Avoid being Shot by the OSS Woman in the Red Dress

This is a story about a scene from The Matrix.
It starts like the telco industry. Fearful of change. Locked into systems they can’t seem to escape.
But then there’s a twist.

Bang!

The woman in the red dress doesn’t just walk past me.
She hits me right between the eyes.
This is the Matrix analogy I have to keep repeating to myself.

Morpheus tells Neo, “Most people are so dependent on the system, they will fight to protect it, even if it’s no longer serving them.”

That line feels uncomfortably familiar in this line of work.

In telco and in OSS/BSS transformation, we often find ourselves defending systems that no longer serve us. We rationalise their presence. We become loyal to the tools and architectures we know, even when they’re clearly slowing us down.

Self-Reminder #1: This is our inherent change-avoidance mechanism. We defend the system because the system is comfortable. But comfort is not the goal. Improved outcomes are the goal.

I’m definitely guilty of this. But not as much as Self-Reminder #2 that’s coming up next! The next one is a doozy, and constant internal battle.

I can promise you that resisting change isn’t the only trap… even though we keep hearing people banging on about it (including me!).

The twist comes when I finally do submit to making changes…. but then chase any opportunity that looks even vaguely promising. Every OSS woman in a red dress becomes a distraction in the rainy, dark sea of sameness.

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In the scene above, Neo is distracted by the woman in the red dress and doesn’t even notice Agent Smith pulled a gun on him. That moment is the powerful Self-Reminder #2 because that’s how it happens with me and in telco too. A backlog overloaded with “6 or 7 out of 10 opportunities.” It’s these “pretty good” initiatives that become the very thing that kills focus. That’s the gun to your head.

It’s the features or activities in the blue arrow in the long-tail diagram below that take up lots of time but barely move the needle. It’s these blue-arrow tasks that are easy to take on and easy to tick off to give a sense of achievement.

However, it’s the red box functions/activities that really move the needle. Then it’s the green-arrow functions that deliver new capability, new ways of working, accelerated simplification, step-function impact.

This article is a reminder to myself as much as anyone else who is reading along.

There’s always a constant stream of 6/10 and 7/10 ideas that come across our desk and seem pretty cool. But the more 6s and 7s I say yes to, the less time that can be allocated to the 10/10s. Good is the enemy of the great.

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There’s no doubt that momentum is vital on any OSS transformation. Sometimes the 6s and 7s are important for team morale and broader change management. But our “effort batteries” only have a finite amount of energy before they burn down.

Saying no to 3/10 ideas is easy. Saying no to 6/10 and 7/10 is sometimes hard but becomes much easier if I remind myself of the woman in the red dress. Saying no to 8/10 and 9/10 ideas or activities is much harder.

Like Alex says in his version of the red dress scene below, I have to keep reminding myself to only get involved with changes or opportunities that are 10s, or perhaps even hundreds.

The most valuable resource in OSS transformation isn’t the product or the architecture. It’s the attention and effort of the people capable of changing it.

I’ve been Neo. I am Neo.
I’ve been distracted. I continue to be distracted. Argh!

Killed by Agent Smith, not through lack of vision, but inability to stay focused on what really matters.