Last updated on 2019/10/08
Like I have said before, one of the reasons I started this blog is to try and share experience and wisdom with other people. While the topic for today is something that I have definitely thought about before, it is not something that was on my radar as a topic until I was walking back to my desk earlier today. So let’s digress for a moment as it is so easy, and for me at least, fun to do.
Today’s rabbit hole that we are jumping down is brought to you by candy! Yummy, sweet, sugary candy. If you are one of the lucky ones like me, you will agree that the best, most perfect, and most amazing all-around candy is…. Reeses Pieces. The crunchy candy shell. The smooth peanut butter taste. The colors that remind us of cornucopias in the fall… *drool*. I mean come on, the perfect candy. I was thinking about trying to turn this segment of this post into a discussion about the best types of candies, but after writing the above text and thinking more about the greatest candy ever invented I am going to just stop and move on. Why even try and top this one? Don’t you dare even attempt to put M&Ms in the same class! They can’t hold a candle next to the roaring bonfire of awesomeness that is Reeses Pieces. Even extra terrestrials agree, Reeses Pieces rules!!!
Ok, so back to today. I was away from my office because someone here at work keeps candy on their desk. And not any candy… you guessed it! Reeses Pieces! As I was walking back with a handful of these candy crack nuggets it struck me what I had just done. I had just gotten out of my seat, walked across the building, said hi to a few people, grabbed some candy, had a quick conversation lamenting how sad day it would be if the Reeses Pieces ever ran out, and walked back to my desk. If you ever need a great way to drive conversation, communication, or ideas this is a great way to start. This is a secret weapon: a simple bowl of candy.
Let me tell a quick story to help illustrate how awesome this secret weapon can be. When I started my first internship it was at a large company that had somewhere between 500-1000 employees (this isn’t obfuscation – I really don’t know how many people they had back then). The majority the employees were remote in that they worked on field operations outside of the main HQ facility. Probably ~150 people worked in the 4-story HQ building. Based on my limited experience, I figured that this was probably a typical company. Ups and downs. Wins and losses. Bonus and RIFs (Reductions In Force, basically, layoffs for cost cutting). While there I learned about corporate culture, financials, the stock market, and how large businesses operate. I saw the company go through bankruptcy and also get listed on the NASDAQ. Like I said, lots of highs and lows. As I started in the late 1990s as an intern, there were still the last few dregs of what felt like an 80’s culture still in place. There were family events, company softball teams, and even a cafeteria in the basement where you could get a nice cheap breakfast and lunch every day.
Please bear with me as all of this has a good point at the end. As I sit here in the year 2019 thinking about how society has changed, the next statement makes me feel old and dated. There was even a smoking room in the basement. Yes, you millennial Z’ers or whatever the up-and-coming next generation is called, there was a room where people could go and smoke that was actually inside the building. I should note that during my tenure there, this room didn’t last that long – after a few years the room was converted to more offices and what we affectionately termed the “butt-hut” was installed outside in the elements. Imaging your traditional small bus stop with a clear cover and back and simple bench and you just pictured the butt-hut.
The reason that smoking is relevant here is that smoking is what originally gave me the idea for this secret weapon although I didn’t realize it at the time. You see, if you wanted to know ANYTHING about company events or gossip you needed to go find a smoker. All of the ups, downs, and changes that I described were identified and disseminated by this magical group of people. We all knew 9 times out of 10 what was happening before the official announcements came out because that information spread quickly due to this group. Those RIFs I mentioned earlier? The smoking grapevine gave the heads up that they were coming, and while operational security usually managed to lock down who was on what list beforehand, that same smoking grapevine usually had an updated butchers bill showing who had been let go before they were escorted out of the building.
While at that company I hadn’t realized the power of giving people a destination in order to improve information flow. To me, this was an organically occurring phenomenon that I never gave much thought to how or why it worked. So I need to fast forward quite a few years to after I had assumed my first role in engineering management. I was working as the Director of Engineering for a company and ended up working alongside someone that became a friend and mentor and with whom I would spend quite a bit of time with every day going over personal and professional topics.
As I have gotten older my internal schedule has shifted from being a night owl to being more of a morning person. Maybe starting to add more and more coffee to my routine helped here… Anyways – I would usually arrive early in the morning and get my morning items checked off my list and get my day setup. After completing those items I would often find myself wandering over and sitting across the desk of my friend and mentor discussing the upcoming day, current hot business topic, football, or whatever else was on our radar that day. Because I would sometimes get to his office at the same time that he arrived, I was used to his daily routine. This included marching into his office, dropping his bags, and immediately turning around to address the coffee machine sitting there and flipping it on as it had a reservoir that he would have filled the previous day. He would then open a drawer and grab a small bag of fancy coffee, and spoon enough into the machine for a full pot.
This seems like a rambling story but every element of this setup is important. While sitting there talking, various people would stop by and ask if they could fill a cup or mug with that coffee. It was funny when the carafe was empty and they had to go get the ‘regular’ coffee because they weren’t happy about it. This also provided an opportunity for more discussions. While it included the normal morning pleasantries, it more often than not also included tidbits, comments, gossip, or direct information about other events going on in the company.
It took some time for me to recognize the rituals that were ongoing during these morning visits. However, over time I started to realize that I myself was there sitting in that office for many of the same reasons that other people were coming in for coffee. That ritual of coming in to grab coffee and chat was very similar to the rituals I observed when people went to the butt-hut to smoke. Both of these are habits – people drink coffee every day and people smoke every day. They also bring different groups of people together – and that is where the magic happens. People don’t need a reason to gossip and talk. They do need a reason to be there.
Now let’s take a step back and examine both the coffee and the smoking area and see what elements they have in common. The first element I would call out is the hook – meaning: What brings people to that place. For the smoking area, that is easy. It has been proven that smoking is addictive, therefore people that smoke need that element in their day. As for the coffee? There was plenty of free coffee provided by the company. Sure, it might have been more convenient to stop by this particular office, but the nearest coffee station was not that far away so we can pretty much rule out convenience as a major factor here. If you remember, I called it “fancy coffee”. It was in the smaller bags that you would pay more for at a Starbucks. It was something different. I never had any (I was still in my pre-coffee days), but I would hazard a guess that it was better than the regular stuff offered at the coffee station down the hall. So- if we want to draw people in we need a hook, or reason for them to be there.
The second common element here is the distraction. People are not going to these spots for the conversation, they are hooked on something and have built a habit around that hook. However, while the hook is the primary or conscious reason they are there, a secondary unconscious conversation usually takes over once there. That is why a distraction is necessary. Most people that do something as repetitive and frequent as smokers smoking could do that action blindfolded in a dark room. The actions of making coffee are similar. These are both examples of the conscious mind focusing on the task at hand, thus leaving the unconscious mind to run the conversation. When this happens who knows what will come out. Gossip, rumors, who is struggling, what teams are playing this weekend. Therefore, distraction is a great way to keep a finger on the pulse of a group and is a key part of this mix.
The final element is the discussion taking place. The grapevine from the smoking area was roughly split 50/50 with both juicy gossip and company information. Even though the crowd was smaller and more direct, the same thing happened with the coffee draw with a roughly even split of rumors and ongoing events. One interesting thing that I have observed is that once the target action is completed (coffee made or cigarette smoked) oftentimes this conversation moves from an unconscious rambling to a very conscious focus and causes the people to linger in that area for far longer than they would normally.
One other item you should be aware of for this secret weapon is the environment. All of the places I have described here are endpoints or usually places with some privacy. While it may be possible to create this type of scenario in a larger or more trafficked space, I think the results would be very different. Any place that people can observe you is going to produce a different behavior. That could be good or bad, but it should be considered. If the smoking butt-hut was right next to the primary employee entrance to the building where people from all levels of the company went through regularly then I do not believe that the grapevine would have continued the way that it did for so long. Instead, the butt-hut was in the back of the building where there were not a lot of windows overlooking it. This provided a sense of privacy that was also present in the smoking room and most likely enhanced the sharing of gossip.
So what does all of this have to do with candy? About a year ago I was thinking about this very topic and decided to perform a little experiment. One day at lunch I stopped by the local Target and bought both a jar and a big bag of mixed candy. I set them up in my office and waited. Sure enough, within a week word had gotten around and I had all kinds of people visiting to grab a piece of candy. It worked like a charm. I had all three elements of this secret weapon. The hook was people having a sweet tooth. The distraction was opening and eating a wrapped piece of candy. And the discussion? That is the best part. It was whatever I wanted it to be or needed it to be in that moment.
So what does this mean for an Engineering Manager? This secret weapon is a great tool that you can keep in your bag of tricks to help drive communication on your team. Figure out what people like, create that hook, and then use that to drive whatever communications and conversations that you want to have. While I don’t recommend that you use this to create a gossip area, as I have shown above those endpoints can and do exist in a lot of organizations. I would instead recommend that you use this tool to create positive interaction areas. This is an ad-hoc conversation outside the structure of a scheduled meeting. With my candy experiment I found it to be a great way to ask a quick question about something specific that I might not get an unfiltered response around in other situations. I could get a sense for morale by the topics brought up. I strongly urge you to not let this become a silent effort – by always asking a question when someone stopped by to grab a piece of candy it quickly escalated to the point where after a while people were asking me questions when they came in. That was awesome! Just remember, this isn’t a 1-on-1 or structured meeting in any way. This is a quick, casual conversation, a random sampling, and if used right it can even be a canary in a coal mine. Don’t expect a deep conversation here – remember they will be distracted by shoving candy in their mouth!
Engineering Manager Secret Weapon Conclusion – don’t be afraid to start normal everyday conversations with your team. They can be very beneficial to maintaining good relationships, keeping open communication, and giving your teammates something to smile about. Creating an environment where people have a reason to stop by randomly for one objective gives you an opportunity to try out your own objectives and keep the conversation flowing, both personally and professionally. If you can build this flow into a habit for team members then you have an important communication tool that can help you spot trouble from a ways off. And most importantly – don’t pick your own favorite candy! Always leave some so that there is some left to entice others to stop by!
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.