a team of four enlisted Sailors and three additional under instruction Sailors.  We managed to get a lot of work and training done, making significant qualification progress during an otherwise fairly dead time on the watchfloor.  Between the discussions on proper turnovers, relative military power and the occasional reference to the basketball game, no one ever bothered to discuss the fact that we all came from different backgrounds and had different skin colors.

Because the truth of the matter is, none of us cared.

Much ado about "Thank you"

If you read the Navy Times or the New York Times, you've probably come across a recent article by Matt Richtel called "Please Don't Thank Me for My Service."  You can also follow a VERY long discussion thread on Rally Point, and probably elsewhere, where plenty of service members are expressing their desire to not be thanked for their service.

Honestly, it's offensive and childish, almost on the same level as people who insist on a military discount anywhere they go.

We all know an idiot described above, the one military member that makes a big to-do about their service at every opportunity, when in reality there isn't much for them to talk about.  The "I don't want to be thanked" crowd would, on the surface, seem to be more noble than that, and certainly the NYT article plays to those ideas. 

There is a dark side to denying thanks though.  By not allowing someone to thank you, you deny that person the ability to give back.  You effectively say "I am so much better than you, you can't possibly understand how great I am, so your little efforts are meaningless."  I would call that sort of attitude a god-complex, similar to a brainiac pointing out how much smarter he is than everyone else around him.

Why the BCA is good for you

Navy BCA Meme, from Navymemes.com

I'm not a fat person, at least not now. I never really thought of myself as a fat person. But the Navy made me feel fat almost from day one. My first BCA (almost ten years ago now!) was conducted at Nuclear Power School, where I had to be taped because I weighed in at 225 pounds. I barely passed the tape test, but I did pass. Between working out and watching what I ate, I managed to pass the tape test, but I never really lost the weight.

Working on a submarine didn't help matters. I was always a bigger person. It wasn't like I had a big gut either. I was, as one would call it, "big boned." It was during that time that the Navy's BCA came under fire from a lot of places, and I contributed to throwing verbal darts at a process I thought was unfair.

I went to shore duty, and while I worked out more, it didn't make a difference. At best I slimmed down to 215 pounds. I was still taped by the Navy twice a year. In my mind, I just accepted that I was going to be perpetually taped due to an unfair system.

Advice: Try it on

So there I was after an hour long brief to my O-6.  I managed to answer all of the man's questions, including some rather complicated materials.  He was really happy, and I received lots of "Good brief!" comments afterwards.  Pretty elated, I finished logging off my computer when my boss (an O-5) came over to give me feedback.

Not all the feedback was good.  She wanted me to use some more language and omit some of the things I said.  My initial reaction was almost to roll my eyes (thankfully I did not!) and to almost dismiss it out of hand.  After all, in my mind I had just knocked it out of the park!  I was on top of my game!

Later that day, I realized how terribly rude that was.  My CDR was mentoring me, finding a way for me to improve that I hadn't thought of, and here I was dismissing it out of hand.  Conveniently, Seth Godin posted an applicable article:

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2015/01/advice-or-criticism.html

I decided to take his advice of "Try it on."  After my next brief, instead of waiting, I went to my CDR and asked for feedback, wrote it down, and tried it out the next day.  Amazingly, although I stumbled a bit, after two briefs my speaking improved, I was more confident of my assessments and overall I got even more compliments afterwards.

Mentorship sometimes happens when we least expect it.

Why I don't attend holiday parties and formals (and what I would change)

 

From SpouseBuzz

 I enjoy parties. I try to regularly host people at my house for Thanksgiving, Christmas and a bunch of other events throughout the year. I enjoy dancing (whether I'm good at it or not remains another matter) and hanging out with friends. But the last few years, I've stopped going to holiday parties and most formal events.

My boss recently asked me why I didn't go to our command's holiday party. I gave her a short answer, but it actually merits its own post. So, here are my reasons:

We're STILL in a continuing resolution

I forgot to post this earlier...in case you're wondering why funds are short, we're still in a CR until December 11th.

We begin fiscal year (FY) 2015 under a continuing resolution (CR) that funds the government until Dec. 11.  A CR is short term legislation passed by Congress and signed by the President that ensures our government has the resources necessary to continue normal government operations without disruption.

We anticipate no near term impacts to Navy funding for personnel.  Same goes for operations and maintenance, research and development and infrastructure associated with this CR. However, until an appropriations bill is passed, uncertainty still exists. Having an approved appropriations bill would provide greater certainty and enable us to better fund the priorities of maintaining warfighting capability, procurement of new hardware, fleet readiness and Sailor training.

http://navylive.dodlive.mil/2014/09/30/what-a-continuing-resolution-means-for-sailors-and-families/

Unsolicited Advice

A few days ago one of the officers at my command stopped by and asked me about getting a Masters Degree via distance learning from Naval Postgraduate School.  I walked her through all the ins and outs, the advantages and disadvantages.  We talked for a solid 30 minutes about NPS.  It was probably the most enjoyable conversation I had that day because I felt like I had something to offer her and that she listened to what I had to say.  Even if she doesn't pursue the degree, at least she legitimately heard me out.

About a month ago I had an almost polar opposite experience.  I had a young man complain about how high his electric bill was, something that isn't uncommon in Hawaii.  Feeling like I could help him, I asked if he had a cable box, which he told me he did.  I gave him my advice about unplugging his box at the end of the day to help cut his electrical costs (advice that is now two years old, in case he ever Googled it).  Straight to my face, he told me "That won't work."

Final Multiple Score for your Sailors

CNP put out some good gouge on what makes up your final multiple score:

http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=83528

I thought this part was interesting:

6. Service in Pay Grade has been reduced from seven percent to a weight of one percent of FMS for advancement to E4 through E6.
7. The Good Conduct Medal and the Reserve Meritorious Service Medal will no longer contribute award points in the FMS. 

So basically, less points for simply hanging around without getting in trouble.

Biases are lazy

Shopping cart photo, from Wikimedia Commons

I stood watch a few nights ago with a young lady and we chatted about, among other things, shopping.  At some point she brought up that she loves going into grocery stores and checking out the "new items" aisle, which I was curious about since I didn't really remember seeing this aisle before.  Her response to me was "Well, you probably don't do much of the grocery shopping in your family."

Which, honestly, was a bit insulting, although I held my tongue and took it in stride.  

How to conduct a 360 degree assessment

There is a certain appeal with being the "big idea" guy.  You dream up great plans, working out everything in your head, and if ONLY you had the time, resources and people, you could make it all work.  Even better, if you do get the chance to try an idea out and it fails, the blame normally shifts to the users...if only they were smarter/worked harder/etc.

I think 360 degree reviews are one of those big ideas that nobody sat down and tried to work out.  There is an allure with being able to give feedback to your boss when you normally exist in one of the most rank-conscious bureaucracies that exists.  That being said, most of us that have more than 2 years in the Navy realize very quickly how this can go horribly wrong.  Our bosses have immense power over us, and like most people we hold our tongues more often than not.

Working with Intelink, I've finally found a way to conduct a 360 degree review in an electronic way that is anonymous, easily replicated and controllable.

Failure to select

 The O-4 results are out, and there are lots of high fives and "Good job, SIR!" going around for those selected.  But there are plenty of people that didn't select, and for many of them it was a punch in the gut. I'm not the only one saying it.  So for the folks that didn't select, what do you say?

Luckily, a fan of this blog sent me a letter that really summarizes it well.  I'm reprinting it here in its entirety, as there was no piece I could bring myself to cut out.  While it's Information Warfare centered, it's not hard to replace a few words and make it apply to any warfare area.

Recommendation letter recommendations

 Unless you are entirely unapproachable as a person, at some point in your career you'll be asked to write a letter of recommendation for one of your Sailors.  More than likely, you'll get asked to write a handful each year as a junior officer, and significantly more as a senior officer.  Sadly, the Navy gives no formal training on this, despite the fact that a good recommendation letter can significantly impact someone's career.

I didn't write the best recommendation letters as an ensign, but I got smarter by the time I pinned on O-3 and have done a lot better.  Out of the last two Sailors I wrote letters for, one got at least one of the scholarships he applied for and another got an appointment to Officer Candidate School, beating the abysmally low 16% selection rate this year.  Here are some pointers so that you don't make the same mistakes I did.

Just sprinkle some technology on it!

Mobile computing is awesome.  I've used my cell phone to do all sorts of things, from banking and learning foreign languages to checking email and reading my latest news feed.  The MCPON is also looking to tap into this trend and has talked about getting a tablet for every Sailor:

http://www.navytimes.com/article/20140630/NEWS04/306300020/MCPON-wants-every-sailor-tablet

If I had to pick how to roll out a massive tablet purchase, I'd do the following:

Let's stop the Sailor Worship

Are we worshiping our military members, to their own detriment?  Benjamin Summers seems to think so.  In his Washington Post article, he argues that he, and most military members, aren't heroes, shouldn't be worshiped, and that the whole "hero worship" is getting in the way of making real, needed changes to the DoD.  His article is Army centric, but I think it hits similar problems on the Navy side, with what I'll call "Sailor Worship."

We do a hard job in the Navy.  Our Sailors are constantly deployed, all the time, well before the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan happened, and we'll continue to be deployed after they end.  We are the Nation's 9-1-1 service, responding quickly to any problem around the world.  It's a hard job, and most military members are underpaid, although once you factor in benefits, it tends to come out OK in the end.  For the hard work and the sacrifice, I'm OK with getting the occasional parade, free meal, or airline upgrade.

Some accountability with drinking

Over dinner, my wife relayed an interesting conversation she had with the wife of an Air Force Officer I know from college.  He had volunteered over the weekend to sit on a hotline to drive drunk service members home, and wanted to see if I would volunteer as well.  My wife kindly declined for me, since I had watch, but she was rather irate at being asked in the first place.

In her mind, it was simply enabling bad behavior.  She couldn't understand how Sailors could afford enough alcohol to get drunk, yet then not have enough sense to arrange a ride before or pay for a cab.  She was then further insulted when it was apparently my responsibility to give up my time on the weekend when I already work later than most of the problem children.

At that point, I realized how much brain washing we do in the Navy.  How often do we glorify the guys that sacrifice their time for such endeavors, and never ask whether we are simply enabling the behavior in the first place?  It's similar to our glorification of the guy that spends all his time at work, letting his family life completely deteriorate while destroying his subordinate's initiative. 

Know, don't rage, about the system

 My news feed today gave me an article about how Eric Cantor lost his primary bid to Tea Party upstart Dave Brat. 

This is not the first time this has happened.  I first saw it back in 2010, when Mike Lee defeated Senator Bob Bennett in the Republican Utah primary.  Elected leaders, both Republican and Democrat, have been undermined not in actual elections, but in the primary process.

Putting all politics aside, this is the perfect example of how knowing your environment and the rules can make you a very dangerous opponent.  There have always been calls for an "outsider" to be elected to Congress, but unless you had previous fame (e.g. Arnold Schwarzenegger), you had almost zero chance.  The primary process has its own rules that makes it fairly hard for outsiders to influence.  Thus, most complaints and calls for action were simply ignored by the folks on the inside.

The Tea Party has completely stood the primary system on its head.  Rather than simply complain about how broken the process is, they learned all the rules and then used them to promote their own candidates.  Elected officials that could previously blow off their complaints might find themselves without a job, or at least a very difficult reelection bid.  Using the rules to promote unknown candidates isn't unique or even new.  Abraham Lincoln beat out popular candidates like William Seward in the Republican primaries by manipulating the system, going so far as to deliberately change seating arrangements at the National Convention in Chicago to purposely divide his opponents supporters from each other. 

The tyranny of busy

(From: http://navycaptain-therealnavy.blogspot.com/2014/03/fighting-good-fight.html)

 Busy is never an acceptable reason for anything.

The reality is that at the end of every workday, there is always work left undone.  I have never gotten through every email or every tasker I write in my notepad, and I think most people are likely in the same situation.  We are fooling ourselves if we think we'll wake up one day and literally have nothing to do.

So when we have work and delegate it to our subordinates (or have it delegated to us by our boss), the refrain of "I'm too busy to do it." is simply an excuse.  You're not too busy, you've simply prioritized something else above it.  Maybe that task is higher priority, but often what I find is that there are lots of tasks that suck up our time and aren't worth it.

Taking the time to read

Seth Godin nails it about taking time to actually read:

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2014/01/the-fatal-arrogance-of-tldr.html

It is AMAZING to me the number of people that don't read email.  The conversation I get normally goes like this:

"Hey, did you read my email? I need an answer about X."

"No man, I didn't have time. It was too long."

Even more amazing is the number of people that don't read papers that are routed to them.