Virtually Priceless Thoughts

I have been struggling recently between “using methods” to reach success and having to use “The Method”.

As organizations grow, there seems to be a tendency to standardize on The Methods. PMOs can often come up with “The Meth”, consulting firms will sell you their Method (either through hiring their consultants or directly). The Method provides standardized assessments and processes. You can make comparisons (useful for research / evaluation). You can scale up nicely by having everyone do the same thing.

Students learning and wanting to be successful want The Method. Something concrete to follow that will guarantee the end product is an “A”. Something that can be memorized and provides a level of safety in knowledge. I see this with medical students / residents as well as informatics / IT students.

It is also easier to teach about The Method. It is defined and discrete. 10 steps, 5 minutes / step = one, 50 minute lecture. Done, you are certified!

However, people with experience that have developed their skills use methods, not The Method. They have an approach and a toolkit. In complex problems and complex situations they reach for the tools that they think will work and, while using them, assess their fit and course correct. Their approach supports communication with others, their detailed actions change based on their understanding of the problem.

This is harder to teach, especially in 50 minute lecture blocks. It is easier to model with students in practice. Residents can learn this by watching and modelling their preceptors. informatics students can learn this (if they are lucky) from Co-Op terms. We can all learn this by reflecting, regularly, on what we do and why.

There is value in standardizing and having processes, definitely. They help us (a) reach common ground across team members and team and they (b) can cover our blind spots. For routine problems (complicated and simple, not complex), using the well tested and validated Method is better. Surgical outcomes benefit from using The Method, for example.

But they can also cause blind spots, if The Method is a poor fit or poorly applied. This is particularly true for complex problems, I feel.

With complex problems, it is impossible to know if a rigid method is a good fit until you are in the middle of it. Complex problems are, by their nature, unpredictable. So it is better to have a flexible, reflecting approach to these complex problems. Use aspects of your methods to help anchor you, as ways of reaching common understandings amongst team members and stakeholders, and then reach into your toolkit as needed when one method does not fit.

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