Common Responses to Tragedy: Tropical Storm Sendong

In the last few years, several large natural disasters devastated the Philippines like Typhoon Ondoy. Most recently, Tropical Storm Sendong slammed Cagayan de Oro. As a result, there are equally several natural responses. Here's a few I've observed:

Naysayers

It's the same thing all over again. They should have invested in flood levees. Those people should know better. That donation money never goes to the right individuals. My contribution doesn't get very far. It's all a scam. They got what was comin'. The government is out of whack. Why am I reading this post? You get the point.

Information Transfer

It's content around the water-cooler. We're compelled (smh, omg) and feel for victims and survivors, but that's about it. We go back to our offices, homes, churches and life goes on.

We empathize by sharing. Increasing awareness towards helping a tragedy seems like the right thing to do. A few likes here and there and we're done. Here's a few headlines we use for the posts:

• Let's continue to pray for them.
• Have you seen this video?
• How tragic!
• I can't believe this is happening.

Don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with sharing info. It increases awareness for help, but seldom is there any ownership of responsibilities. At most, it requires a group of movers.

Movers

The ability to foresee and plan is imperative. In fact, it is necessary. However, there are times when unexpected twists come along despite preparation. Movers plan for detours. Not only do they transfer info, they share knowledge and provide opportunities to help.

Like my friend, @jaylegaspi says, "sometimes we are the greatest answers to victims' prayers and needs". The Red Cross is a group of movers that are great in responding to tragedy. Here's more info, http://www.redcross.org.ph/donatenow.

In addition, the UNICEF Philippines site is available for donations here, https://donate.unicef.ph/emergency-donation.php.

Who's on your list? If you have movers in your area or know of individuals/organizations contributing to this latest tragedy, let me know.

Fire, Fire!

If you’re a web developer, designer or part of the system development life cycle process, it is not uncommon for us to be simply digesters of direction. Besides, our work demands adaptability and change, right? If content is incorrect, we fix it – on the fly. Of course you can, it’s easy!

Add this div here. Build this table there. Write this code. It should be client-side vs. server side. The list goes on.

But, it’s not easy. You know that. Furthermore, this type of “do it now” thinking begs the question – what are you putting off that needs to be accomplished today? When you say yes to “fire, fire, fix it now”, another task suffers. While multi-tasking is highly sought out in resumes, reality is, you can only work on one task.

Whatever that task is will require your undivided attention. So, how do you prioritize?

You've got two options. Extend the deadline or decrease the requirements.

Pick one, not both.

Stacked on new requests are existing milestones. If you choose to maintain the deadline and requirements along with what’s being worked on, something will break.

This is tough. It requires hard conversations which means you have to either extend the deadline or decrease your requirements. It may even require speaking with your manager about an unsustainable workload which he/she can help align.

What's on the line? Remember, your job matters. The work is important. Like the great philosopher Smokey the Bear says, "only you can prevent forest wildfires". When you say yes to another fire, something else will burn.

Decrease the scope or extend the deadline. What's it going to be?

Know Thy Niche

Early critics said Transformers 3 was worse than its predecessors. Despite the reviews, I along with my 80s geek friends watched and loved the movie.

Because of its roaring plot? Nah. Was it because the robots had a deep sense of emotion and connection when talking to humans? Nope!

The movie wasn’t for “everyone”, but still hit a $1 billion. To date, Transformers 3 became the third U.S. major-motion-picture released in 2011 to hit $1 billion in global sales. Mr. Bay knew his niche and delivered a summer blockbuster.

You’ve got your niche. What will you do? Thy geeks await thee.

Thanks Michael Bay.

When you’re out

You can’t possibly be available 24/7, but here are a few points for managers on how to be reachable even when you’re out.

• Communicate where you’ll be. If you’re out of the office and/or in all day meetings, tell your team early in the day or even the day before. Sharing your calendar is a plus. This eliminates all the “where is he/she?” banter.



• Stop shining the crystal ball. Your teams, however talented, are not mind readers. Set expectations and define roles/responsibilities clearly before you leave. No direction is like bad direction, only quieter and more annoying.



• Let go and delegate. Like it or not, you make the big decisions which makes you a bottleneck. However, decisions without you will need to be made. Empower your direct reports to make those decisions without having your seal of approval on everything. Besides, you hired them right? This not only creates an environment of trust, but helps develop leaders within your team and organization.